Language contact and language learning in the digital age

Supervisor: Dr Zöe Handley

A) Rationale for the project

Technological innovations have changed the way in which we communicate opening up the possibility for students studying a foreign language to engage with speakers of the target language from their home country without visiting the target country via a range of technologies from discussion boards and social media to text chat and video conferencing. At the same time the availability of these same technologies has made it easier for language learners to maintain contact with friends and family in their home country while studying abroad. Study abroad has long been assumed to be beneficial to language learners because it provides ample opportunities to practice the target language. The possibilities that new communications technologies offer students studying at home to engage in the target language, it has been argued, have the potential to reduce the advantage of studying abroad in terms in terms of levels of language use, often referred to as language contact, and at the same time increase the extent to which students use their first language during that time. Some research has started to explore the question of the impact of new communications technologies on study abroad and study at home.

This research is, however, limited and, as is true of the broader literature on study abroad, few studies have looked at these questions from the perspective of students studying for a degree abroad, as opposed to intensively studying the target language. In this project, you will explore students’ use of these new communications technologies to engage in the target language and their first language in a context of your choice and look at the relationship with language development.

B) References that should be read (if you do not have access to these, please email zoe.handley@york.ac.uk)

Coleman, J. A., & Chafer, T. (2010). Study abroad and the internet: Physical and virtual context in an era of expanding telecommunications. Frontiers: The interdisciplinary journal of study abroad, 19, 151-167.

Durbidge, L. (2019). Technology and L2 engagement in study abroad: Enabler or immersion breaker?. System, 80, 224-234.

Martínez-Arbelaiz, A., Areizaga, E., & Camps, C. (2017). An update on the study abroad experience: Language choices and social media abroad. International journal of multilingualism, 14(4), 350-365.

Hanson, A. E. S., & Dracos, M. (2019). The digital dilemma: L1 and L2 technology use, language learning, and motivation among US university students studying abroad. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 4(2), 224-251.

C) Research aims / questions

In this project, you will explore students’ use of these new communications technologies to engage in the target language and their first language in a context of your choice and look at the relationship with language development.

D) Methods

A number of novel methods for collecting data on language contact during study abroad have been developed in recent years. You will select an approach that matches your aims and research questions, based on a critical evaluation of the different methods.

Arndt, H. L., Granfeldt, J., & Gullberg, M. (2021). Reviewing the potential of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) for capturing second language exposure and use. Second Language Research, 02676583211020055.

Dewey, Dan P. "Measuring social interaction during study abroad: Quantitative methods and challenges." System, 71 (2017): 49-59.

Freed, B. F., Dewey, D. P., Segalowitz, N., & Halter, R. (2004). The language contact profile. Studies in second language acquisition, 26(2), 349-356.

García-Amaya, L. (2017). Detailing L1 and L2 use in study-abroad research: Data from the daily linguistic questionnaire. System, 71, 60-72

McManus, K. (2019). Relationships between social networks and language development during study abroad. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 32(3), 270-284.

E) Skills and opportunities you could gain

You will develop a deep understanding of the literature on study abroad and factors that are associated with language development during study abroad. You will learn how to design surveys/interviews and other instruments that might be used to measure learners’ levels of language contact and understand their experiences of study abroad. You will also learn how to analyse that data using thematic analysis and/or relevant statistical techniques.