| Title: |
Ripples and reflections: Long-term perceptions of language study abroad programs in regional Australia (1995–2015) |
| Authors: |
Evans, Jennifer Robyn; School of Humanities Arts & Social Sciences; Neigert, Miriam; School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; orcid:0000-0001-8592-0057; Feez, Susan; Faculty of HASS and Education; orcid:0000-0003-0977-2640; Tasker, Isabel; orcid:0000-0002-1262-7180; Morgan, Anne-Marie; orcid:0000-0001-9486-5555 |
| Publisher Information: |
University of New England |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
University of New England at Armidale, New South Wales, Australia: e-publications@UNE |
| Subject Terms: |
Curriculum and pedagogy theory and development; Secondary education; Comparative and cross-cultural education |
| Description: |
This thesis explores perceived long-term influences of in-country language (ICL) study abroad programs. It examines two long-running ICL programs conducted in regional Australia between 1995 and 2015 at high school and university levels. Perceptions of their long-term influences are explored through thematic analysis and complexity theory. The resulting themes relate to language learning, intercultural development and personal growth in individuals, and broader influences on families, institutions and communities. Complexity theory provides a metatheoretical framework for understanding the elements, processes and agents involved in ICL programs at micro, meso and macro levels, and the changing influences of these experiences over time. Using a ‘complexity lens’ highlights the heterogeneity, dynamism, nonlinearity and emergence which characterise ICL programsystems, and allows the close study of both individual program iterations and general patterns of language study abroad. The investigation presents a retrospective multiple case study from the perspectives of those involved, including students, host family members, teachers, administrative staff and institutional leaders. Through reflexive thematic analysis, qualitative data drawn from 86 surveys and 42 follow-up semi-structured interviews are used to develop the three themes which constitute the study’s research narrative. Within the themes, relationships are explored between a) goals and perceptions of program effectiveness, b) target language development and language use in immersive learning contexts, and c) in-country language-learning experiences, and personal and intercultural development. The study also examines the way participants perceived the influence of the ICL programs as extending beyond the temporal boundaries of the experience itself and beyond individual students to potentially affect the larger system. The study shows that both the high school and university in-country language programs examined were perceived to have the potential to ... |
| Document Type: |
doctoral or postdoctoral thesis |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/69179; une:1959.11/69179 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/69179 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.67C4A1B9 |
| Database: |
BASE |