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Full-Text Articles in Applied Linguistics
The Lost 'C': The Communities Goal Area (Plenary Panel Presentation), Heather W. Allen
The Lost 'C': The Communities Goal Area (Plenary Panel Presentation), Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
Does a study abroad experience facilitate the Communities goal? I argue that: 1) although study abroad may serve as a potential step in helping students come to realize the inherent advantages of communicating in more than one language, this cannot be automatically assumed; 2) we need to critically examine our own pedagogies, both before and during study abroad, and how classroom learning equips students to navigate the linguistic and cultural demands of life in target language communities.
Interactive Contact As Linguistic Affordance During Short-Term Study Abroad: Myth Or Reality?, Heather W. Allen
Interactive Contact As Linguistic Affordance During Short-Term Study Abroad: Myth Or Reality?, Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
This study took a sociocultural theory perspective and investigated interactive contact with French by 18 participants in a short-term study abroad (SA) program and the degree to which interactions with homestay families, U.S. peers, and other French speakers in the local community were perceived as valuable affordances for language learning. Findings demonstrate that whereas contact in French with host families was viewed as a valuable affordance for cultural and / or linguistic learning, participants' interactions in the local community were infrequent and viewed less positively. Peer-to-peer interaction in French was construed by some students as useful for developing confidence with …
Language-Learning Motivation During Short-Term Study Abroad: An Activity Theory Perspective, Heather W. Allen
Language-Learning Motivation During Short-Term Study Abroad: An Activity Theory Perspective, Heather W. Allen
Heather Willis Allen
This study investigated the development of language-learning motivation during short-term study abroad for six intermediate-level students of French. Taking an activity theory perspective, findings demonstrated that one of two orientations motivated participants to learn or continue learning French at the college level: linguistic motives or career-oriented motives. The choice to study abroad was seen as either a critical step to achieving fluency or a means of travel and cultural learning. Enhanced language-learning motivation emerged, to varying degrees, for participants with linguistically oriented motives for learning French who viewed study abroad as a language-learning experience but not for participants with primarily …