Study abroad and complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) development: a longitudinal investigation of French and Chinese Learners of L2 English

dc.check.date10000-01-01
dc.check.embargoformatE-thesis on CORA onlyen
dc.check.entireThesisEntire Thesis Restricted
dc.check.infoIndefiniteen
dc.check.opt-outYesen
dc.check.reasonNo embargo requireden
dc.contributor.advisorHoward, Martinen
dc.contributor.authorJensen, Julia Maria
dc.contributor.funderUniversity College Corken
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-18T16:55:54Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.date.submitted2015
dc.description.abstractThis longitudinal study tracked third-level French (n=10) and Chinese (n=7) learners of English as a second language (L2) during an eight-month study abroad (SA) period at an Irish university. The investigation sought to determine whether there was a significant relationship between length of stay (LoS) abroad and gains in the learners' oral complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF), what the relationship was between these three language constructs and whether the two learner groups would experience similar paths to development. Additionally, the study also investigated whether specific reported out-of-class contact with the L2 was implicated in oral CAF gains. Oral data were collected at three equidistant time points; at the beginning of SA (T1), midway through the SA sojourn (T2) and at the end (T3), allowing for a comparison of CAF gains arising during one semester abroad to those arising during a subsequent semester. Data were collected using Sociolinguistic Interviews (Labov, 1984) and adapted versions of the Language Contact Profile (Freed et al., 2004). Overall, the results point to LoS abroad as a highly influential variable in gains to be expected in oral CAF during SA. While one semester in the TL country was not enough to foster statistically significant improvement in any of the CAF measures employed, significant improvement was found during the second semester of SA. Significant differences were also revealed between the two learner groups. Finally, significant correlations, some positive, some negative, were found between gains in CAF and specific usage of the L2. All in all, the disaggregation of the group data clearly illustrates, in line with other recent enquiries (e.g. Wright and Cong, 2014) that each individual learner's path to CAF development was unique and highly individualised, thus providing strong evidence for the recent claim that SLA is "an individualized nonlinear endeavor" (Polat and Kim, 2014: 186).en
dc.description.sponsorshipUCC Strategic Research Funden
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Version
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationJansen, J. M. 2015. Study abroad and complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) development: a longitudinal investigation of French and Chinese Learners of L2 English. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/2152
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.rights© 2015, Julia Maria Jensen.en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/en
dc.subjectFrenchen
dc.subjectChineseen
dc.subjectL2 Englishen
dc.subjectSecond language acquisitionen
dc.subjectStudy abroaden
dc.subjectComplexity accuracy and fluencyen
dc.subjectCAFen
dc.thesis.opt-outtrue
dc.titleStudy abroad and complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) development: a longitudinal investigation of French and Chinese Learners of L2 Englishen
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD (Social Science)en
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