34.2259, Review: The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni

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LINGUIST List: Vol-34-2259. Thu Jul 20 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.2259, Review: The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni

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Date: 25-Jun-2023
From: Laura Callahan [lcallahan at scu.edu]
Subject: Applied Linguistics: Kinginger, Zhuang (2023)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.1189

AUTHOR: Celeste Kinginger
AUTHOR: Jingyuan Zhuang
TITLE: The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni
SUBTITLE: A Mixed Methods Investigation
SERIES TITLE: New Perspectives on Language and Education
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Laura Callahan

SUMMARY
Kinginger and Zhuang conducted an investigation of the professional
experiences of former and current U.S. students who studied a language
outside the United States. The book has eight chapters, plus
appendices, references, and an index.

Chapter 1, “Introduction and Literature Review”, opens with a
statement on the initial impetus for the investigation: “[…] a desire
to defend and illustrate the value of language learning for US-based
students in particular, as well as Anglophone students more generally,
wherever ‘linguistic myopia’ may prevail (Lanvers et al., 2021: 5).”
The literature review is organized by themes of previous studies. One
clear conclusion is that over the decades, study abroad (SA) for U.S.
college students has seen reductions in the length of sojourn, along
with increases in cost. There is no more “junior year abroad” for
language majors or anyone else, and the experience of living and
attending classes in another country—always associated with
socioeconomic privilege—has moved even farther out of reach for
students from less affluent families. Also noted in the literature
review is Anglophone SA sojourners’ “emphasis on spoken, interactive
language proficiency at the expense of formal, academic literacy” (p.
11). Logically following is the finding that “Anglophone learners
infrequently desire or develop the advanced literacy skills that could
maximize their options for international work” (pp. 21-22).

Chapter 2, “Research Design”, provides an in-depth description of
Kinginger and Zhuang’s survey and subsequent interviews of SA alumni.
Respondents included adults of all ages, grouped from under 25 to over
60. Thus, some participants were completing college, some were
mid-career, and still others were retired. National organizations such
as The Forum on Education Abroad helped with recruitment and
administration. A total of 4899 complete questionnaires were obtained.
Survey participants were asked for demographic information, who their
SA program provider(s) had been, what language(s) they knew in
addition to English, how their sojourn was paid for, and what their
country of destination was. The survey data indicates that: “Females
are in the majority, programs are most often self-funded, and the
destinations chosen tend to correspond to commonly taught languages”
(pp. 29-30). The authors then proceed to an extremely thorough
explanation of the methods used, recounting the dilemmas they
confronted in attempting to make the study a true mix of quantitative
and qualitative.

Chapter 3, “Using Languages at Work”, examines the degree of
importance competence in a non-English language has for the
respondents in their daily work life. We learn that the ten most
common languages used at work by the individuals in the research
sample were, in descending order: Spanish, French, German, Italian,
Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, and Dutch (p. 56). The
reader becomes acquainted with some of the participants through
“intact professional life history narratives of individuals who
require language abilities to perform their duties in various sectors
including education, business, healthcare, government service,
engineering, sports management and the arts” (p. 54).

In Chapter 4, “Discovering a Calling”, the authors demonstrate how SA
helped people discover their vocation, even among those who have not
gone on to use their languages at work. This chapter focuses on the
data revealed by participants’ responses to a question about their SA
experience’s impact on “selection of employer type, selection of
employment field, interest in working overseas, interest in working
for a multinational organization in the US, and acquisition of skills
informing career choice and leading to employment” (p. 87). In several
cases, SA facilitated serendipitous exposure to a profession that
students might not have otherwise envisioned for themselves.

Chapter 5, “Quests for Identity”, offers accounts from former SA
participants of diverse backgrounds, including heritage speakers of
the language of their destination. Some sojourners encounter prejudice
from host families, highlighting the fact that SA cohorts have
heretofore been predominately White. One respondent, who herself was
now working as a SA advisor, expressed the hope to introduce
underrepresented students early to “the notion of international
experiences” (p. 115).

Chapter 6, “Exploring Features of Study Abroad Programs”, compares
participant reports of program duration, residence options, and
reentry into their U.S. institution. As mentioned in the Introduction,
SA sojourns are becoming shorter. But the benefits of even a
three-week summer program were still found to accrue, especially for
students with limited experience outside their home communities. This
adds to the reasons to diversify SA participation, and shorter
sojourns can help facilitate SA for students who cannot leave their
work or family responsibilities for an entire semester. As for
residence options, the advisor-touted homestay (as opposed to living
with other students from the U.S.) was indeed the source of many
well-remembered and impactful experiences, judging from participants’
accounts. As for participants’ homecoming experiences, it seemed that
students at smaller institutions tended to fare better, though many if
not most returnees endured a period of readjustment.

Chapter 7, “Multilingual Dispositions and Lessons for Life” underlines
the reality that few Anglophone SA sojourners will find a completely
immersive experience in another language, due to the prevalence of
English as a lingua franca. Regardless of the level of language
proficiency attained, students will reap other benefits, such as
increased resilience, flexible disposition, and intercultural
communicative competence. Turning specifically to language
acquisition, Kinginger and Zhuang cite recent research (Diao &
Trentman, 2021) debunking the myth that SA equates to language
immersion which in turn guarantees language acquisition. Such research
“may at last orient the field toward a permanent recognition of the
fact that study abroad settings are diverse linguistic ecologies that
were not designed for the extraction of language competence by
visiting students” (p. 154). Nevertheless, and going hand in hand with
the flexible disposition mentioned above, Kinginger and Zhuang’s
participants did learn how to communicate better in multilingual
settings, even if everyone happened to be speaking English. They
acquired various accommodation strategies to improve communication
with L2 users of English.

Chapter 8, “Conclusion”, highlights the authors’ findings and offers
insights for research, education, policy, and the public. Consonant
with research cited in the literature review (Mitchell et al. 2020),
Kinginger and Zhuang mention respondents’ scarce expression of the
“need or desire for advanced academic literacy in their additional
languages” (p. 167). The section on study limitations features a frank
review of potential weaknesses, such as, for example, that the study
sample was likely biased toward individuals with enthusiasm for SA and
language learning. The book was written during the Covid-19 pandemic,
and the authors close with the hope “for a brighter future in which
young people with multilingual aspirations will once again routinely
pursue their goals through travel and learning” (p. 172).

EVALUATION
This book offers a clear exposition of a fascinating investigation. In
addition to a report on a vital topic, the reader is afforded insights
into the major methodological decisions that the researchers had to
make. To craft a truly mixed methods study—as opposed to a
quantitative one with some aspects being qualitative in name
only—Kinginger and Zhuang interrogated traditional procedures used in
applied linguistics. In rejecting the coding of interviews for themes
in favor of using whole narratives of life stories, they observe:
“Coding may provide access to generalized ‘meaning’ but does not
capture the semantic domains that are significant for individuals.
Nevertheless, in attempting to enhance the appearance of objectivity,
qualitative researchers routinely rely on coding which erases context,
favors commonality over diversity, imposes one specific interpretation
usually guided by what the researcher already knows about the topic,
and is fundamentally a form of nominal measurement, thus a
quantitative technique” (p. 48).

Kinginger and Zhuang’s analysis of their data and SA trends is
likewise nuanced. For example, in the first chapter of the book they
trace the historical trajectory of SA programs in the context of U.S.
universities, from its beginnings in the “Grand Tour tradition” (Gore,
2005: 24) to the current neoliberal emphasis on “the competitiveness
of the individual in the global marketplace” (p. 21). They cite
Zemach-Bersin’s (2007) contention that “discourses of ‘global
citizenship’ mask elitist, imperialistic and nationalist projects
wherein the world becomes a commodity that privileged Americans have
an unquestioned right to consume” (p. 19). In the book’s final
chapter, the authors contrast this view of SA as a neoliberal
enterprise with the fact that a majority of their respondents listed
their motivation to learn another language not as a way to attain a
marketable skill for the global economy, but rather “to understand
another culture” (p. 163). Although one might argue that understanding
another culture is indeed considered a useful skill in numerous
professions today, many of Kinginger and Zhuang’s research
participants genuinely did not seem to have done a SA sojourn with
career prospects foremost in mind.

With respect to Spanish in particular and SA programs for U.S.
students, an obvious yet often unspoken tension must be mentioned. As
Magro (2023) points out, many students do not seem to view U.S.
Spanish-speakers as possible interlocutors, preferring instead to
travel thousands of miles to develop their Spanish skills. Students’
desire to “go outside the United States to study in a Spanish-speaking
country, legitimizing the linguistic practices of these countries, and
ignore taking advantage of the situations that are presented to them
within the United States to speak and get in touch with Hispanic
culture(s) and language(s), responds to a series of hegemonic and
racist attitudes and ideologies that delegitimize US Hispanics”
(Magro, 2023, pp. 35-36).

And indeed, Kinginger and Zhuang make this same point, commenting on
the work of Doerr (2012), who found that “study abroad guidebooks for
US students […] celebrate the cognitive dissonance that can emerge
from encounters with the unknown and maintain that such discovery of
difference is uniquely available in study abroad (although similar
experiences may be provoked by crossing race, class or regional
boundaries at home)” (p. 19). However, later on the authors refer to a
participant’s “realization that attaining additional language
proficiency requires a sustained, long-term effort”, and quote his
statement that “[i]f I had known that sooner, I would have done
whatever I could to get abroad sooner and be in a fully immersed
experience” (p. 84). In this individual’s case, the language in
question was Spanish, yet the authors make no mention here of the fact
that such an immersion would have been possible without leaving the
U.S.

Readers may occasionally find themselves forgetting the authors’
stated focus on language learning. Some of the personal and
professional growth that their respondents report can at first glance
seem unrelated, or at least not dependent on, language learning. This
happens, for example, when we come upon an account of someone who
rarely or never uses languages other than English in their current
workplace. But, as Kinginger and Zhuang remind us, a synchronic view
of one’s life does not suffice. An individual’s situation at a given
stage in their career has been shaped by previous experiences, without
which the person may not have reached their present station. There are
multiple examples in their data of respondents for whom the experience
of SA and learning a language set the stage for later opportunities,
opportunities that they did not, and in many cases could not, have
known about prior to embarking on their first international sojourn.

As Kinginger and Zhuang observe, the trajectories revealed in some of
their participants’ narratives offer insights that would be missed in
studies measuring language and other gains following one single
sojourn (p. 131). Several individuals recounted multiple SA
experiences, perhaps beginning with a summer or semester during high
school. In this reviewer’s university, for example, it is not uncommon
for students in elementary Spanish courses to disclose—and to
simultaneously discount—prior experience with the language during
service trips, family vacations, or soccer camp in Spanish-speaking
countries. Although these students sometimes have more proficiency
than they believe, the point Kinginger and Zhuang make is that
assessment too soon after an educational experience can be deceptive.
This is a point that would be well-taken by college administrators and
the educational assessment industry in general.

Finally, some of the value added through language learning cannot be
measured by traditional proficiency measures. One respondent noted
that empathy is an essential quality for doctors, and the authors
observe that “one of the ways to gain an empathic stance is through
the exhilarating but also humbling experience of learning to express
yourself in another language” (p. 122). Another participant attracted
“a ‘great mentor’ who appreciated the intrepid spirit that had led her
to immerse herself in an unknown language and culture and who pushed
her to continue expanding her professional horizons” (p. 118). This
person reminds us of the tolerance for ambiguity that language
teachers hope to cultivate in their students, with her affirmation
that “the biggest thing I got out of this study abroad experience is
just different ways to look at a problem, and knowing that you’ll […]
enjoy the experience and you’ll make it through to the end, right? you
don’t know what that path is going to look like. you can’t predict it.
just go for the ride, right? just have fun with it” (p. 119).

An aspect that seems slightly under addressed in this volume concerns
the finding that U.S. students on the whole do not value advanced
literacy in their additional languages. Respondents “conveyed
skepticism about the value added from advanced language ability or
their own capacity to achieve it” (p. 167). Readers may wonder if this
is an inevitable byproduct of the U.S. national apathy toward language
learning, or whether, as Kinginger and Zhuang suggest, such attitudes
could be changed by promotion of “the kinds of literacy development
that might lead to more international career options and thereby to a
larger population of Americans possessing the language proficiency […]
necessary for participation in complex business or political
negotiations (Trentman & Diao, 2017)” (p. 167). To be fair, the
authors cannot be expected to solve the ongoing issue of students as
consumers and the ambivalence toward academic rigor in general and
toward learning languages in particular.

In conclusion, The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni
presents a masterful, discerning, and data-driven analysis of SA and
its evolution over the decades. It is a valuable contribution to the
literature on global engagement and language-learning in higher
education. It will be of great interest to language acquisition
researchers, educators, and SA professionals. Students considering
SA—or their parents— might also find this book highly compelling.

REFERENCES
Diao, Wenhao & Emma Trentman, eds. 2021. Language Learning in Study
Abroad: The Multilingual Turn. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Doerr, Neriko Musha. 2012. Study abroad as ‘adventure’: Globalist
construction of host–home hierarchy and governed adventurer subjects.
Critical Discourse Studies. 9(3). 257-268.

Gore, Joan Elias. 2005. Dominant Beliefs and Alternative Voices.
Discourse, Belief, and Gender in Study Abroad. New York: Routledge.

Lanvers, Ursula, Amy S. Thompson & Martin East. 2021. Introduction: Is
language learning in Anglophone countries in crisis? In Language
Learning in Anglophone Countries: Challenges, Practices, Ways Forward,
eds. U. Lanvers, A.S. Thompson & M. East. 1-15. Cham: Palgrave
MacMillan.

Magro, José L. 2023. Language and Antiracism. An Antiracist Approach
to Teaching (Spanish) Language in the USA. Research. Bristol:
Multilingual Matters.

Mitchell, Rosamund, Nicole Tracy-Ventura & Amanda Huensch. 2020. After
study abroad: The maintenance of multilingual identity among
Anglophone language graduates. Modern Language Journal. 104. 327-344.

Trentman, Emma & Wenhao Diao. 2017. The American gaze east: Discourses
and destinations of US study abroad. Study Abroad Research in Second
Language Acquisition and International Education. 2. 175-205.

Zemach-Bersin, Talya. 2007. Global citizenship & study abroad: It’s
all about U.S. Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices. 1(2). 16-28.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Laura Callahan has taught courses in Spanish language and linguistics
in the public university systems of California, Michigan, and New
York. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Modern
Languages & Literatures at Santa Clara University, where she teaches
all levels of Spanish language and linguistics. Her principal area of
research is Spanish in the United States. Her most recent article is
>From Downtown to the Eastside: Languages other than English in a
commercial linguistic landscape in California. International Journal
of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest. 2021, 35-1: 51-75.



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