This study examines the usefulness of a Process Drama approach for supporting the development of linguistic and communication skills of preservice teachers learning French as a world language in an Early Childhood Education licensure program. Process Drama is an interactive approach to teaching language in which the teacher and students carry out…

This study analyzes how self-guided cultural exploration and reflection (SCER) tasks affect the development of intercultural competency (ICC) of students participating in a study abroad program. The Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) was used to measure students' ICC development before and after a 6-week faculty-led study abroad program in…

In the context of learning a second language, the passing on of cultural information as a means to further the development of intercultural competences is primarily viewed as being unidirectional--the "native-speaking culture" passing on information to the language learning student. However, in EFL (English as a foreign language)…

Chinese as a world language has gained popularity in US K-12 education over the past two decades. However, little attention has been paid to diverse populations in Chinese language classrooms and how the students' diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds influence their experiences in Chinese programs. This article presents a research synthesis…

The study investigates whether and how mock interviews, an instructional component of business Chinese courses, prepare students for real interviews. The study included 11 American undergraduate students who participated in a 10-week summer study abroad program in China. Participants underwent two rounds of mock interviews with their instructors…

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is an education model that provides a framework for international academic exchanges. Though COIL projects outline some best practices for academic partnerships, there are still several areas of project development in which participating faculty must make important decisions that affect the…

The current study compared perceived language gains between learners of different preprogram proficiencies, academic interests, and genders who participated in the same predeparture preparation and short-stay service learning program abroad. L2 learners studying Spanish and computer science students participated in a semester-long program to…

This study investigated the effects of an intensive summer program on students' writing, reading, listening, vocabulary, and grammar skills. The program consisted of 4 weeks at the U.S. home institution and 4 weeks in Berlin, Germany, and offered the equivalent of two college-level, second-year German classes in one summer. During the last three…

This study examined how a dialogic reading (DR) program with a component of multisensory learning (MS) of Chinese characters improved early Chinese reading and writing skills in L2 Chinese-speaking kindergarteners in Hong Kong. The DR + MS program was compared to the same DR program but focusing on morphological awareness (MA) training. A total of…

This article explores the intercultural and citizenship dimensions of foreign language teaching and discusses, in particular, the implications for foreign language teaching and teacher education. The work (1) extends the fundamental concepts that were developed by Byram and Wagner (2018) in this journal--that foreign language education has…

This study investigated the composition of the social network that the homestay offers learners in an intensive summer Arabic language program in diglossic and multilingual Tunisia and examined the types of language socialization as well as the overall linguistic and intercultural competence such opportunities present. The study specifically…

This article examines four French immersion (FI) teachers' perspectives on the relationship between language and culture and on their roles as intercultural mediators in New Brunswick (NB), Canada's only officially bilingual province. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the teachers. Couched in the broader framework of Canada's…

This small-scale study reported American students' perception of the effect of their internship conducted in a study abroad program on their development of Chinese language proficiency, intercultural competence, and professional knowledge. The results indicate that a self-evaluated successful internship allows interns with intermediate-level…

Providing learners of a foreign language with meaningful opportunities for interactions, specifically with native speakers, is especially challenging for instructors. One way to overcome this obstacle is through video-synchronous computer-mediated communication tools such as Skype software. This study reports quantitative and qualitative data from…

This preliminary study investigates the acquisition of second language phonology with respect to two variables: immersion in a target language community, and explicit instruction in the form of a phonetics/pronunciation class. Specifically, the research examines the second language acquisition (SLA) of specific properties of the Spanish phonology…