Professor Rosamond Mitchell (University of Southampton) - The social networks of Year Abroad students and their contribution to second language learning

Students undertaking residence abroad are expected to develop their language skills very substantially, but research evidence shows that this development is highly variable. This talk will report on an on-going ESRC funded project which tracked 60 students while spending their year abroad in France, Spain and Mexico. The project has documented students language development over time, and relates this to patterns of language use and the evolving social networks in which students became engaged while abroad. The talk will focus on the conceptualisation of social networks for this mobile group, and will report preliminary results on students social positioning and its relationship with aspects of language development.