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Article published In:
Language learning and interactional experiences in Study Abroad settings
Edited by M. Rafael Salaberry, Kate White and Alfred Rue Burch
[Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 4:1] 2019
► pp. 19–44

The dialects of control and connection in the study abroad homestay

| Pennsylvania State University
| University of Queensland

As in every conversation, negotiation for control and connection is at the heart of communication in the study abroad homestay. Finding a comfortable footing on the control-and-connection continua (i.e., closeness versus distance, and hierarchy versus equality) is both a product and a process of language learning in the homestay. Drawing on interviews of all parties and recordings of homestay interactions, we present the dialectical interplay of control and connection through analysis of conversational narratives recounted at Chinese homestay dinner tables. We recruit Wertsch’s (1998) notion of mediated action to show how stories, as cultural tools, were employed by the hosts and students to construct moral injunctions and to cultivate closeness through mutual caring (guānxīn), affective gratification (qièyì), and attentiveness (tiēxīn). Findings of the study challenge assumptions about homestay communication as a power struggle only and underscore the importance of teaching students to appreciate the value of interpersonal exchange in homestay settings.

Keywords: narrative, homestay, mediation, sociocultural theory, intercultural communication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Homestay relationships
  • 3.Mediated action
  • 4.Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Participants
    • 5.1Students
    • 5.2Host family
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1John’s homestay: Guānxīn
    • 6.2Sam’s homestay: Qièyì
    • 6.3David’s homestay: Tiēxīn
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 28 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.17014.kin
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Back, Michele, Rebecca Joseph, Anna McCormick & Hana Picorelli
2022. Homestays as a resource for preservice teachers studying abroad. Teaching and Teacher Education 119 ► pp. 103849 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Sheng-Hsun
2022. How memories of study abroad experience are contextualized in the language classroom. Applied Linguistics Review 13:4 ► pp. 631 ff. DOI logo
Long, Avizia Y. & Megan Solon
2021. The impact of a short-term stay abroad on L2 Spanish syntactic complexity development in narratives. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 6:1 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo

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