Engagement with language in study abroad: accounts from Korean English-major students in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the emergence and nature of engagement with language during short-term study abroad (STSA). Ten teacher-education students from the same sending university in South Korea participated in a 4-week programme hosted by a U.S. university, with emphasis on multiculturalism and English as a medium of classroom instruction. Adopting the framework of engagement with language and a case study method, the current study focuses on three English majors with a professional stake and expert training as focal cases and their responses to focus group interviews and individual interviews, as well as written reflections. The data reveal the participants’ critical reflections on their prior L2 practices and a complex interplay of cognitive (breakdowns of English and its forms and functions), affective (confidence boosting), and social (interactions for learning) engagement with language in relation to what STSA affords as a context and how the participants negotiate and shape that context. The study further uncovers dynamic interactions of the different forms of engagement, such as juxtaposition of cognitive and affective forms and interconnected forms of cognitive, affective, and social engagement. The findings shed new insight into the complex nature of engagement with language during STSA.