Identity development through study abroad experiences: Storied accounts

• Authors: Harumi Kimura , Brenda Hayashi
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This study investigated three Japanese L2 learners who joined a government-funded, short-term study abroad program in the USA during their first year of college. Four years after the program, we interviewed the learners about their overseas experiences. We also asked what they had done during their university years after the program. We then analyzed their accounts to explore participants’ linguistic and personal growth during and after the program. Their stories offered important insights into what short-term study abroad programs should provide: critical experiences that participants embrace through meeting and communicating with new people in L2s for the purpose of mutual understanding. When participants perceived their experiences to be successful and valuable and felt a desire to become a more efficient L2 user, they took actions to improve their L2 skills in relation to other life goals after returning home. Furthermore, their L2 identities are likely interwoven with their current and aspiring personal identities. As such, their stories are self-development trajectories and evidence of L2-learning-mediated personal growth through social interaction. We propose that short-term study programs: (a) avoid an exclusive focus on L2 learning on-site, (b) include ample opportunities of meaningful social interaction, and (c) target first-year students.  

Keywords

EN

study abroad; perception of successful L2 communication; L2 identity; narrative

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 473-493

Dates

published

2019-09-27

Contributors

author

Harumi Kimura

• Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University, Sendai

• https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5671-1854

author

Brenda Hayashi

• Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University, Sendai

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8008-2514

References

• Allport, G. W., Clark, K., & Pettigrew, T. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus.
• Barkhuizen, G. (2011). Narrative knowledging in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 45(3), 391-414. http://doi.org/0.5054/tq.2011.261888
• Benson, P., Barkhuizen, G., Bodycott, P., & Brown, J. (2013). Second language identity in narratives of study abroad. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Brown, J. D. (2014). Mixed methods research for TESOL. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Coleman, J. A. (2013). Researching whole people and whole lives. In C. Kinginger (Ed.), Social and cultural aspects of language learning in study abroad (pp. 3-15). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Collentine, J. A., & Freed, B. F. (2004). Learning context and its effects on second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 153-171. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263104262015
• Cook, V. J. (2013). Multicompetence. In C. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics, VI (pp. 3768-3774). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
• De Fina, A. (2011). Researcher and informant roles in narrative interactions: Constructions of belonging and foreignness. Language in Society, 40(1), 27-38. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404510000862
• Dewaele, J.-M., Petrides, K. V., & Furnham, A. (2008). Effects of trait emotional Intelligence and sociobiographical variables on communicative anxiety among adult multilinguals: A review and empirical investigation. Language Learning, 58, 911-960. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00482.x
• Dörnyei, Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating learners, motivating teachers: Building vision in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Dörnyei, Z., Csizér, K., & Németh, N. (2006). Motivation, language attitudes and globalization: A Hungarian perspective. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
• DuFon, M. A., & Churchill, E. (Eds.). (2006). Language learners in study abroad contexts. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Freed, B. F. (1995). Second language acquisition in a study abroad context. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
• Freed, B. F., Segalowitz, N., & Dewey, D. P. (2004). Contexts of learning and second language fluency in French: Comparing regular classrooms, study abroad and intensive domestic programs. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 275-301. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263104262064
• Gkonou, C., Daubney, M., & Dewaele, J.-M. (Eds.). (2017). New insights into language anxiety. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• Guiora, A. Z. (1984). The dialectic of language learning. Language Learning, 33(s5), 3-12. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb01321.x
• Hayashi, B., Kimura, H., Kumagai, H., Morris, J. F., & Tashima, Y. (2014). The bridge for tomorrow: Miyagi Gakuin and the KAKEHASHI Project. Bulletin of Miyagi Gakuin Women's University, 118, 69-89.
• Hessel, G. (2015). From vision to action: Inquiring into the conditions for the motivational capacity of ideal second language selves. System, 52, 103-114. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.05.008
• Inoue, K. (2009). Okusama epuron hitoritabi [Apron-wearing homemaker traveling alone]. Tokyo: Shueisha.
• Isabelli, C. A. (2007). Development of the Spanish subjunctive by advanced learners: Study abroad followed by at-home instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 40, 330-341. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2007.tb03205.x
• Isabelli-García, C. (2006). Study abroad social networks, motivation and attitudes: Implications for second language acquisition. In M. A. DuFon & E. Churchill (Eds.), Language learners in study abroad context (pp. 231-258). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Jackson, J. (2013). Study abroad. In C. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics, IX (pp. 5427-5431). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Jackson, J., & Oguro, S. (2018). Intercultural interventions in study abroad. New York: Routledge.
• Japan Student Services Organization. (2017). Heisei 28nendo kyouteitouni motozuku nihonjin ryuugakusei oyobi kyouteitouni motodukanai nihonjin ryugakusei joukyouno goukei [White paper on the number of participants in study abroad programs in 2016: Students in programs based on agreements between universities and programs without agreements]. Retrieved from https://www.jasso.go.jp/about/statistics/intl_student_s/2017/ref17_02.html
• Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmatic development in a second language. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
• Kimura, H. (2017a). Back-to-the-future essays come alive. The 2016 PanSIG Journal, 151-156.
• Kimura, H. (2017b). Foreign language listening anxiety: A self-presentational view. International Journal of Listening, 31(3), 142-162. http://doi.org/10.1080/10904018.2016.1222909
• Kimura, H., & Hayashi, B. (2017). Back-to-the-future essays aid study abroad gains. In P. Clements, A. Krause, & H. Brown (Eds.), Transformation in language education (pp. 172-178) Tokyo: JALT.
• Kinginger, C. (2009). Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Kinginger, C. (2013). Social and cultural aspects of language learning in study abroad. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). Interviews: Learning the craft of quantitative research interviewing (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Lafford, B. A. (2004). The effect of context of learning on the use of communication strategies by learners of Spanish as a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 201-225. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263104262039
• Lantolf, J. P. (Ed.). (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Leary, M. R., & Kowalski, R. M. (1995). Social anxiety. New York: Guilford.
• MacIntyre, P. D., & Gregersen, T. (2012). Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive-broadening power of the imagination. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2, 193-213. http://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2012.2.2.4
• Magnan, S. S., & Back, M. (2007). Social interaction and linguistic gain during study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 40(1), 43-61. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2007.tb02853.x
• Murphey, T. (1996). Near peer role models. Teachers Talking To Teachers: JALT Teacher Education SIG Newsletter, 4(3), 21-22.
• Neff, P., Apple, M. T., Aliponga, J., & Hood, M. (2018, June). The long and short of it: Does study abroad alter EFL learners' self perceptions? Paper presented at the Psychology of Language Learners 3, Waseda University, Japan.
• Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2001). Living narrative: Creating lives in everyday storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic narrative as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28, 163-188. http://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm008
• Sasaki, M. (2011). Effects of varying lengths of study-abroad experiences on Japanese EFL students' L2 writing ability and motivation: A longitudinal study. TESOL Quarterly, 45, 81-105. http://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2011.240861
• Spencer, S. E., & Tuma, K. (Eds.). (2018). The guide to successful short-term programs abroad (3rd ed.). Washington DC: NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
• Steinwidder, S. (2016). EFL learners’ post-sojourn perceptions of the effects of study abroad. Comparative and International Education, 45(2), 1-20.
• van Dick, R., Wagner, U., Pettigrew, T. F., Christ, O., Wolf, C., Petzel, T., Castro, V. S., & Jackson, J. S. (2004). Role of perceived importance in intergroup contact. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(2), 211-227. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.211
• Yashima, T. (2010). The effects of international volunteer work experiences on intercultural competence of Japanese youth. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34(3), 268-282. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2009.12.003

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/ssllt.2019.9.3.3