The Perception of English Department Alumni on Studying Abroad

This study investigated the perceptions of English Department alumni onstudying abroad. The aim of this study was to know the perception of English Department Alumni on studying abroad and found out the advantages and the challenges of study abroad. Five alumni were chosen as participants. The qualitative research approach was used for exploring and understanding the participants’ perception regarding the benefits and challenges of studying abroad. This study used semi-structured interview as the technique to collect the information of from five English Department alumni who finished studying abroad. The first results showed that most of the alumni agreed that studying abroad was interesting experience for students to obtain new knowledge about foreign language. The second, studying abroad has several advantages for students, such as: learning new languages, experiencing different cultures, finding foreigners, developing work skills, forming relationships with native peoples, expanding critical thinking, and creating future job opportunities. The challenges that students faced while studying abroad are academic difficulty, different culture, language difficulty, and stress living in new environment without families or close friends, adaptation with new social life, unfamiliar food, and financial difficulty. The problem could be solved by adaption with new social environment, interaction with domestic foreigners, and preparation the material for learning in classroom. In conclusion, the alumni had positive perceptions on studying abroad.