Teachers' perspectives on pedagogy in short‐term language study abroad

• Published in: Foreign language annals 2023-12, Vol.56 (4), p.972-992
• Main Authors: Fischer, Brett, Viens, Danielle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: College Faculty; Educational Objectives; Experiential Learning; facilitated study abroad; group study abroad; L2 learning abroad; out‐of‐class teaching; Second Language Instruction; short‐term study abroad; Study Abroad; Teacher Attitudes; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0015-718X; 1944-9720
• DOI: 10.1111/flan.12710

Study abroad (SA) in North America is changing in two ways: short‐term trips are becoming more popular, and more students are traveling in teacher‐facilitated groups. These changes raise questions about how teaching methods can help to improve outcomes in short stays abroad, particularly in the case of language learners. To better understand teachers' perspectives on pedagogy, we conducted a series of group and individual interviews with 18 college teachers who facilitate short‐term language SA. The results of a constructivist grounded theory analysis showed that teachers believed pedagogy in short‐term SA could be improved by integrating the SA program into the at‐home curriculum, by targeting both measurable and process‐based objectives, by adopting a variety of teaching strategies including experiential teaching, and by integrating interactions between students and locals in different ways. The Challenge Is short‐term SA truly less effective at developing students' language proficiency than stays of longer duration? What if context‐specific teaching practices could be developed to help facilitators maximize the benefit of shorter stays? This study examines teachers' beliefs about how pedagogy in short‐term SA can be improved.