•  
  •  
 

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

Arabic study abroad, journal writing, language gains, oral proficiency interview

College

Humanities

Department

Linguistics and English Language

Abstract

This project explored connections between language gains and instances of positive and negative responses as recorded in pseudo-dialogue journals kept by second language learners of Arabic participating in a study abroad (SA) program to Jordan. Daily journals from seven of forty-four total participants were analyzed for this project: those of the four students who showed the most proficiency gains over the course of the program as determined by pre- and post-study abroad program Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) scores, and those of the three students who showed no proficiency gains between their pre- and post-program OPI scores. Trends noted included the spread of the instances of negative responses (any comment made by the student in which negative language was used or a negative attitude expressed, but with no goal or specific aim for resolution, or with no specific example of something that was learned by the student from this experience) over the course of the program, as journals of low scoring students showed significant numbers of negative attitudes later on in the program, while the journals of the top student did not. Also, a -.86 correlation between the average hours speaking with natives per day and instances of negative reactions per 100 total journal words was found. This project resulted in an Honor’s Thesis.

Download

Included in

Linguistics Commons

Share

COinS