Language Use in Six Study Abroad Programs: An Exploratory Analysis of Possible Predictors

Dewey, D.; Bown, Jennifer; Baker, Wendy; Martinsen, Rob A.; Gold, Carrie; Eggett, Dennis L.

doi:10.1111/lang.12031

Cited by 102 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…In addition, learners may use different strategies to learn the L2 depending on their personalities. Interestingly, similar results were found when a previous study examined whether personality factors affected learners' use of the L2 during study abroad (Dewey et al, ). That study found, e.g., that one learner who was shy and introverted scored high on conscientiousness and used this personality strength to learn the L2.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The idea that “younger is better” when learning an L2 has been demonstrated with adult learners ages 20–30 (Baker, ), but this study did not find that age affected whether learners improved in L2 learning in a study abroad context. Earlier research discovered that older learners actually were more likely to use the L2 on study abroad programs than younger learners (Dewey et al, ). However, as shown in this study, increases in general L2 use did not seem to guarantee concomitant increases in L2 gains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad

Baker-Smemoe

Dewey

Bown

et al. 2014

Foreign Language Annals

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158

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Second language (L2) gains during study abroad have been related to several variables including length of stay (Llanes, 2011), language use (Martinsen, Baker, Dewey, Bown, & Johnson, 2010), and social network development (Isabelli‐García, 2006), among others. However, most studies have investigated only a few predictors in single study abroad programs. While these findings are helpful, larger scale studies are needed to better understand the variables that contribute to L2 gains across several different cultures and learner groups. The current study examines predictors of L2 gain of more than 100 native English speakers who participated in study abroad in Mexico, Spain, France, Egypt, Russia, and China. Participants were asked to complete an ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview at the beginning and end of their study abroad program. Participants were then divided into “gainers” and “non‐gainers,” or those who did or did not make significant language gains from pre‐ to posttest. Their language gains from pre to posttest were compared to several predictors: personality (measured by the NEO Five‐Factor Inventory), social networks (size, dispersion, density, etc.), intercultural sensitivity (measured by the Intercultural Development Inventory), amount of second language use, gender, and age. Results suggest that many students were able to make gains in language, in each of the programs, and that the strongest predictors of L2 gains were cultural sensitivity and social network variables.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad

Baker-Smemoe

Dewey

Bown

et al. 2014

Foreign Language Annals

Self Cite

158

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This study did not generate any empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. The STRT retest in April 2015 did not yield any significant score gains, or gains in terms of complexity, accuracy, or fluency (for similar finding, see Kinginger, 2008;Amuzie & Winke, 2009;Dewey et al, 2014). The assumption that L2 students' language proficiency will increase over a semester simply by attending classes in Dutch thus seems unlikely.…”

Section: Claim 2: Successful Strt and Itna Candidates Are Ready For Tmentioning

confidence: 92%

University entrance language tests: A matter of justice

2017

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University entrance language tests are often administered under the assumption that even if language proficiency does not determine academic success, a certain proficiency level is still required. Nevertheless, little research has focused on how well L2 students cope with the linguistic demands of their studies in the first months after passing an entrance test. Even fewer studies have taken a longitudinal perspective.Set in Flanders, Belgium, this study examines the opinions and experiences of 24 university staff members and 31 international L2 students, of whom 20 were tracked longitudinally. Attention is also given to test/retest results, academic score sheets, and class recordings. To investigate the validity of inferences made on the basis of L2 students' scores, Kane's (2013) Interpretation/ Use Argument approach is adopted, and principles from political philosophy are applied to investigate whether a policy that discriminates among students based on language test results can be considered just. It is concluded that the receptive language requirements of university studies exceed the expected B2 level and that the Flemish entrance tests include language tasks that are of little importance for first-year students. Furthermore, some of the students who failed the entrance test actually managed quite well in their studies -a result that entails broad implications concerning validation and justice even outside the study's localized setting.

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“…: A small number of studies suggest that social networks play a beneficial role in the SA experience. (Eng5,40) b) Non-human subject + reporting verb (English and Croatian) (12) Specifically, these investigations have demonstrated the effectiveness of using acoustically varied, compared with acoustically consistent, presentation formats during training for this contrast (Lively, Logan, & Pisoni, 1993;Lively, Pisoni, Yamada, Tokura, & Yamada, 1994 In this type of non-integral citations there is no clear signal on the reporting structure, yet the citation is marked by the presence of the reference given in the brackets (Swales 1990). In such instances writers may, for instance, paraphrase or summarize reported authors' findings or other research data without explicit signals of the report, as shown in the following instances:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

English and Croatian citation practices in research articles in applied linguistics: a corpus-based study

Varga¹,

Gradečak-Erdeljić²

2017

KLB

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As a mandatory constituent of academic writing, citation allows writers to acknowledge other scholarsʼ work and to position their research against it, showing thus both contribution to previous knowledge and research novelty (Hyland 2004). Previous research has documented not only cross-disciplinary (Hyland 2004) but also crosscultural variations, with a general tendency of Anglo-American writers to use more citations than writers of some other cultural backgrounds (Hyland 2005;Mur Dueñas 2009). By exploring the frequency, preferred types, and reporting structures of citations in two comparable sub-corpora of research articles in applied linguistics in English and Croatian, the present study aimed to provide an insight into the patterns of cross-cultural similarities and differences in the use of academic citation. The corpus comprised 32 research articles that were sampled from the representative English-and Croatianmedium publications in applied linguistics and analyzed manually. The extracted instances of citations were categorized according to the pre-established taxonomies of the citation types (Swales, 1990) and reporting structures in academic writing (Thomson & Tribble 2001). The frequency analysis showed that the English writers used more citations as opposed to the Croatian writers, which is in line with previous cross-cultural research on the use of citations (Fløttum, Dahl & Kinn 2006;Mur Dueñas 2009). In both sub-corpora writers used more non-integral than integral citations, with the highest 154 frequencies reported in the Introduction section of research articles. The overall findings point to the saliency of the congruent types of reporting structures in both citation formats across the two sub-corpora, with the human subjects being most frequently used in integral citations and non-reporting being the most frequent reporting structure in nonintegral citations. However, in non-integral citations English writers used non-human subjects at a significantly higher frequency than Croatian writers, which suggests that in the English citations investigated more importance is placed on research activities than human agents. Whereas similarities in the use of citations between English and Croatian writers may be accounted for by the congruent disciplinary variable, the differences seem to be related to the specifics of a wider socio-cultural background in which academic writing is embedded.

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Language Use in Six Study Abroad Programs: An Exploratory Analysis of Possible Predictors

Cited by 102 publications

References 91 publications

Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad

Variables Affecting L2 Gains During Study Abroad

University entrance language tests: A matter of justice

English and Croatian citation practices in research articles in applied linguistics: a corpus-based study

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