Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:36:07.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Complexity of Study Abroad: Stories from Ethnic Minority American Students in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2018

Hang Du
Hang Du*
Affiliation:
Middlebury Collegehdu@middlebury.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study focuses on the experiences of two African American and three Chinese American college students studying in China during the 2013–2014 academic year. Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitatively, all five students made progress in their Chinese proficiency, measured by test scores, lexical diversity, and total amount of language produced in each conversation. Qualitatively, the following themes emerged: (a) interactions with Chinese people outside the classroom, (b) how the concept of “self” was viewed by the Chinese people, (c) personality factors, and (d) the language progress. The student who did not enjoy the experience as much as the other students was ethnic Chinese with the highest level of Chinese proficiency. The explanation might be a mismatch between her ideal subject position of a successful language learner and the perceived subject position of a local Chinese person. This study provides additional evidence to show that experience abroad is complex and highly individualized. Even students from the same ethnic groups might have different experiences. Factors such as personality, prior cross-cultural experiences, language proficiency, expectations, and self-identification interact with each other in complex ways to influence the students’ experience abroad. Encouraging students to cultivate a more outgoing self in their second language (L2) might help them better take advantage of the study abroad experience.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 38 , September 2018 , pp. 122 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anthony, L. (2014). AntConc (3.4.3m) [computer software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Retrieved from http://www.laurenceanthony.net/Google Scholar
Block, D. (2007). Second language identities. London, UK: Continuum.Google Scholar
Brown, L. (2013). Identity and honorifics use in Korean study abroad. In Kinginger, C. (Ed.), Social and cultural aspects of language learning in study abroad (pp. 269–298). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Diao, W. (2014). Peer socialization into gendered L2 Mandarin practices in a study abroad context: Talk in the dorm. Applied Linguistics, 37 (5), 599–620. doi:10.1093/applin/amu053Google Scholar
Du, H. (2013). The development of Chinese fluency during study abroad in China. Modern Language Journal, 97, 131–143.Google Scholar
Du, H. (2015). American college students studying abroad in China: Language, identity, and self-presentation. Foreign Language Annals, 48 (2), 250–266.Google Scholar
Duff, P., Anderson, T., Ilnyckyj, R., VanGaya, E., Wang, R. T., & Yates, E. (2013). Learning Chinese linguistic, sociocultural, and narrative perspectives. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Farrugia, C., & Bhandari, R. (2016). Open doors 2015: Report on international educational exchange. New York, NY: Institute for International Education.Google Scholar
Goldoni, F. (2017). Race, ethnicity, class and identity: Implications for study abroad. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16 (5), 328–341. doi: 10.1080/15348458.2017.1350922Google Scholar
Gore, J. (2005). Dominant beliefs and alternative voices: Discourse, belief, and gender in American study abroad. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
He, Y., & Qin, X. (2017). Internship experience in China: A pilot study. Foreign Language Annals, 50, 57–70.Google Scholar
Kinginger, C. (2004). Alice doesn't live here anymore: Foreign language learning and identity reconstruction. In Pavlenko, A. & Blackledge, A. (Eds.), Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts (pp. 219–242). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Kinginger, C. (2009). Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave/Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kinginger, C. (2013a). Identity and language learning in study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 46 (3), 339–358.Google Scholar
Kinginger, C. (2013b) (Ed.). Social and cultural aspects of language learning in study abroad. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Koven, M. (2007). Selves in two languages: Bilinguals’ verbal enactments of identity in French and Portuguese. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Lee, S., Wu, Q., Di, C., & Kinginger, C. (2017). Learning to eat politely at the Chinese homestay dinner table: Two contrasting case studies. Foreign Language Annals, 50 (1), 135–158.Google Scholar
Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Miyahira, K., & Petrucci, P. (2007). Going home to Okinawa: Perspectives of heritage language speakers studying in the ancestral homeland. In Mantero, M. (Ed.), Identity and second language learning: Culture, inquiry, and dialogic activity in educational contexts (pp. 257–282). Charlotte, NC Information Age.Google Scholar
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28 (2), 163–188.Google Scholar
Pellegrino, V. A. (2005). Study abroad and second language use: Constructing the self. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Polanyi, L. (1995). Language learning and living abroad: Stories from the field. In Freed, B. F. (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 271–291). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Riegelhaupt, F., & Carrasco, R. C. (2000). Mexico host family reactions to a bilingual Chicana teacher in Mexico: A case study of language and culture clash. Bilingual Research Journal, 24, 333–349.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.Google Scholar
Taguchi, N., Xiao, F., & Li, S. (2016). Effects of intercultural competence and social contact on speech act production in a Chinese study abroad context. Modern Language Journal,100 (4), 775–796.Google Scholar
Talburt, S., & Steward, M. (1999). What's the subject of study abroad? Race, gender, and “living culture.” Modern Language Journal, 83 (2), 163–175.Google Scholar
Veltkamp, G., Recio, G., Jacobs, A. M., & Conrad, M. (2012). Is personality modulated by language? International Journal of Bilingualism, 17 (4), 496–504.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, S. (1998). On the nature of immersion during study abroad: Some participants’ perspectives. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 4, 121–138.Google Scholar