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Heritage learners studying abroad
Edited by Angela George
[Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 8:2] 2023
► pp. 259–290

Spanish heritage speakers as pre-departure conversation partners

Enriching study abroad for students from diverse backgrounds

ORCID logo | California Polytechnic State University

Drawing on previous research showing the centrality of pre-departure interventions in the success of a study abroad (SA) program and on a translingual practice framework (Canagarajah, 2013), the current study addresses the implementation of a pre-departure conversation exchange between peers from diverse racial/ethnic/cultural/linguistic background as an integral part of a four-week SA program in Spain. Reflections and survey data were collected from a mixed group of SA participants, both second language learners (n = 14) and Spanish heritage speakers (SHSs; n = 4), as well as from their SHS conversation partners (n = 5) to determine: (a) the perceived goals and challenges of the mixed SA cohort for studying abroad; (b) the perceived benefits of the pre-departure conversation exchange with SHSs on SA learners’ performative competence; and (c) the perceived benefits for SHS conversation partners on their identity formation, heritage language maintenance, and agency.

Keywords: Spanish heritage speakers, translingual practices, performative competence, intercultural competency, identity, ethnicity and race, transnational affiliation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous SA research and theoretical framework
    • 2.1Fluidity between contact zones in SA
    • 2.2Developing performative competence across social contexts
    • 2.3Intercultural competency as a complex construct
    • 2.4Working definition of heritage speaker
    • 2.5SHSs as pre-departure conversation partners
    • 2.6Motivation for the current study
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
      • 3.1.1SA cohort (mixed group)
      • 3.1.2SHSs in the SA cohort
      • 3.1.3SHS conversation partners
    • 3.2Instruments
      • 3.2.1Guidelines for the pre-departure conversation exchange
      • 3.2.2Reflection
      • 3.2.3Online surveys
    • 3.3Procedure
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Goals and challenges of the SA cohort in the pre-departure phase
    • 4.2SA participants’ perceptions of the pre-departure conversation exchange with SHSs
      • 4.2.1Themes identified in the SA participants’ reflections
      • 4.2.2Analysis of survey items from SA participants
    • 4.3SHS conversation partners’ perceptions of the pre-departure conversation exchange
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 5 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.21039.mar
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