Abstract Amid a shifting global cultural landscape, fostering global identity (GI) among students has become a critical focus in international education ( Hendershot & Sperandio, 2009 ). Japan’s surge in international student enrollment, driven by policies promoting global learning within a multicultural context, underscores the need to examine how international students navigate their experiences in Japan and manifest a GI. This study views international students as active agents, investigating multifaceted factors shaping their GI. Combining questionnaire data and semi-structured interviews, the analysis applies Identity Theory ( Stryker & Burke, 2000 ) to explore both personal and external influences during their time in Japan. The findings reveal that students’ regional backgrounds, language proficiency, and engagement with academic, multicultural, and local Japanese communities significantly relate to GI formation. This empirical evidence challenges the traditional view of GI as an inherent disposition, instead linking it to community dynamics within the unique context of a non-Western and non-English-language setting.

Abstract This study explores how study-abroad learners perceive and interpret gaps in their L2 pragmatic knowledge. While previous research focuses on pragmatic development in specific speech acts or pragmatic phenomena, this research adopts a learner-centered approach, emphasizing pragmatic challenges noticed by learners themselves during naturalistic interactions. Data were collected through learning journals and interviews with five Chinese students studying in the United Kingdom over one academic year. Results reveal that learners predominantly notice pragmatic gaps in three scenarios: (1) encountering unfamiliar sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic features, (2) experiencing difficulties in negotiating social or moral meanings, and (3) receiving implicit feedback from interlocutors regarding their pragmatic choices. Pragmatic awareness was particularly triggered in rapport-sensitive interactions with tutors and non-transactional conversations like small talk. While noticing sometimes led to metapragmatic reflection, learners often overgeneralized or misinterpreted sociopragmatic norms. The findings highlight the need for specialized pragmatics instruction in ESL/EFL contexts to support SA students.

Abstract In this article, we reflect on how stay-abroad data and research have contributed to the field of second language acquisition and on what form future contributions could take. To do so, we use a recent model of second-language interaction (Geeslin, 2020, 2023) as a framework, focusing on two components of the model: learner characteristics (i.e., gender, identity) that shape language use and input available to learners. For each component, we reference empirical research on sociolinguistic and phraseological development in stay-abroad contexts to formulate six testable hypotheses. We show how these hypotheses may fruitfully guide future research, with the goal of refining this model of second-language interaction and informing theory building within the field of second language acquisition more generally.

Abstract This study investigated the experiences of 24 international students from eight countries studying Arabic as a second language at a university in the Occupied Palestinian territories. Five native Arabic instructors who taught the students were also interviewed. The study attempted to answer the following research question: what challenges in communication did Arabic as a foreign language learners report when using Palestinian colloquial Arabic (ammya) with Palestinians (locals) outside of the university classroom? Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. Findings show that students preferred using ammya to communicate with locals, that locals were willing to speak ammya, and that effective communication requires increased cultural awareness. Implications for Arabic study abroad second language learning programs are provided.

Abstract This article draws on a larger research project investigating Swiss adolescents’ study abroad (SA) experiences and offers a detailed case study centered on the social integration of a 16-year-old student, Lily, during her year in England. A highly sociable individual and a skilled basketball player, Lily’s narrative sheds light on the intricate challenges associated with social integration during a SA program, revealing complex power dynamics among teenage high school students, with bullying emerging as a poignant manifestation. It challenges the prevailing discourse that often idealizes language learning during immersion as a straightforward and enjoyable process within a friendly and supportive host environment. Instead, it delves into the sensitive issue of adolescents abroad facing instances of bullying. Communities of practice and othering provide valuable insights into the unfriendly attitudes exhibited by the hosts and Lily’s defensive response, contributing to a nuanced understanding of the dynamics at play during adolescent SA experiences.

Abstract The variability of speaking proficiency outcomes in study abroad (SA) is often thought of as confounding, as conclusions regarding even the most basic assumptions are not agreed upon. While instruments such as language contact and social network surveys shed light on target language engagement, comparisons across studies are often obscured by individual differences, SA program variability, and differences in study design and instruments. Qualitative approaches to understanding learners’ contexts for interaction can provide a fuller picture of what actually occurs during SA. From an interactionist perspective centering learners’ reflections about their interactions in journals, this article presents ten university students’ experiences in an eight-week language program in Turkey. The program’s unstructured nature (no language pledge or homestay) allowed for diverse interactional patterns to emerge. Findings highlight the central role of service encounters in providing learner access to speaking opportunities.

Abstract This article documents language development in the context of studying abroad with English as the lingua franca. In particular, it examines whether and how lexical sophistication in English as a foreign language changes during a semester abroad. Given the advances in the conceptualization and operationalization of lexical sophistication, this study applies indicators of lexical sophistication that have not previously been used in study abroad research. A statistically significant improvement was found in two measures of lexical sophistication in oral production — familiarity and meaningfulness — and in one measure in written production — meaningfulness. Comparing the differences between the pre- and post-test results showed that respondents performed better in the oral production in terms of range and familiarity, that is, they produced more lexis that occurs in fewer texts and is less familiar, while they performed better in the written production in terms of imageability, in other words, they used less imageable lexis.

Abstract This study investigates which types of target language (TL) use best explain the development of phraseological sophistication (mean pointwise mutual information of verb + direct object collocations) in argumentative essays written by second language learners of French during a nine-month sojourn abroad. Using data from the LANGSNAP corpus (Tracy-Ventura et al., 2016), we built a series of regression models to predict development on the basis of the learners’ self-reported social networks and engagement in various activities (e.g., small talk, reading newspapers). Our findings show that quantity of TL interaction and use on their own were not strong predictors of development. Rather, development was related to the types of activities that learners reported being engaging in while abroad, specifically reading. These results shed more light on the development of phraseological sophistication and speak to the importance of connecting linguistic development to the specific activities learners engage in while abroad.