Learning from Locals: The Impact of Social Networks with Target-Language Speakers During Study Abroad

Abstract

Social network analysis (SNA) examines the relationships that an individual speaker creates and maintains with others in order to explain and predict language behavior. Over the past 20 years, SNA has been used by a growing number of researchers to better understand the language learner and the language learning process, especially in the context of study abroad (SA) in the target-language (TL) environment. Some of the earliest applications to L2 acquisition operationalized SNA through primarily qualitative data about learners’ attitudes toward the target culture and their interactions with TL speakers (Isabelli-García, 2006; Lybeck, 2002), while later studies have focused on developing quantitative measures of network strength based on criteria such as network density, multiplexity, and dispersion (Baker-Smemoe et al., 2014; Dewey et al., 2012, 2013; Kennedy Terry, 2017, 2022a, 2022b; McManus, 2019). This research establishes the central role of social networks in L2 acquisition and demonstrates how and why SNA has become one of the most effective tools for analyzing and predicting L2 acquisition during SA. This review also considers the increasingly important role of technology in the creation and maintenance of social networks between learners and TL speakers in a world affected by recurring health crises.