The need to function in multilingual environments and the fact that study abroad (SA) is believed to be one of the most efficient language learning contexts (Collentine, 2009) have boosted the popularity of SA programs. While numerous recent studies have examined the SA impact on oral fluency, vocabulary or writing, among others, certain areas, such as listening skills (Llanes, 2011), have yet to receive substantial attention. In an attempt to address this issue, a pretest-posttest design study was conducted to gauge the listening skills of 12 college students at the beginning and the end of a 5-week SA experience in Costa Rica. Results from non-parametric tests revealed that despite the brief duration of the program, participants’ overall listening comprehension improved significantly. Individual analysis revealed that significant gains emerged in exit tasks in which the topic of conversation was kept consistent, suggesting that contextualization plays a crucial role in input comprehension.
Allen, H., & Herron, C. (2003). A mixed-methodology investigation of the linguistic and affective outcomes of summer study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 36, 3, 370–385.
Anderson, J.R. (1993). Rules of the mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Blumenthal, P. & Laughlin, S. (2009). Promoting study abroad in science and technology fields. Available from IIE: [URL]
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power of analysis for the behavioural sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Collentine, J. (2004). The effects of learning contexts on morphosyntactic and lexical development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 261, 227–248.
Collentine, J. (2009). Study abroad research: Findings, Implications and Future Directions. In C. Doughty & M. Long (Eds.), Handbook of language teaching (pp. 218–233). Malden: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Cubillos, J., Chieffo, L., & Fan, C. (2008). The impact of short-term study abroad programs on L2 listening comprehension skills. Foreign Language Annals, 41, 1, 157–185.
DeKeyser, R. (1991). Foreign language development during a semester abroad. In B. Freed (Ed.), Foreign language acquisition research and the classroom (pp. 104–119). Lexington: D. C. Heath.
DeKeyser, R.M. (2007). Practice in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dewey, D. (2004). A comparison of reading development by learners of Japanese in intensive and domestic Immersion and Study Abroad contexts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 261, 303–327.
Dewey, D. (2008). Japanese vocabulary acquisition by learners in three contexts. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 151, 127–148.
Dyson, P. (1988). The year abroad: Report for the Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges. Oxford: Oxford University Language Teaching Centre.
Evans, M., & Fisher, L. (2005). Measuring gains in pupils’ foreign language competence as a result of participation in a school exchange visit: the case of Y9 pupils at three comprehensive schools in the UK. Language Teaching Research, 9(2), 173–192.
Foster, P. (2009). Lexical diversity and native-like selection: The bonus of studying abroad. In B. Richards, M. Daller, D. Malvern, P. Meara, J. Milton, & J. Treffers-Daller (Eds.), Vocabulary studies in first and second language acquisition (pp. 91–106). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Freed, B., Segalowitz, N., & Dewey, D. (2004). Context of learning and second language fluency in French: Comparing regular classroom, study abroad, and intensive domestic immersion programs. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 261, 275–301.
Hildyard, A., & Olson, D. (1982). On the comprehension and memory of oral versus written discourse. In Tannen, D. (Ed.), Spoken and written language (pp. 19–32). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Institute of International Education, available from [URL], retrieved July 19, 2014.
Kinginger, C. (2008). Language learning in study abroad: Case studies of Americans in France. Modern Language Journal, 921. Monograph.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.
Lennon, P. (1990). Investigating fluency in EFL: A quantitative approach. Language Learning, 401, 387–417.
Llanes, À. (2011). The many faces of study abroad: An update on the research on L2 gains emerged during a study abroad experience. International Journal of Multilingualism, 31, 189–215.
Llanes, À., & Muñoz, C. (2009). A short stay abroad: Does it make a difference?System, 371, 353–365.
Llanes, À., & Muñoz, C. (2013). Age effects in a study abroad context: Children and adults studying abroad and at home. Language Learning, 631, 63–90.
Long, M. (1996). The role of linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W. Ritchie & T. Bathia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413–468). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Muñoz, C. (Ed.). (2006). Age and the rate of foreign language learning. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Regan, V., Howard, M., & Lemée, I. (2009). The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in a study abroad context. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Rodrigo, V. (2011). Contextos de instrucción y su efecto en la comprensión auditiva y los juicios gramaticales: ¿Son comparables cinco semanas en el extranjero a un semestre en casa?Hispania, 94(3), 502–513.
Shohamy, E., & Inbar, O. (1991). Validation of listening comprehension tests: The effect of text and question type. Language Testing, 81, 23–40.
Cited by (4)
Cited by four other publications
Xu, Jian & Xuyan Qiu
2023. Study abroad experiences count: Motivational profile of EFL listeners and its impact on top-down and bottom-up processing. Applied Linguistics Review 14:1 ► pp. 145 ff.
Borràs, Judith & Àngels Llanes
2021. Re-examining the impact of study abroad on L2 development: a critical overview. The Language Learning Journal 49:5 ► pp. 527 ff.
Dewey, Dan P.
2017. Measuring social interaction during study abroad: Quantitative methods and challenges. System 71 ► pp. 49 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.