Japanese Language Proficiency, Social Networking, and Language Use during Study Abroad: Learners' Perspectives

This study examines the self-perceived speaking proficiency development of 204 learners of Japanese who studied abroad in Japan and analyzes connections between self-reported social network development, language use, and speaking development. Learners perceived that they gained the most in areas ass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian modern language review 2012-05, Vol.68 (2), p.111-137
Main Authors: Dewey, Dan P, Bown, Jennifer, Eggett, Dennis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults. Performance, acquisition
English
English (Second Language)
Foreign Countries
Guidelines
Japan
Japanese
Japanese language
Language acquisition
Language Proficiency
Language Usage
Language use
Learning
Linguistics
Native Speakers
Oral Language
Predictor Variables
Production and comprehension processes
Psycholinguistics
Psychology of language
Regression (Statistics)
Social Networks
Socialization
Sociolinguistics
Speech Communication
Student Attitudes
Students
Studies
Study Abroad
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Summary:This study examines the self-perceived speaking proficiency development of 204 learners of Japanese who studied abroad in Japan and analyzes connections between self-reported social network development, language use, and speaking development. Learners perceived that they gained the most in areas associated with the intermediate and advanced levels of the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Speaking Proficiency Guidelines and the least in novice and superior-level abilities, largely because of a ceiling effect--learners were highly capable of novice-level tasks before study abroad and therefore had little to gain. Regression analysis indicated that self-reported pre-departure proficiency level, dispersion (number of social groups in which a learner participated), time spent in Japan, total time spent speaking Japanese, time spent speaking with native-speaker friends, and time spent speaking English with native speakers of Japanese predicted 44.6% of the variance in the perceived gains of study abroad in speaking proficiency. Self-reported pre-departure proficiency level and time spent speaking English with native speakers of Japanese were negative predictors. (Contains 3 tables.)
ISSN:0008-4506
1710-1131
DOI:10.3138/cmlr.68.2.111