Second Language Learning in a Study Abroad Context
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SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING IN A STUDY ABROAD CONTEXT
INTRODUCTION
Within the last decade or so, the topic of language learning in a study abroad (SA) context has become a recognized subfield of research in second language acquisition (SLA). In part, this is related to a more general interest in context of learning as a variable in SLA research. Three general questions have motivated this research: (i) Is there empirical documentation for the long held beliefs that students who study abroad achieve greater L2 language skills than those who do not? (ii) What are the specific differences in the language of students who have studied abroad as compared to those whose learning has been limited to the language-learning classroom at home (AH)? (iii) What aspects of the SA context contribute to language gain abroad? In 1995, Freed (1995a) first enumerated a detailed list of theoretical and practical questions on this topic. Efforts to respond to them by various scholars have provided the basis for a wide range of studies, all of which have sharpened our insight into the nature of gains made by SA students as well as into various aspects of the actual learning environment. These studies have documented many assumptions about the linguistic benefits to be accrued from a SA experience. At the same time, they have offered some disquieting findings about the nature of the SA environment and the impact it may, or may not, have on L2 learning. This chapter summarizes the history of work done to date, discusses work in progress, outlines related problems and sets forth directions for the future.
E A R LY D E V E L O P M E N T S
A series of sporadic studies that explored the language-learning experiences of SA students were conducted between the mid 1960s and the early 1990s when the first major study of this type was completed. With few exceptions, the early projects used test scores exclusively to measure the linguistic gains made by students who studied abroad. Carroll’s (1967) pioneering study of the language proficiency foreign language majors demonstrated for the first time that time spent abroad was one N. Van Deusen-Scholl and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 4: Second and Foreign Language Education, 113–125. #2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
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of the major predictors of overall language proficiency. In subsequent years, a number of smaller studies, conducted in England, measured gains in speaking, listening and reading by British students who spent over a year working or studying in France or Germany. The scholars who summarized these studies reported test scores gains, which appeared to support the linguistic advantages of residence abroad (Willis, Doble, Sankarayya and Smithers, 1977). Several small case studies (Möhle, 1984; Möhle and Raupach, 1983; Raupach, 1984) were among the first to focus on the acquisition of fluency by SA students, in this case French students studying in Germany and German students in France. Their results pointed to gains in
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