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…

A cohort of American students came to Prague for their Study Abroad in spring 2020. They signed up for a Czech language course but had to leave the country in the middle of the term and continue learning from homes. At the end of the term, they were asked to write a short reflective essay on how their motivation to learn Czech transformed…

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…

The impacts of COVID-19 on Study abroad (SA) are deep and widespread and potentially affect the factors that guide US undergraduate students' choices as they relate to SA. To investigate them, the present study relies on the MSA (Motivation to SA questionnaire: Anderson & Lawton, 2015) and adds two new groups of factors: language learning and…

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…

We start this coda with a discussion of the impact of the pandemic on higher education in our contexts. We then highlight the focus of this special issue, namely international students' language learning and intercultural encounters in Chinese universities. Reflecting on the relevant findings reported in this collection of studies, we relate…

This contribution reflects on some of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced for languages in Higher Education (HE). In particular, two areas are discussed: the delivery of teaching and learning activities, including assessments, and the year abroad. These two areas, on which the enforced move to online provision has had a significant…

Exeter students who had their 2019-2020 Year Abroad (YA) cut short by the COVID-19 health crisis were offered alternative online language provision to support their learning. This contribution discusses the students and staff's experience in the light of 'learning is a journey' metaphor. [For the complete volume, "Languages at Work, Competent…

Pre-pandemic studies indicate that East Asian students' migration to ASEAN Outer Circle nations to study English by no means marks their departure from an idealized anglophone English world. Via research conducted during the pandemic when online learning had become mainstream, this study further explores the significance of such students' English…

As language pedagogy evolves and the pressure to articulate the value of the humanities in undergraduate education mounts, new curricular models are needed more than ever. The course "Sustainability in Germany: Recreation, Education, Innovation" is a response to that need. Originally designed to include a short-term study abroad…

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…

As physical mobility finds itself impeded by the COVID-19 crisis, the world witnesses the potential of technology for connecting students who are physically distanced inside and cross-borders. In such scenarios, telecollaboration and virtual exchange have gained increased attention as powerful pedagogical strategies to allow for the continuity of…

This exploratory study evaluated the impact of a Spanish second language (L2) domestic immersion (DI) program that was developed expediently at a large university in the United States in response to widespread study abroad (SA) program closures due to COVID-19. Spanish language learners (n = 14) participated in an intensive, six-week summer…

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…