Elsevier

System

Volume 71, December 2017, Pages 49-59
System

Measuring social interaction during study abroad: Quantitative methods and challenges

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2017.09.026Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper examines ways of measuring (assigning numbers to) social interaction and language use during study abroad. It reviews the development of instruments for such measurement and describes some of the connections that have been made between quantitative measures of social second language use and language development while abroad. Measures addressed include the Language Contact Profile, language logs, the Social Network Questionnaire, the Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire, online social media, photo elicitation, mobile phone surveys, and other computational methodologies. The paper encourages mixed methods for clearer and more elaborate understanding and more detailed documentation of tools and procedures for better understanding of cross-study similarities and differences.

Introduction

Accurate measurement is important for second language acquisition (SLA) studies. (Norris and Ortega, 2003, Seliger and Shohamy, 1989). To understand language acquisition, we must observe and measure it; to determine the contribution of any variable to SLA development, we must accurately gauge that variable. We cannot draw solid conclusions about how SLA occurs without accurately measuring language acquisition and the factors that influence it. Pedhazur and Schmelkin (2013) note, “Of various definitions of measurement in socio-behavioral sciences, the preeminent, although by no means universally accepted, is one offered and elaborated upon by Stevens… (1968) ‘the assignment of numbers to aspects of objects or events according to one or another rule or convention’ (p. 850)” (p. 16). Measurement as defined here will be the focus of this paper.

In the study abroad (SA) setting, one challenge is determining the degree to which learners are immersed in the second language (L2). While learners are generally thought to experience all-out immersion in the L2 while abroad, some research challenges this assumption (Diao et al., 2011, Iino, 2006, Magnan and Back, 2007, Wilkinson, 1998a, Wilkinson, 1998b). Evaluating the accuracy of this assumption and establishing more clearly the amount of contact learners have with locals and the degree to which they use the L2 are challenges that merit careful and thoughtful measurement.

Studies of language contact during SA have gathered information on time spent reading, writing, listening to, and speaking the L2 (Badstübner and Ecke, 2009, Dewey, 2004, Ferenz, 2005, Llanes and Botana, 2015, Pérez-Vidal and Juan-Garau, 2009). Understanding amount of time using the L2 and how that time is used in a SA setting can enhance general knowledge of the processes of SLA. When acquiring a language in communities where the language is not spoken natively, access to written linguistic resources is typically greater than availability of native speaker interlocutors (see Tse, 2001). Hence, SA provides greater opportunity for exposure to and interaction in the L2 than at-home foreign language learning and social interaction in the L2 is therefore a rich topic for research in SA.

From an SLA perspective, one could argue for promoting social interaction through SA in the name of increasing input (Krashen, 1981, Krashen, 1985), providing opportunities for negotiating meaning with interlocutors (Long, 1985), being forced to output language necessary for various communicative interactions (Swain, 1993, Swain, 1998, pp. 127–140), or encouraging the higher-order cognitive activity involved in participation in cultural and linguistic settings requiring meaningful social interaction (Lantolf and Appel, 1994, Lantolf and Pavlenko, 1995, Lantolf and Poehner, 2014, Lantolf, 2000). Based on Krashen, 1981, Krashen, 1985 input hypothesis, one could argue for the importance of exposure to extensive input and the value of having a readily available native speaker (NS) interlocutor adjust that input to be comprehensible. One could also emphasize the importance of experiencing a broad range of communicative situations during SA (conversational frames, confirmation checks, clarification requests, self-repetitions, other repetitions, expansions, or other adjustments) where the speaker needs to work with an L2 interlocutor to accomplish various communicative goals (Long, 1985). Next, advocates of SLA through social interaction abroad could argue for SA to promote “pushed output” (Swain, 1985). Swain states, “Comprehensible output is, unfortunately, generally missing in typical classroom settings, language classroom and immersion classrooms [at home] being no exception” (p. 252). Swain contrasts classroom learners with “street learners” who are forced to engage in more “two-way, negotiated meaning exchanges” (p. 247). SA participants could be characterized as “street learners” who are pushed to engage in such negotiated meaning exchanges. Finally, advocates of sociocultural theory could argue that SA provides an ideal setting for social interaction through formal, organized institutional settings such as schooling, internships, and sport activities, but also through informal social interaction with host families, neighbors, peers, and others. Learning can be mediated by authentic objects within the SA setting and scaffolded by other speakers of the L2 (both native and nonnative), and individuals can move beyond their current independent capacities as they stretch toward the higher end of their zone of proximal development through the scaffolding of others around them. In short, interaction with and scaffolding by others in one's environment is a key component of SA in line with sociocultural theory (Lantolf and Appel, 1994, Lantolf and Pavlenko, 1995, Lantolf and Poehner, 2014, Lantolf, 2000). Johnson and Golombek, 2011, Johnson and Golombek, 2016 illustrate well from a sociocultural perspective how SA can better prepare teachers to engage learners in dialogic interaction in the classroom based on the needs of out-of-class social interaction typical of immersive SA. From all four of these perspectives (input, interaction, output, and sociocultural), the value of investigating social interaction is clear.

In this paper, I focus on the measurement of L2 social interaction during SA based on the assumptions that SA is important for SLA and that accurate measurement is critical for understanding the SA experience and its linguistic benefits. I show that social interaction can be measured in multiple ways and from various perspectives, and that each of these approaches can contribute to our understanding of SLA during SA. Although qualitative methods such as ethnographies, interviews, and journal studies are valuable for understanding social interaction, treatment of these methods is beyond the scope of this study, so they are only touched on to illustrate the value of mixed methods.

Section snippets

Measuring social interaction: the language contact profile, language logs, and social network surveys

L2 social interaction abroad has been measured using a number of tools, including the Language Contact Profile (LCP), language logs, and social network surveys. The LCP and language logs focus primarily on amount of time spent using the L2 in various situations, and social network surveys focus on the individuals a person interacts with and relationships with those individuals.

Recent innovation in measuring L2 social interaction

One of the strengths of self-reports is that they allow quantification valuable for identifying trends across the data and statistical relationships between social interaction, L2 use, and SLA abroad. This strength can also be a limitation, since self-reports tell us little about the nature of an individual's experience. Coleman (2013) and Kinginger (2009) emphasize the need to go beyond generalization and better understand the diversity of individual SA: “Individual trajectories are in fact

Conclusion

Understanding how learners use language and interact with others while abroad is a challenge that has involved a broad range of measurement techniques. The LCP, an early tool used in this effort, is a practical and quick means of gathering data that has been extensively used in a range of variations, yielding mixed results in terms of connections with SLA. A common LCP findings is extensive reported use of the L1 during SA. Variations in LCP makeup and administration, along with differences in

References (113)

  • A. Bracke et al.

    Erasmus students: Joining communities of practice to learn French?

  • R.D. Brecht et al.

    Predictors of foreign language gain during study abroad. NFLC occasional papers

    (1993)
  • R.D. Brecht et al.

    Predictors of foreign language gain during study abroad

  • R.D. Brecht et al.

    On the value of formal instruction in study abroad: Student reactions in context

  • J.G. Briggs

    A context-specific research tool to probe the out-of-class vocabulary-related strategies of study-abroad learners

    International Journal of Applied Linguistics

    (2015)
  • R.S. Burt

    General social survey network items

    Connections

    (1985)
  • A.D. Cohen et al.

    Acquisition of requests and apologies in Spanish and French: Impact of study abroad and strategy-building intervention

    Modern Language Journal

    (2007)
  • J.A. Coleman

    Researching whole people and whole lives

  • J.A. Coleman et al.

    Study abroad and the internet: Physical and virtual context in an era of expanding telecommunications

    Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad

    (2010)
  • K. Csizér et al.

    Modelling the role of inter-cultural contact in the motivation of learning English as a foreign language

    Applied Linguistics

    (2009)
  • D.P. Dewey

    A comparison of reading development by learners of Japanese in intensive domestic immersion and study abroad contexts

    Studies in Second Language Acquisition

    (2004)
  • D.P. Dewey

    Japanese vocabulary acquisition by learners in three contexts

    Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad

    (2008)
  • D.P. Dewey et al.

    Social network development, language Use, and anguage acquisition during study abroad: Arabic language learners' perspectives. Frontiers: The

    Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad

    (2013)
  • D.P. Dewey et al.

    Language use in six study abroad programs: An exploratory analysis of possible predictors

    Language Learning

    (2014)
  • D.P. Dewey et al.

    Japanese language proficiency, social networking, and language use during study abroad: Learners' perspectives

    Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes

    (2012)
  • F. Di Silvio et al.

    The effect of study abroad homestay placements: Participant perspectives and oral proficiency gains

    Foreign Language Annals

    (2014)
  • F. Di Silvio et al.

    Promoting oral proficiency gain in study abroad homestay placements

  • W. Diao et al.

    Confirmed beliefs or false assumptions? A study of home stay experiences in the French study abroad context

    Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad

    (2011)
  • M. Díaz-Campos

    Context of learning in the acquisition of Spanish second language phonology

    Studies in Second Language Acquisition

    (2004)
  • Z. Dörnyei

    Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in language learning: Advances in theory, research, and applications

    Language Learning

    (2003)
  • J. Fernández et al.

    An appraisal of the Language Contact Profile as a tool to research local engagement in study abroad

    Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education

    (2016)
  • B.F. Freed

    Language learning in a study abroad context: The effects of interactive and noninteractive out-of-class contact on grammatical achievement and oral proficiency

    Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics

    (1990)
  • B.F. Freed

    What makes us think that students who study abroad become fluent?

  • B.F. Freed et al.

    The language contact profile

    Studies in Second Language Acquisition

    (2004)
  • B.F. Freed et al.

    Context of learning and second language fluency in French: Comparing regular classroom, study abroad, and intensive domestic immersion programs

    Studies in Second Language Acquisition

    (2004)
  • Garcia-Amaya, L.. (in this issue). Detailing L1 and L2 use in study abroad research: Data from the Daily Linguistic...
  • R. Gautier et al.

    Social networks and acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in a study abroad context: A preliminary study

  • A. George

    Study abroad in central Spain: The development of regional phonological features

    Foreign Language Annals

    (2014)
  • R.B. Ginsberg et al.

    What do they do? Activities of students during study abroad

  • M.S. Granovetter

    The strength of weak ties

    American Journal of Sociology

    (1973)
  • D.M. Hardison

    Changes in second-language learners' oral skills and socio-affective profiles following study abroad: A mixed-methods approach

    Canadian Modern Language Review

    (2014)
  • M. Iino
    (2006)
  • C. Isabelli-Garcia

    Study abroad social networks, motivation, and attitudes: Implications for second language acquisition

  • K.E. Johnson et al.

    Research on second language teacher education: A sociocultural perspective on professional development

    (2011)
  • K.E. Johnson et al.

    Mindful L2 teacher education: A sociocultural perspective on cultivating teachers' professional development

    (2016)
  • C. Kinginger

    Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research

    (2009)
  • J. Kormos et al.

    A mixed-method study of language-learning motivation and intercultural contact of international students

    Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

    (2014)
  • S.D. Krashen

    The “fundamental pedagogical principle” in second language teaching

    Studia Linguistica

    (1981)
  • S.D. Krashen

    The input hypothesis: Issues and implications

    (1985)
  • J. Kruger et al.

    Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1999)
  • Cited by (28)

    • Technology and L2 engagement in study abroad: Enabler or immersion breaker?

      2019, System
      Citation Excerpt :

      Once these are analysed in the context of the results presented above, greater insight into the ways that participants used and engaged with language through technology should emerge. Ideally though, more granular data, captured in-situ through methods such as those described by Dewey (2017), would provide a more detailed picture of participants’ actual language engagement and use through technology. The results of this investigation have shown that technology use in study abroad contexts extends across a diverse range of activities and represents significant engagement with L2.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text