Although study abroad is viewed as an ideal environment for interaction in the target language, research in this area has relied mostly upon self-reported data, which pose challenges regarding recall bias and participant commitment. This article shows how Facebook data can be used to analyze naturally occurring learner interactions during study…

Although participation in multilingual communities around the world has been understood to be the raison d'etre for foreign language study, the Communities standard has been portrayed as an extracurricular experience and more difficult to weave into instruction than the other standards. This article addresses two questions: (1) Does a study abroad…

This study explores the role of social capital during a short-term study abroad experience in a nontraditional setting. The authors employed ethnographic methodologies to examine the impact of social capital on students traveling to a small town in a developing nation. The analysis revealed that students capitalized on abundant networks available…

The study involved 16 American undergraduate students who used weekly blogs and conducted ethnographic interviews with native speakers to develop their intercultural competence over the course of one semester abroad. Selected blog entries, post-surveys, and final interviews were collected and analyzed to report the findings. The results show that…

With its focus on the use of language forms in cultural context, the study of pragmatics can be a valuable component in a program that prepares students to learn both language and culture in study abroad. The goal of the present study is to propose a model for pragmatic instruction in study abroad that fosters both intercultural competence and…

This article explores international student teaching (IST) within the narratives of a prospective language teacher from the midwestern region of the United States. With a focus on one participant, the case study highlights significant factors that relate to the IST experience in Ecuador. A corpus generated from verbal protocols collected over a…

Findings from a study of the experiences of four American students studying in France challenge many common beliefs about the overseas educational experience, and raise questions that hold implications for both study abroad programs and foreign language classrooms. (Author/VWL)

An ethnographic study examined the language development and cultural and academic adjustment of a student in her first semester of a year-long program in Mexico. Data reveal that the most dramatic change in her proficiency came about as she learned the rules, both societal and academic, that allowed her to function within the culture and that…