Workshop: Language Socialization in Study Abroad
Date/time: July 19 & 20, 2012, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Location: The Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus
Registration Information: http://calper.la.psu.edu/profdev.php?page=reg
Description:
Study abroad can have a positive impact in every domain of learners' ability to use their new language; but its potential is especially important for the development of social-interactive abilities. Following a brief overview of what we already know about the effects of study abroad on language proficiency, we will focus on issues relating to language socialization in concrete communicative settings, including the homestay, the classroom, and informal peer-to-peer contexts. We will consider how socialization effects learners' awareness of the language and how it also influences their use of the language in communicative situations.
In light of results of qualitative investigations into study abroad, which point to a need for language learners' broader engagement in local communicative practices, for mindfulness of their situation as peripheral participants, and for more nuanced awareness of language itself, we will address how the phases of the study abroad experience, the role of the learner and others, can be developed and constructed.
Concrete examples will be presented that may guide students toward the practice of dispassionate observation, participate in informal dialogues with members of their host communities, articulate appropriate goals, and prepare to make the most of their sojourn. While students are abroad, they can engage in informal ethnographic inquiry through tasks and projects, and they can participate in service learning, internships, or independent research. When students return from their in-country experience, much depends on how their experience is received within their home institution: whether or not it is integrated into the curriculum, with ongoing attention to their need for instruction in language and advanced literacy practices.
Presenter: Celeste Kinginger (CALPER, Penn State University)
Event website: http://calper.la.psu.edu/profdev.php?page=workshops
Contact Person: Gabriela Appel, CALPER Program Coordinator, gxa9@psu.edu