1 of 23

Lessons learned from 20+ years of immersive SA programs

Sophia Minnillo

PhD Candidate, Linguistics

University of California, Davis

Symposium on Language Research 2024

1

2 of 23

To access the slides on your device

2

3 of 23

Study abroad (SA) & what is at stake

SA can lead to language & intercultural learning (Diao & Trentman, 2021) and personal growth (Tracy-Ventura et al., 2016)

Scholars have reported mixed findings about how SA effectiveness may differ based on program features, such as housing and program length (Borràs & Llanes, 2019)

Many SA program features are changing at US universities, such as program length (shorter programs) (Basterretxea Santiso & Sanz, 2023; Fisher et al., 2022; Zhuang & Kinginger, 2024)

More research is needed to understand how program features impact SA learning outcomes and students’ experiences

3

4 of 23

Plurilingual-pluricultural competence (PPC)

“the ability to use languages for the purposes of communication and to take part in intercultural interaction, where a person, viewed as a social actor has proficiency, of varying degrees, in several languages and experience of several cultures” (Coste et al., 2009, p. 11)

Part of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

4

5 of 23

PPC as a framework for learning during SA

Asset-oriented: emphasizes the assistive role of students’ existing repertoires (Carando et al., 2023; Lüdi & Py, 2009)

Resonates with translingual and critical language awareness approaches

Pedagogies that can serve marginalized students, including heritage learners (HLs) (Pozzi et al., 2021)

Highlights the connections between linguistic and cultural learning

Many studies focus on one or the other (Chieffo & Griffiths, 2004; Merino & Avello, 2014; Taguchi et al., 2016)

5

6 of 23

The programs

6

	MADRID (2023)	MENDOZA, Argentina (2022-2023)
Location	Large city, capital of Spain	Smaller city; flight from capital
Course levels	Beginner, upper-division (advanced)	Intermediate & upper-division (advanced)

10-11 weeks
Sheltered classes; credit transfers in home Spanish dept.
Led by faculty from home institution
20+ years of operation

7 of 23

Research questions

To what extent were these two programs designed to support PPC development, according to program leaders?�
How did the features of these two programs in ‘22-’23 support or hinder students’ PPC development, according to program leaders and students?

7

8 of 23

Methods

Analysis

Inductive qualitative coding (Saldaña, 2021)

Researcher positionality

L2 Spanish speaker from U.S., participant observer in Madrid

8

Data sources	When collected	Participants involved
Student Interviews (+ middle for Mendoza ‘22)	Beginning & end of program	Madrid: 7 students Mendoza: 4 students
Program Leader Interviews	After program	Coordinator & faculty leads (FLs) of each program
Pre-departure orientation notes	Before program	All

9 of 23

RQ1: Program design

9

10 of 23

Mendoza - design

10

Positionality: “from my linguistic perspective, I always recognize that language cannot be separated from culture, and they both work together”

*FL from Mendoza: contacts helped realize programming

Housing: insisted on 1 student per homestay based on previous experience organizing SA programs, believed best way for PPC

Language Partner Program: worked with local professor to partner students with local peers studying English. For credit.

Overcome limitations of sheltered classes, local engagement

Intercultural Competence Seminar: Foster PPC

*FL = faculty lead

11 of 23

Madrid - design

11

Originally in smaller city in Spain

Students took sheltered classes at local university known for Spanish language teaching
Move because students interested in big cities, more activities

Positionality: passionate about experiential learning 🖼️

FL from Spain: helpful for negotiation & cultural lens

Housing: originally just dorms

Then, everyone homestays: “the most enriching experience”
Student complaints → gave students options

Intercultural Competence Seminar (~2015)

Foster PPC & student well-being, model for other programs

12 of 23

RQ2:

Program Features in 2022-23

12

13 of 23

Housing

1 student per homestay

“that really facilitates the language learning…the opportunity to practice and use the language that they're learning…every day in their classes” (SA coordinator)

Zandia (inter. L2): host brother helped learn informal language

Brad (adv. L2): PPC through participating in lunch conversations with host mom and brother, hearing political arguments

Anita (adv. L2): host family didn’t engage much with her, isolated location

Mendoza

Madrid

Homestays with 1-2 students or dorm with a program student or a local student

Carolina (beg. HL) shared homestay

“I asked [my host mother], do you think my Spanish is better? And she was like, oh yeah, in the first two weeks it was impossible to talk to you but now I can actually explain what my job is, I can explain the politics a little bit in Spain. She explained...how the concept of racism works here”�

Zhara (beg. L2) dorm with program student

“I felt like it was this area where the the cafeteria people speak English, the door man speaks English, everybody speaking English, everything's in English”

Yakira & Alejandro (adv. HL): limited contact with host families because of busy schedules

13

Mendoza

Daniella, the Mendoza students, and Melissa emphasized the value of the program’s homestay feature for PPC development. Melissa highlighted how Daniella’s homestay design promoted plurilingual development in synchrony with coursework:

students are placed in one student per home stay. So that really facilitates the language learning, I think, for them, and the opportunity to practice and use the language that they're learning…every day in their classes (Melissa interview).

Reinforcing Melissa’s point, Zandia added that she appreciated learning different aspects of language in each context, such as essential grammatical forms in classes and informal vocabulary with her host brother. All of the students mentioned conversing with their hosts regularly in Spanish, contributing to their language development.

Engaging with their hosts led students to practice pluricultural competence as well. Daniella emphasized the benefits of these interactions for pluricultural growth: “living with the family is more than just learning the language, it's learning the cultural perspective of that family, it's learning how they interact every day” (Daniella interview). Brad, for instance, mentioned that he gained insight into local social norms by noticing how his host mother and brother routinely ate lunch together and engaged in long conversations over a shared meal. Furthermore, he gleaned greater understanding about the economic and political status of Argentina through listening to his family members’ worries about the 2023 presidential election. Zandia also learned about asado ‘barbecue’ culture through participating in an event with her host family. Many hosts created opportunities for PPC growth by inviting students to participate in their quotidian activities.

However, not all home stays equally fostered PPC. Anita’s family kept to themselves, only interacting briefly with her on a daily basis. She also lived in a gated community on the outskirts of the city, a living situation that she disliked because of how it alienated her from the rest of the local community. Likewise, Brad recommended that students not stay in gated communities because they were very similar to Bay Area suburbs; in essence, living there may not have differed too much from what students would have experienced at home. On the other hand, some students turned away opportunities to develop PPC through interaction with their hosts. While Emily engaged in many activities with her host sister at the beginning of the program, she began to prioritize spending her evenings with program peers instead of at home as the program continued on. Thus, the one student-per-homestay policy was not equally effective for PPC development among all students.

Madrid

While the students and Roya described the homestays as more useful for PPC development than living in the dorms, students experienced considerable variation in the extent to which their homestay or dorm supported PPC growth. Among the 4 participants who completed homestays, only Clara and Carolina regularly interacted with their host families. Yakira and Alejandro, on the other hand, mentioned not spending much time with their hosts due to both parties’ busy schedules. Yakira’s host mother also primarily spoke in English with her and the other student from the SA program who also lived there.

Conversely, Clara conversed exclusively in Spanish with her host family and dedicated considerable time to socializing with her host family members and their extended family and friend network. She mentioned gaining new insights into local cultural norms through experiences such as interacting with her host grandmother during celebrations for the Holy Week holiday. Likewise, Carolina only spoke Spanish with her host mother, which she identified as the most beneficial aspect of the program for her language development. As a beginner learner of Spanish, Carolina relied heavily on an advanced Spanish student from the SA program who shared the same homestay to negotiate meaning with their host mother. Over the course of her stay, Carolina became more and more capable of communicating independently with her host mother:

I asked [my host mother], do you think my Spanish is better? And she was like, oh yeah, in the first two weeks it was impossible to talk to you but now I can actually explain what my job is, I can explain the politics a little bit in Spain. She explained to me about how the concept of racism works here which is really interesting to me (Carolina post-interview).

Hence, the homestay served both as a site of linguistic and cultural learning for those who were able to engage in meaningful interactions with their hosts.

The other 3 Madrid participants stayed in dorms with another student from their program. While the students appreciated the independence that living in a dorm afforded them, they expressed frustration with how the dorm perpetuated their program bubble. Zara mentioned, “It would have been more interesting if I did a host family, or if I maybe the whole area wasn't just study abroad students, or mainly like international students, because I felt like it was this area where the the cafeteria people speak English, the door man speaks English, everybody speaking English, everything's in English” (beginning interview). Sara echoed this sentiment in the post-interview, wishing that she could have lived with more local students. One student in the program did end up staying with a local student, which Roya described as a more favorable option than staying with other U.S. students. For those who lived with their compatriots in the English-dominant dorm, they did not find that this housing arrangement offered ample opportunities for PPC development.

14 of 23

Site & logistics

Mendoza

Madrid

Sheltered classes in local university

Anita & Zandia appreciated socializing + watching world cup ⚽ matches in the cafeteria with local students

Mendoza: small city

Brad: location facilitated local engagement, such as playing music with locals after a soccer match 🎶

International study center (sheltered)

Program bubble- gave community
Clara (adv. L2), echoed by Sara (L1 Span)

“If you don't know Spanish…this is a great setting, because the group is small, and you'll have more attention on your language ability. If you're more advanced with the language maybe pick a different program that requires like interacting with people from this culture.”

Clara, Juana (adv. HL), & Sara: would have liked to study at a local university

Both

Plurilingual-pluricultural on-site staff helped students adjust & understand tacit cultural knowledge (e.g., why Argentines wear flip flops in the home 🩴)

14

15 of 23

Intercambios (language exchanges)

Mendoza

Madrid

Frequent: Local students eager to participate, motivated to learn Eng.

Created group chat 📱, invited students to events
Anita: supplemented lack of interaction at homestay

“There [have] been multiple times that I've gone out to the club…and stay[ed] with them for a good amount of the night. So definitely those students have been super welcoming and have given me, like also a sense of community among the locals here.”

Frequent at beginner level�Implemented in beginner Span. class

Zhara: “awkward collision of cultures” when students & intercambio partner used different greetings 🤝 → PPC

Infrequent at advanced level

Staff led only 1 intercambio, no advanced students attended

15

16 of 23

Coursework

Mendoza

Madrid

Zandia (inter. L2): found courses to have the largest impact on her language development�

Anita & Brad (adv. L2): slacked off in courses, focused on living abroad

Experiential learning valued by all�Practice food vocabulary at market 🍓, describe art work seen in situ

Intercultural Competence class valued

Zhara: “I think [Madrid FL is]...helping us understand the cultural differences and helping us understand that feelings of homesickness or feelings of loneliness, it's normal to feel that way when you're coming to a new country”

Some pedagogy didn’t serve students

Art history: unfair assessment practices�Film & Art history: lacking awareness of language norms in Latin America

Both

Students & leaders appreciated small class sizes: individualized attention

16

17 of 23

Conclusion

While optimizing program features can create opportunities for PPC development, each student’s trajectory may vary.

17

Feature	Takeaways
Housing	Students’ PPC benefited from homestays with hosts who engaged with them. If beginner student paired with more advanced student, 2 per homestay can be useful. Living in dorms with students from program can perpetuate the bubble.
Site & logistics	Studying at a local university can help students interact with local peers and access courses that suit their needs. Sheltered programs may work best for beginner language learners & students who value more support (staff helpful).
Language exchanges	Language exchanges can greatly foster PPC when systematically organized.
Coursework	Language & intercultural coursework useful for students to be able to interact successfully with local community. Students appreciate experiential learning. Local instructors may need training on how to support diverse students.

18 of 23

Selected References

Basterretxea Santiso, G., & Sanz, C. (2023). Perspectives and Motives Involved in Study Abroad: COVID, Race and SES. L2 Journal, 15(2), 10-28.
Carando, A., Minnillo, S., Fernández-Mira, P., Davidson, S., Sagae, K., & Sánchez-Gutiérrez, C. (2023). Writing development in Spanish as a second and heritage language: a corpus study on complexity. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 10(1), 1-13.
Diao, & Trentman, E. (Eds.). (2021). Language learning in study abroad : the multilingual turn. Multilingual Matters.
Galante, A. (2020). Plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC) scale: The inseparability of language and culture. International Journal of Multilingualism, 19(4), 477–498.
Pozzi, R., Escalante, C., & Quan, T. (Eds.). (2021). Heritage speakers of Spanish and study abroad. Routledge.
Tracy-Ventura, N., Dewaele, J. M., Köylü, Z., & McManus, K. (2016). Personality changes after the ‘year abroad’?: A mixed-methods study. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 1(1), 107-127.
Zhuang, J., & Kinginger, C. (2024). Long‐term language use by US‐based study‐abroad alumni: Activity types and program effects. The Modern Language Journal.

18

19 of 23

¡Gracias!

Questions?

Contact:

Sophia Minnillo

smminnillo@ucdavis.edu

Many thanks to the SA office for their generosity, Emily Nelsen for transcribing the interviews, to Claudia Sánchez-Gutiérrez for her mentorship, and to UC Davis for research funds.

19

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, and includes icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik

20 of 23

Supports in the intercultural competence (IC) class

Discussion scaffolded through handouts (with activities) from Maximizing Study Abroad (CARLA, 2002)

Learned terminology to better describe and understand experiences

“I think I’m in the phase of cultural adaptation…it became really frustrating for me. But now I think I’m in this stage where I just accept those things and go on with my day, or it’s like I don’t have to like that part of the culture.” (Clara, interview 1)

20

(CARLA, 2002, p. 283) – field notes

21 of 23

21

Name	Program	Role	Status of Spanish	Course level
Melissa	Both	SA program coordinator	L2	N/A
Daniella	Mendoza	Faculty lead	L1	N/A
Roya	Madrid	Faculty lead	L1	N/A
Anita	Mendoza ‘22	Student	L2	Advanced
Emily	Mendoza ‘22	Student	HL/L2	Advanced
Zandia	Mendoza ‘22	Student	L2	Intermediate
Brad	Mendoza ‘23	Student	L2	Advanced
Clara	Madrid ‘23	Student	L2	Advanced
Yakira	Madrid ‘23	Student	HL	Advanced
Juana	Madrid ‘23	Student	HL	Advanced
Sara	Madrid ‘23	Student	L1	Advanced
Alejandro	Madrid ‘23	Student	HL	Advanced
Carolina	Madrid ‘23	Student	HL	Beginner
Zahra	Madrid ‘23	Student	L2	Beginner

22 of 23

Interview question examples

How is your stay in Madrid going?

What have you learned so far from living in Madrid?

Language
Intercultural competence
Personal growth

What parts of your study abroad program do you feel are contributing to your language and intercultural learning?

Are there any parts of the program that you feel could be contributing more to your language and intercultural learning while abroad?

Have you noticed any similarities and differences between Madrid and the places you know back home?

22

23 of 23

Land acknowledgement

We should take a moment to acknowledge the land on which we are gathered. For thousands of years, the land where I am located (Davis, California, US) has been the home of Patwin people. Today, there are three federally recognized Patwin tribes: Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. The Patwin people have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over many centuries. It has been cherished and protected, as elders have instructed the young through generations. I am honored and grateful to be here today on their traditional lands.

McGill University is on land which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. We acknowledge and thank the diverse Indigenous peoples whose presence marks this territory on which peoples of the world now gather."

23