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Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 6:1 (2021) ► pp.32–58

A change of setting

Measuring language use in an overseas immersion context

| University of Michigan
Though study abroad (SA) is becoming an increasingly popular educational avenue for second-language (L2) learners, there is little knowledge of what factors create a successful learning experience. One methodological approach is to consider the amount of time students use their L2 while abroad, and subsequently consider what factors (linguistic, personal, or social) might lead to increased or diminished L2 use. The current study examines data collected in 2010, in which 27 learners from an intensive overseas-immersion program in Spain completed the Language Contact Profile (LCP). Throughout the program, the learners were bound to a language commitment, pledging to speak, read, and write only in their L2. The results presented here, both quantitative and qualitative, suggest that the language pledge was largely followed, reflecting high levels of L2 use; the results also allude to some advantages and disadvantages of using the LCP to track language use.
Keywords: language contact profile, language pledge, overseas immersion, context of learning, Spanish
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Context of learning
    • 2.2Language pledges
    • 2.3Research question
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Learner participants
    • 3.2Language-use questionnaire
    • 3.3Data analysis
    • 3.4Interviews with instructor and program director
  • 4.LCP results
    • 4.1Self-reported speaking time
    • 4.2Self-reported listening and reading time
    • 4.3Self-reported writing time
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Outcomes and implications of this research
    • 5.2Technology and SA
    • 5.3Limitations and recommendations for future research
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 March 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.19010.gar
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