What is Study-Abroad

This chapter discusses “Becky's” (pseudonym) awakening to the possibility of education as a vehicle for social justice (Ladson-Billings, 1998). Among the participants in this study (N = 8), Becky demonstrated the greatest degree of transformation toward critical social thought (Brookfield, 2012). She came to see her role as a future educator as one in which she celebrated and actively included the cultures and language(s) of her English learners in her classroom (Johnson-Bailey, 2012). Although scholarship on transformative learning indicates that feeling cultural or linguistic “otherness” during study abroad increases critical social thought and action (Morgan, 2010; Ross, 2010), the author postulates that it was Becky's sense of cultural inclusion that impacted her development of social awareness. This newfound socio-political transformation led her to seek certifications in both English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and special education following the study-abroad program.