Celeste Kinginger

Language Learning and Study Abroad

List of Tables Acknowledgements Situating Language Learning in Study Abroad Measuring Language Acquisition Domains of Communicative Competence Communicative Settings for Language Learning Language Socialization and Identity Interpreting Research on Language Learning in Study Abroad Notes References Index

Socio-cultural perspectives on pragmatic development in foreign language learning: Microgenetic case studies from telecollaboration and residence abroad

Abstract The aim of this essay is to explore and to illustrate the complementarity of intercultural pragmatics and socio-cultural approaches to developmental research in foreign language settings, including both the telecollaborative classroom and residence abroad. Drawing on socio-cultural theory and language socialization research, we review the complex nature of pragmatic competence and the role that participation in a range of interactive discourse settings may play in its development. The issue of address form use (tu  vs. vous  in French; and du  vs. Sie  in German) is taken as a particularly revealing example of the complexity involved in developing second language (L2) pragmatic ability. We examine precise ways in which participation in a variety of interactive intercultural discourses serves to enhance learners’ awareness and use of address form choice. We present case studies of learning in two settings: 1) electronically mediated interaction in the telecollaborative language classroom, where peer-to-peer conversation between classes at home and abroad serves to broaden the discourse options of instructed learning; and 2) language learning in residence abroad, where learners may—or may not—engage in a variety of interactive discourse practices. If multivalent participation is a crucial condition for the development of L2 pragmatic competence, the profession should continue to examine the contexts of learning environments in these terms.

Enhancing Language Learning in Study Abroad

Research demonstrates that study abroad can have a positive impact on every domain of language competence, and that it is particularly helpful for the development of abilities related to social interaction. However, some results suggest that study abroad intensifies individual differences in achievement: Certain students thrive while others founder. Qualitative studies provide insight into the sources of these differences both in the stances that students adopt toward their host communities and in the ways in which they are received. Overall, the research points to a need for language learners’ broader engagement in local communicative practices, for mindfulness of their situation as peripheral participants, and for more nuanced awareness of language itself. This article offers a rationale, based on the current state of the art in research, for including the expertise of language educators in the choice and design of study abroad programs. Students will benefit from programs specifically designed to foster language learning through observation, participation, and reflection.

American students abroad: Negotiation of difference?

This paper considers the ways in which American students’ active engagement in local host communities abroad is at risk. Constraining forces include the new demographics of American study abroad, prejudicial attitudes toward international education and sheltered program designs, a research enterprise committed to representing the perspectives of students primarily, and the influence of globalization on communicative practice and habits of thought. To counter these influences, the elements of an activist stance are proposed.

Foreign Language Learning

This article provides an overview of contemporary research on the development of foreign-language ability. Following a brief consideration of current theoretical debate within the context of globalization and the rise of English as a lingua mundi, the article treats the evolution of communicative competence as a model of foreign-language competence. The expansion of foreign-language research to accommodate theories of acquisition and of socialization is then discussed. The article concludes with speculation on future research, with particular emphasis on calls to integrate investigations of the cognitive and the social aspect of foreign-language development. This article offers a survey of current research on the process of learning/acquiring foreign languages. It begins by considering current theoretical and sociopolitical challenges in the field of foreign-language research. Next, it addresses the evolving definition of foreign-language competence. An overview of constructs representing foreign-language ability emphasizes recent expansions and reconceptualizations of the now-classic notion of communicative competence, or the ability to express, interpret, and negotiate meaning in a range of relevant contexts. This is followed by a section of the article which reviews a number of major advances in research on foreign-language development through the advent of the social turn in the broader field of second-language acquisition research (Block, 2003). The concluding section speculates on the future of foreign-language-learning research, with a focus on the agenda of integrating research on the cognitive and social aspects of language development, and consideration of several areas of promise within contemporary foreign-language research.

Promoting metapragmatic development through assessment in the zone of proximal development

The assessment of second language (L2) pragmatic competence typically involves questionnaires, such as discourse completion tasks. This article describes a novel approach to using questionnaires to assess L2 metapragmatic capacities while simultaneously promoting their development: engaging learners in cooperative interaction as they complete the task. Following dynamic assessment principles, cooperative interaction reveals both fully formed and emerging competencies (i.e. zone of proximal development) while at the same time furthering their continued growth. This study draws on data collected during a concept-based pedagogical enrichment program in which US university students of French were learning the concepts of social distance and power hierarchies as illustrated by the second-person pronouns tu and vous ‘you’. We present a case study of one learner, Nikki, to show how support provided by a tutor around one questionnaire item (i.e. choosing tu or vous in an ambiguous situation) both assessed and promoted her developing conceptual knowledge about the dynamics of interpersonal relationships and how these are indexed through language.

Research on Language Education Through Programmes of Study and Residence Abroad: Recent Publications

Study Abroad and Second Language Use: Constructing the Self. Valerie Pellegrino Aveni. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2005. Pp. 188. ISBN 0-521-53494-1 (pbk):

Technology, telecommunication and foreign language teaching in the languages review consultation report: a view from the US

34.99. Language Learners in Study Abroad Contexts. Margaret A. DuFon, Eton Churchill (eds). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 2006. Pp. 329. ISBN 1-85359-852-6 (pbk):

Chinese language acquisition in study abroad contexts

54.95 Dominant Beliefs and Alternative Voices: Discourse, Belief, and Gender in American Study Abroad. Joan Elias Gore. New York: Routledge Studies in Higher Education. 2005. Pp. 268. ISBN 0-415-97457-7 (hbk):

Communicative Settings for Language Learning Abroad

75.00 Student Mobility and Narrative in Europe: The New Strangers. Elizabeth Murphy-Lejeune. New York: Routledge Studies in Anthropology. 2002. Pp. 275. ISBN 0-415-26179 (hbk):