Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Student Interactions During Study Abroad In Jordan, Dan P. Dewey, Jennifer Brown, R. Kirk Belnap

Faculty Publications

For many years, researchers have assumed that studying abroad produces “fluent” speakers of a given language. However, in the past several decades, researchers have recognized that learners do not always avail themselves of opportunities to interact in the target language, and even when they do, success is not guaranteed. Scholars have begun to recognize that the quality of learners’ interactions during study abroad may be more important for ultimate language gains than the quantity of language use. This qualitative study documents the interactions of 82 students of Arabic studying in Amman, Jordan, as well as the factors that influenced the …