The Homestay Component of Study Abroad: Three Perspectives

Abstract: Although the "homestay" has long been considered a key factor in the study abroad experience, it is one of the least examined components of foreign study. In an effort to explore this issue from various perspectives, this study targeted several programs in Spain and Mexico with interviews of host families, students, and housing directors. Each group's perspective on key issues such as adjustment, common problems, and the "homestay advantage" was probed via on-site interviews and questionnaires. Results showed that the majority of the information reported by one group was normally corroborated by the other two, and all groups felt the homestay enhanced the study abroad experience. Introduction Ask study abroad students to evaluate their programs, and the majority will begin immediately talking about their host families. For these students, the homestay often "makes or breaks" the entire experience. Theoretically, the homestay makes a most desirable housing option, for it provides the students an immediate entree into the cultural and linguistic environment while protecting them in a smaller, "caring" unit. Surprisingly, however, the homestay component is one of the least studied parts of the study abroad experience. This investigation was conducted to explore that experience from several perspectives. Part I of the study (Knight & Schmidt-Rinehart, 2002) focused on information collected from interviews of host families in their homes. Study abroad program sites were chosen in Mexico and Spain because those two countries host the majority of Spanish study-abroad students (HE, 2002). Two cities in each country were selected for interviewing families: Cuernavaca/Guadalajara in Mexico and Segovia/Sevilla in Spain. Because the purpose of this study was descriptive, not comparative (i.e., to find out more about the host family and its role in the study abroad experience rather than to compare various housing options), we used only programs with host families. Using QSR NUD*IST (Qualitative Solutions, 1997)1 to facilitate the organization, retrieval, and analysis of interview transcripts, three main themes emerged: the adjustment period, common problems, and the homestay advantage. For a detailed description of the interview process, the data analysis, and the results of Part I, see Knight and Schmidt-Rinehart (2002). Part II, presented here, expanded the scope to the student and housing director (HD) perspective at the same sites, focusing on the topics derived from the family interview data. Student information was collected from three main sources: (1) a student questionnaire (SQ)2 administered over a two-year period, (2) interviews on-site with students, and (3) student written evaluations of the homestays provided by the programs. The information from the HD perspective came from direct interviews in the country. After providing background data on the informants and placement of students, we will revisit the aforementioned three themes (adjustment, problems, and homestay advantage). Each section will begin with a brief overview of the family perspective and will be followed by the results of the information gathered from the students and HDs. We conclude with a summary of the three perspectives as well as suggestions for further study of this important component of the study abroad experience. Informants Families The 24 families chosen for the interview phase of the study included those who had hosted many U.S. students over the years as well as those who were hosting for the first time. In order to verify that the interview families were indeed representative, we reviewed past student evaluations of all families at each site. Students The majority of the student data came from the SQ that was administered to 90 students from these four sites over a period of two years. Sixty-two of the subjects were female and 28 male. …