The Homestay in Intensive Language Study Abroad: Social Networks, Language Socialization, and Developing Intercultural Competence

Abstract

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 investigated patterns of student interaction with members of the host families and explored the degree to which students took advantage of this rich learning environment. A survey was completed by 73 students upon their return to the United States at the end of the summers of 2010–2012. Results showed that, although the social network often involved extended family members, the host mother remained the primary locus of interaction. Data also showed that the homestay offered a breadth and depth of experiences that affected students' linguistic, sociolinguistic, and cultural gains and that, postprogram, students maintained their connection to this social network via social media.

The relevance and role of homestays in medical education: a scoping study

“…These students interacted with broad social networks within the community and 85% reported the homestay as offering valuable insight into the local culture [21]. Homestays provided students with a connection to community members they otherwise may not have had, which has strong implications in community-based educational programming.…”

Expanding Boundaries: Current and New Directions in Study Abroad Research and Practice

“…For example, Trentman (), who studied English‐speaking learners in the Middle East, found that some female students encountered greater difficulties interacting with native speakers (NSs) and integrating into social networks than their male student peers. In the same context, Shiri () showed that host fathers interacted more frequently with male than with female students.…”

“…Because of these mixed results, recent literature, such as Knight and Schmidt‐Rinehart () has looked at the quality of students’ relationship/interactions with their host families and at pedagogical interventions that could enhance learner–host family relationships and communication, such as shared‐time maximization or the completion of conversation assignments that follow a task‐based language teaching framework (e.g., Ellis, ). To gain insights concerning the nature of exchanges between learners and host families, most of these studies have employed qualitative methods: personal interviews, questionnaires, journals (Knight & Schmidt‐Rinehart, ), e‐journals (e.g., Stewart, ), and online surveys (e.g., Di Silvio et al, ; Shiri, ). Evidence has suggested that task‐based assignments can increase the likelihood that learners will maintain a better, more beneficial relationship with their host families (Knight & Schmidt‐Rinehart, ).…”

Engineering engagement: Perceived L2 development and short‐term service learning abroad

“…Researchers in the field have called for further empirical studies on the effectiveness of new program designs in study abroad that consider both short‐ and long‐term models that include varying combinations of coursework at a host institution, homestays with native speakers in the host country, and extracurricular social networks (Cadd, ; Isabelli‐García, ; Marijuan & Sanz, ; Morales‐Front & Sanz, ; Schenker, ; Shiri, ). The current study examined self‐assessed gains in L2 Spanish stemming from a one‐semester interdisciplinary predeparture preparation in the United States in which participants designed curriculum in Spanish for a technology summer camp, followed by an immersion program in the Dominican Republic during which participants taught the curriculum during two 1‐week technology camps to middle school students in the Dominican Republic.…”