Age Effects in a Study Abroad Context: Children and Adults Studying Abroad and at Home

Abstract

This study examines the effects of learning context and age on second language development by comparing the language gains, measured in terms of oral and written fluency, lexical and syntactic complexity, and accuracy, experienced by four groups of learners of English: children in a study abroad setting, children in their at‐home school, adults in a study abroad setting, and adults in their at‐home university. Results show that the study abroad context was superior to the at‐home context, and more advantageous for children than for adults in comparative gains, although adults outscored children in absolute gains. The interaction between learning context and age suggests that studying abroad was particularly beneficial for children, who also had more opportunities for oral language practice.

Study Abroad and Changes in Degree of Foreign Accent in Children and Adults

“…These results confirm the superiority of the SA context over the AH context reported by a previous study (Llanes & Muñoz, ), also for perceived FA. That study showed that the SA context was more beneficial for L2 improvement than the AH context, in terms of the participants' oral skills (measured by a set of fluency, complexity, and accuracy measures).…”

“…Several recent studies have explored the potential multiple effects of study abroad (SA) experiences on the acquisition of a second language (L2) (Llanes & Muñoz, ; Serrano, Tragant, & Llanes, ; Trenchs–Parera, ). However, these studies have mainly focused on specific areas such as fluency, grammar, writing, vocabulary, and pragmatics, whereas other L2 areas such as reading, listening, and phonological skills have been underinvestigated.…”

Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context: Findings and Research Directions

“…In contrast, to study the relationship between age and the learning context, Llanes and Muñoz (2012) conducted a comparative study with seventythree children (of whom thirty-nine studied abroad between two to three months, and thirty-four in their own country) and sixty-six adults (forty-six studied abroad between two to three months, and twenty in their own country). The results displayed that, generally, study abroad promotes fluency in both children and adults.…”

“…In the last decade, much research has been carried out with the aim to analyze the role of individual differences during study abroad such as learning strategies (Adams, 2006;Lafford, 2004;Paige, Cohen, & Shively, 2004), students' beliefs (Amuzie & Winke, 2009;Tanaka & Ellis, 2003), and age (Llanes & Muñoz, 2012).…”

“…The aim of researchers was to describe the linguistic benefits gained from the study abroad context in relation to the improvement of communicative or pragmatic competence in the target language. Over the last decade, many researchers have continued analyzing the influence of study abroad in the acquisition of linguistic knowledge, especially in fluency (Allen & Herron, 2003;Llanes & Muñoz, 2012;, in the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary (Collentine, 2004;Dewey, 2008;Isabelli & Nishida, 2005), in the development of written skills (Freed, So, & Lazar, 2003;Sasaki, 2009), or in learning strategies (Adams, 2006). However, other researchers have expanded research fields and studied other important aspects, such as the development of intercultural competence (Berg, 2009;Engle & Engle, 2004;Jackson, 2009;Pinar, 2012), the influence of extra-linguistic factors such as the duration of the stay (Dwyer, 2004), culture shock (Lafford, 2004), living conditions such as the influence of living with host families (SchmidtRinehart & Knight, 2004;Knight & SchmidtRinehart, 2010), and the creation of social networks and interaction with native speakers (Kinginger, 2008;Magnan & Back, 2007), all of which can positively or negatively influence the relationship of the individual to the language and culture of the target language when studying abroad.…”