Short‐Term Study Abroad: Predicting Changes in Oral Skills

Abstract

Increasing numbers of students are opting for study abroad programs of 2 months or less while research on study abroad generally focuses on semester‐ or year‐long programs. This study quantitatively examines changes in students' spoken Spanish after 6 weeks in Argentina using native speaker ratings of student speech. The researcher then uses self‐report measures to determine which of the following variables predict improvements in speaking, pre‐program motivation and intercultural sensitivity, relationship with the host family, and interaction with native speakers. Results suggest that short‐term programs can benefit language skills, as the majority of students in this program demonstrated small yet highly significant improvements in spoken Spanish even though a percentage of students showed a decrease in their skills. Surprisingly, only pre‐program levels of cultural sensitivity predicted students' improvements in language skills, providing further evidence of the importance of culture in language learning.

Intercultural communicative competence, language proficiency, and study abroad

“…They found that during a summer stay of only 3-4 weeks student sojourners significantly improved their oral fluency and accuracy, in addition to listening comprehension. Martinsen (2010) discovered similar patterns for American leaners of Spanish in Argentina for a 6-weeks stay. The results demonstrate that after a short-term studying abroad most of the students have made small but significant progress in spoken Spanish.…”

“…This section presents and reviews the empirical studies on the outcomes of language proficiency, particularly language skills, in study abroad context. The positive aspects of study abroad on students' oral proficiency have been generally supported by a large number of studies (Berg et al, 2009;Llanes & Muñoz, 2009;Martinsen, 2010). Berg et al (2009) examined the American study abroad students with control students learning the same language at home campus.…”

On the relationship between L2 pronunciation and culture

“…In addition to these studies, there is a growing body of evidence linking cultural knowledge and skills to increased language learning during periods abroad (Alvord and Christensen, 2012;Bacon, 2002;Martinsen, 2010;Twombly, 1995;Vande Berg, Connor-Linton and Paige, 2009;Warden et al, 1995;Wilkinson, 1998a). The findings of these studies could be extremely valuable for the field of second language acquisition and teaching, since they indicate that greater cultural sensitivity actually leads to greater improvements in what might be termed linguistic or structural aspects of language learning, in addition to important social and attitudinal benefits.…”

“…Many studies have confirmed that students who go abroad tend to make more progress in improving their language skills than students who remain at home and attend classes on campus (e.g., Freed, Segalowitz, and Dewey, 2004;Brecht, Ginsberg and Davidson, 1993;Hernández, 2010). However, even among participants of study abroad there are some who do not demonstrate significant gains in their language skills Freed et al, 2004;Martinsen, 2010;Martinsen, 2011).…”

“…Recent evidence has shown that cultural sensitivity is one of the factors that can predict improvements in students' overall language skills while abroad (Martinsen, 2010). This is perhaps unsurprising given the deep connection between cultural interaction and language that has been noted by language philosophers such as Vygotsky (1962) and Bakhtin (Voloshinov, 1973) and second language theorist Schuman (1986).…”