Beliefs about Language Learning in Study Abroad: Advocating for a Language Ideology Approach

Authors

  • Victoria Surtees

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v27i1.376

Keywords:

Language learning, Study abroad, Education abroad

Abstract

Governments, institutions, and students alike have a number of assumptions about the inherent value of the study abroad for language learning (Allen & Dupuy, 2012; Twombly, Salisbury, Tumanut, & Klute, 2012). To date the study abroad literature has conceptualized these assumptions as student-internal beliefs, motivations, perspectives and expectations. This paper proposes a language ideologies perspective as alternative to these learner-centred constructs in order to better recognize students’ beliefs and practices as socially and historically constituted. This paper reviews the main findings from beliefs-focused study abroad research before turning to the theoretical literature on language ideologies. Using illustrative studies to examine the affordances of a language ideology framework, I consider how notions of language ideology might provide new avenues for explaining how expectations become established resources for interpreting the study abroad experience.

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Author Biography

Victoria Surtees

Victoria Surtees is a PhD student in Teaching English as a second language at the University of British Columbia. She has been teaching English to international, exchange, and adult students for over 10 years in both France and Canada.  Her work uses mobile technologies to investigate that affordances second language interaction for language learning during study abroad.

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Published

2016-04-28

How to Cite

Surtees , V. (2016). Beliefs about Language Learning in Study Abroad: Advocating for a Language Ideology Approach. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 27(1), 85–103. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v27i1.376

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Research Articles