We report on a survey study of a group of U.S. students studying abroad in 22 different countries in the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022 (N = 261), as universities around the world began returning to in-person instruction but where a good deal of instruction was still conducted online or in some hybrid modality and where a range of COVID-19…

The pandemic has impacted every aspect of academic life, including study abroad (SA), with 93% of programs canceled worldwide in 2020 (IIE, 2020). Long lasting consequences for SA are expected (Dietrich, 2020): a reduction in participation rates, an increase in online SA, and changes both in the nature and the importance of the factors that…

The language that is used to refer to COVID-19 is changing to reflect how the disease evolves. One of the changes is the use of the word "endemic" to replace "pandemic," a modification that implies far reaching effects on goals for language acquisition and cultural integration, particularly in the context of study abroad. Study…

Some of the simplest affordances of study abroad became unavailable when students stayed stateside because of the pandemic-induced disruptions to international travel. These ranged from touring city and historical/cultural landmarks, having spontaneous and chance interactions with locals, participating in the performance of traditions and…

The most recent "Open Doors" report by the Institute of International Education (IIE, 2020) indicates that the number of non-white U.S. study abroad students has been steadily growing over the past 10 years, and now it accounts for 31% of all students pursuing part of their education abroad. This study focuses on four Spanish heritage…

Due to health and travel restrictions, COVID-19 has presented unusual challenges to international education. Meanwhile, the pandemic has also become a historical juncture overlapping with other political and cultural moments (e.g., renewed Black Lives Matter movement, resurgence of anti-Asian racism, extreme weather phenomena). These events have…

This report presents a review of study abroad research conducted from an ecological perspective (Kramsch, 2003; Leather & van Dam, 2003; van Lier, 2004) and identifies areas of inquiry that are lacking compared to second language acquisition and other fields (i.e., linguistics, psychology). It identifies value-based views as a high-priority…

The onset of COVID-19 has prompted world language professionals to reconceptualize best practices in second language (L2) teaching and research during a time of limited interaction due to social distancing across the globe (Morris, 2022). Not surprisingly, study abroad programs that once fostered communicative and intercultural development were…

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrought changes to the landscape of education abroad. This paper reviews some of the operational gaps exposed by the pandemic circumstances and then advocates for enhanced notions of communication, collaboration, and community needed to embrace change and close prior gaps. The paper concludes that developing a nuanced…

Social network analysis (SNA) examines the relationships that an individual speaker creates and maintains with others in order to explain and predict language behavior. Over the past 20 years, SNA has been used by a growing number of researchers to better understand the language learner and the language learning process, especially in the context…

To what extent can the transformative power and language learning affordances provided by the study abroad experience be virtualized? The large-scale shift away from on-site study abroad to online learning in 2020-2021, caused by the COVID pandemic, has made it possible to compare data for in-person immersion learning versus digitally mediated…

This case study explores the cognitive and emotional development of a university student using the schema of a complete orienting basis of action (SCOBA) in her learning of Italian as a foreign language. The article follows Marie, a 19-year-old undergraduate student, as she used a SCOBA that illustrated the concept of Genre and Register in…

Why learners return from study abroad (SA) with varying degrees of second language (L2) gains or differing attitudes towards the target language and culture remains an open question. This study employs theories of identity (Kinginger, 2013) and investment (Darvin & Norton, 2015; Norton Peirce, 1995) to examine the case of three learners of…

Language-related Study Abroad (SA) experiences can be catalysts for learner transformation in the areas of cognition, socialization, and/or affect by virtue of the location and experience. An Open Architecture Curriculum Design (OACD) framework can support, promote, and enhance such transformation, as evidenced in eight programs for young adults,…

This paper explores the second language, digital multimodal composing practices of 12 American undergraduates studying French abroad in Paris. Drawing on multiliteracies, multimodality, and translanguaging frameworks, this study utilizes a qualitative lens and multimodal composing timescapes to analyze how students leveraged languages and modes…