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Article published In: Language learning and interactional experiences in Study Abroad settings
Edited by M. Rafael Salaberry, Kate White and Alfred Rue Burch
[Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 4:1] 2019
► pp. 19–44

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The dialects of control and connection in the study abroad homestay

 | Pennsylvania State University
 | University of Queensland
Published online: 28 February 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.17014.kin
Abstract
As in every conversation, negotiation for control and connection is at the heart of communication in the study abroad homestay. Finding a comfortable footing on the control-and-connection continua (i.e., closeness versus distance, and hierarchy versus equality) is both a product and a process of language learning in the homestay. Drawing on interviews of all parties and recordings of homestay interactions, we present the dialectical interplay of control and connection through analysis of conversational narratives recounted at Chinese homestay dinner tables. We recruit Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar notion of mediated action to show how stories, as cultural tools, were employed by the hosts and students to construct moral injunctions and to cultivate closeness through mutual caring (guānxīn), affective gratification (qièyì), and attentiveness (tiēxīn). Findings of the study challenge assumptions about homestay communication as a power struggle only and underscore the importance of teaching students to appreciate the value of interpersonal exchange in homestay settings.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Homestay relationships
  • 3.Mediated action
  • 4.Data collection and analysis
  • 5.Participants
    • 5.1Students
    • 5.2Host family
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1John’s homestay: Guānxīn
    • 6.2Sam’s homestay: Qièyì
    • 6.3David’s homestay: Tiēxīn
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
References (29)
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