Study Abroad and Changes in Degree of Foreign Accent in Children and Adults

Abstract

The present study examines the impact of learning context and age on learners' degree of foreign accent. Participants of two different age groups (children vs. adults) learning English in two different contexts (at home vs. study abroad) were interviewed and asked to narrate a story and to fill out a questionnaire about their language use while abroad. A group of listeners rated the degree of perceived foreign accent of the oral productions of each of the groups. It was found that learning context played a significant role, with participants in the study abroad setting having a significantly milder foreign accent in the posttest. Although age did not influence the results statistically, child participants abroad experienced the greatest improvement and also spent more time speaking with native speakers than adult participants abroad. These results shed light on the characteristics of the study abroad experience that are beneficial for learners and on learner characteristics that optimize such an experience.