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Article published In: Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education
Vol. 9:1 (2024) ► pp.76–99

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Learners’ beliefs about English language learning

The case of Korean college students sojourning in the United States

ORCiD logo with link | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Published online: 9 February 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.22008.kan
Abstract
This study explored the beliefs about English language learning demonstrated by Korean-speaking college students while sojourning in the United States. Adopting a contextual approach to learner beliefs, the study further examined the nature of changes in sojourners’ beliefs and what aspects of study abroad were related to such changes. To this end, the study drew on the participants’ accounts of their second language (L2) experiences in connection with different aspects of study abroad through episodic narrative interviews. A thematic analysis of the interview data suggests that sojourners’ beliefs about language learning are reminiscent of societal ideological structures and school or familial influences. During the sojourn, learner beliefs about L2 learning were reshaped by interactions with co-nationals and members of the host community as micro-level resources situated in the meso-level host program. Sojourners further demonstrated changes in their broad perspectives on what constitutes an in situ form of bilingualism in the sending and host countries.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Study abroad and language learning
    • 2.2Language learning beliefs
  • 3.Conceptual framework and research questions
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Participants and setting
    • 4.2Data collection
    • 4.3Data analysis
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Learner beliefs about English language learning during study abroad
    • 5.2Shifts in language learning beliefs in relation to different aspects of study abroad
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
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