Faculty of Humanities and Education

Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature

Projects

The Caribbean Study Abroad Research Project

Study abroad is often a life-changing experience. In recent years, considerable research activity has been generated in an effort to understand exactly how people change and develop when they go overseas for an educational and intercultural experience. The vast majority of this research, however, has been focused on students from large countries with well–established study abroad and immersion traditions. This Project aims to: 
  • Identify the factors that motivate Caribbean students to study abroad in particular ways. 
  • Understand the specific experience of Caribbean students who study abroad, particularly for foreign-language learning and intercultural development. 
  • Use these understandings to enhance the developmental potential of study abroad for Caribbean students. 
  • Use the data gathered to make informed decisions about how to offer UWI students more opportunities to study abroad and how to enhance the quality of these experiences. 
The next steps in this project entail creation of networks within the region and beyond to broaden the scope of the analysis and subsequent interventions.

Publications

“Promotion of Study Abroad at a Global South University: A Case Study of The University of the West Indies”, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, Vol. 37, no. 3 (2025), 279-310. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v37i3.1044

“Toward a Transformative Decolonial Paradigm of Study Abroad Research.” Designing Second Language Study Abroad Research: Critical Reflections on Methods and Data, edited by John L. Plews and Janice McGregor, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2022, pp.65-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05053-4_4

“Student-Centred Second Language Study Abroad for Non-Traditional Sojourners: An Anglophone Caribbean Example.” Second Language Study Abroad. Programming, Pedagogy, and Participant Engagement, edited by John L. Plews and Kim Misfeldt, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018, pp. 83–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77134-2_4

“Overseas Sojourning as a Socioeconomic and Cultural Development Strategy: A Context Study of the University of the West Indies”, Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, Vo1.1, no.2 (2016), 277-304. https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.1.2.06cra

“Anonymous Sojourners: Mapping the Territory of Caribbean Experiences of Immersion for Language Learning”, Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, Vol. 19 (Fall/Winter 2010), 125-49. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v19i1.277




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