Developing proficiency and intercultural competence are goals promoted by the Modern Language Association and widely shared by postsecondary second language programs across the United States. Although the development of proficiency has been studied extensively in this context, comparatively little is known about how intercultural competence…

The number of students embarking on a study abroad experience continues to grow steadily. A new setting for study abroad in English has developed recently where students may be studying in an environment where English is used as a lingua franca but is not an official language of the country. This setting is referred to as English as a lingua…

With its constant advancements, technology has altered teaching and learning in certain ways in the modern era. One of the most widely used technology-based teaching strategies that has been overly popular in recent years is the use of digital media in English language training. Yet, anxiety is one of many emotional states that are significantly…

The present study aimed to explore the potential moderating effect of foreign language anxiety (FLA) on the relationship between second language (L2) competence and willingness to communicate (WTC) in 129 Chinese study-abroad English learners in Belgium. Descriptive analyses revealed fairly low levels of FLA and high levels of WTC of the…

Exploring the underinvestigated area of instruction during study abroad, this article offers a quantitative study of linguistic development among second language university learners of Chinese during a semester in China. A comparison is made between learners following task-based language teaching and a comparison group following a traditional…

Domestic immersion (DI) is an effective context for postsecondary language learning, given that DI's instructor-curated environments promote meaningful second language use while providing abundant support for learners. However, DI is at present understudied within second language acquisition research, especially when compared to its more…

The first goal of this study was to examine how individual differences in initial L2 proficiency help explain L2 grammar development in oral production during short-term immersion abroad. The second goal of the study was methodological, and evaluated challenges that can result from operationalizing learners' initial L2 proficiency as pretest…

Using computational Social Network Analysis (SNA), this longitudinal study investigates the development of the interaction network and its influence on the second language (L2) gains of a complete cohort of 41 U.S. sojourners enrolled in a 3-month intensive study-abroad Arabic program in Jordan. Unlike extant research, our study focuses on…

This study investigated the relationship between changes in language learning beliefs and English proficiency among 41 Korean university students who participated in a short-term English program. Participants' beliefs were assessed using the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI), and their proficiency was measured using the Test of…

Study abroad comes with challenges, yet it is not clear how language proficiency may longitudinally predict students' social engagement and well-being. Recent changes in international student demographics, including age decreases and increased international school backgrounds, may also affect students' well-being. This study views language as a…

This study utilizes social network analysis to characterize a typology of study abroad sojourner experience, detailing the relationship of social experience types to second language (L2) proficiency growth and study abroad program design. In contrast with previous research, the study performs a quantitative analysis of structural and compositional…

This study examines the second language (L2) development of variable /s/-weakening in the spontaneous speech of L2 learners of Spanish who studied abroad in either Dominican Republic, where /s/-weakening is widespread, or central Spain, where /s/-weakening is much less common. Learners' realizations of /s/ were coded impressionistically and…

Study abroad (SA) is touted for providing language learners with regular exposure to a second language (L2) in naturalistic settings. However, few studies have examined how interaction occurs in situ. This study analyzed 13 hours of naturalistic dyadic conversations self-recorded by 15 US-based undergraduate sojourners studying abroad for one…

This study examined the challenges of English learning encountered by Chinese international students in a Malaysian university, as well as the contributing factors and strategies students employ to cope with these challenges. A total of 60 Chinese international students (51.7% male and 48.3% female) participated in this study, with an average stay…

The ability to speak in a second language (L2) requires a certain level of linguistic proficiency, but the ability to "live" in a second language requires a certain level of "sociolinguistic" proficiency. L2 sociolinguistic variables present acquisitional challenges for language learners, since informal discourse features are…