Designing Second Language Study Abroad Research: Critical Reflections on Methods and Data

337 Pages·2022·5.696 MB·

by  Janice McGregor, John L. Plews

Designing Second Language
Study Abroad Research
Critical Reflections on
Methods and Data
Edited by
Janice McGregor
John L. Plews
Designing Second Language Study Abroad
Research
·
Janice McGregor John L. Plews
Editors
Designing Second
Language Study
Abroad Research
Critical Reflections on Methods
and Data
Editors
Janice McGregor John L. Plews
Department of German Studies Department of Languages and Cultures
University of Arizona Saint Mary’s University
Tucson, AZ, USA Halifax, NS, Canada
ISBN 978-3-031-05052-7 ISBN 978-3-031-05053-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05053-4
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
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Cover credit: Detail of sculpture of African bird of peace, Kalaho Senufo, Centro Nacional de
Artesanato e Design, Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Photograph by John L. Plews
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland
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Acknowledgments
First, we would like to communicate our deep awe and gratitude to the
19 authors of the individual chapters in this book, all of whom wrote,
submitted, and revised their chapter contributions during the outset and
exasperating ceaselessness of the global COVID-19 pandemic. We want
to thank them for their perseverance and dedication to our volume, espe-
cially during a time when many of us were working from home with
an increased workload (and many were dealing with limited family and
childcare support) and, at the same time, study abroad programs were
either being canceled, halted, or put online, and more recently, restarted.
Second, we also want to thank our colleagues in study abroad research
(SAR) and intersecting areas of applied linguistics. They have laid the
methodological groundwork in our field and, by reading their work or
through personal communication, we have been encouraged and inspired
to continue posing critical study design questions that address the how
of doing SAR.
We are also greatly indebted to the anonymous reviewers of
each chapter contribution, the external anonymous reviewers for the
v
vi Acknowledgments
entire volume, and Cathy Scott, Punitha Balasubramaniam, Chitra
Gopalraj, and the entire Palgrave team. We have marveled at your stead-
fast support of both the chapter contributions and the entire volume
throughout a global pandemic. Thank you so much for helping us see
this volume through to publication.
We want to acknowledge the contributions of the scores of anonymous
research participants and study abroad programs and administrators who
have, in their own ways, helped generate the critical questions we pose
in this volume. Without their participation and engagement, none of the
contributors here would be able to engage critically with questions about
the methods, data, participants, contexts, and analytic approaches that
we so often encounter in our field. Thank you.
Finally, we would like to thank our families and friends, including
Smokey, for their continued support of our research, especially over these
past two years. We love you!
Janice McGregor
John L. Plews
Contents
1 Introduction: Inviting Critical Reflections
on Methodology from Our Own Field 1
Janice McGregor and John L. Plews
Part I Research Paradigms and Approaches
2 Quantitative Study Abroad Research: Challenges
and Recommendations 23
Peter Ecke
3 The Case of the SALA Project: Constructs
and Methods Revisited 43
Carmen Pérez-Vidal
4 Toward a Transformative Decolonial Paradigm
of Study Abroad Research 65
Ian Craig
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viii Contents
5 Addressing the Ideologies of Study Abroad: Views
from the U.S. Context 89
Emma Trentman
Part II Data and Instruments
6 A Critical Appraisal of Research Interviews
as a Qualitative Method of Data Generation in Study
Abroad Research 113
Janice McGregor and Julieta Fernández
7 Are Natural Conversations Natural ? Critical
Reflections on Using Participants’ Self-Recorded
Conversations, the Positioning of Researchers,
and Participant Self-Censorship 133
Wenhao Diao
8 Researching and Measuring Second Language
Pragmatic Development in Study Abroad: Insight
from Arabic 155
Khaled Al Masaeed
Part III Participants and Contexts
9 Expanding Participant Voice Within a Social Justice
Framework: A Critical Dialogic Approach 173
Shelley Dawson
10 Understanding Diverse Learning Abroad Through
Case Study Research 193
Simon McKinnon
11 Challenging the Language Learner as the Only
Source of Data in Study Abroad Research 211
Sònia Mas-Alcolea and Àngels Llanes
Contents ix
12 Sojourners Online: Social Media and Online
Communication as a Data Source in Study Abroad
Research 229
Levi Durbidge
13 Decolonizing the Gaze: Intercultural Competence
Urgency and Study Abroad Challenges in Africa 249
Jean-Blaise Samou
14 Implementing Longitudinal, Reflective Follow-Up
Study Abroad Research: Following Former
Pre-service Teachers into Professional Practice 273
Roswita Dressler, Colleen Kawalilak,
Katherine Crossman, and Sandra Becker
Part IV Analysis of Data
15 Group Interviewing and Multilingualism
in Ethnographic Study Abroad Research: Speaking
Korean in Tanzania 289
Jamie A. Thomas
16 Discourse Analysis in Study Abroad Research 313
Rachel L. Shively
Index 329
Notes on Contributors
Al Masaeed Khaled (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is Associate Professor
of Arabic Studies & Second Language Acquisition and Coordinator of
Arabic Studies, Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon
University. His research interests include sociolinguistics and SLA, multi-
dialectal and multilingual translanguaging practices in L2 contexts, and
L2 pragmatic development.
Becker Sandra (Ph.D., University of Calgary) is Postdoctoral Scholar at
the University of Calgary. Dr. Becker is currently conducting research
to investigate the efficacy of a teacher community of practice centered
around making and makerspaces. Her research focuses on learning in a
variety of environments, both physical and digital.
Craig Ian (Ph.D., University of London) pursues research projects
on study abroad and university internationalization in the Caribbean
context. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Spanish at the University of
the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados).
Crossman Katherine (Ph.D., University of Calgary) is Instructor at
Bow Valley College. Dr. Crossman leads research projects about
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