Language learning

References

Cite

Share

Abstract

Much study-abroad programme recruitment literature depicts the overseas experience as a short cut to linguistic fluency and cross-cultural understanding, a view that is also largely supported by research on the outcomes of a stay abroad. However, when the experience of learning to interact in a foreign language and of adapting to a foreign culture is viewed through the eyes of four American summer study-abroad students in Fiance, as reported here, a different perspective emerges. The findings of this study are seen as challenging many common beliefs about die overseas educational experience and, in doing so, raising questions that hold implications for study-abroad programmes and foreign language classrooms alike.