| Abstract: | This paper describes an empirical investigation of changes incurred as a result of participation in a semester-long intercultural experience. “The A.M.I.G.O. Project” is conducted in small group communication classes and requires students to meet and interact weekly with foreigners living in their community. The project is designed to allow college students to obtain some of the benefits of a foreign experience without going abroad. The program is also intended to provide a meaningful and worthwhile experience to individuals temporarily living in the U.S. A single-factor repeated measures analysis of variance was used to examine differences between participants and non-participants at the beginning and end of the semester. Five dependent variables-acceptance of differences, openness to new ideas, importance of foreign exchange, responsibility toward foreigners living in the community, and attitudes toward peace-were evaluated. The results of the questionnaire strongly indicate a significant change in the attitudes of the participants. Overall, students became more accepting of diversity and differences, felt greater responsibility to and increased importance of foreign visitors to the United States, and developed a sense of importance and desire for travel abroad. Furthermore, the members of the English as a Second Language class the Amigos] demonstrated significantly greater improvement on their English proficiency exams than non-participants. Implications of the results and a discussion of the limitations of the study conclude with suggestions for future research. |
