Beth Callen
Lancaster University

Students’ changing views of language learning abroad

This paper raises issues pertinent to the investigation of attitudes towards language learning and the target culture.  It argues for a greater reflection on the mode of research itself and on the extent to which time and context can affect the nature of the attitudes expressed.

The data are drawn from diaries written by UK language students whilst abroad, and from interviews and focus groups in which they participated after their return one year later.  In these different fora, the same key events are often recounted but the perspective taken on them can differ significantly.  Tracing the development of the narratives through an analysis of the evaluative aspects of the discourse, the paper attempts to show how reinforcement from others (in the focus group context) and increasing distance of time from the actual lived event seem to prompt a more markedly negative appraisal of events.  

Finally, the paper examines both the practical implications of these findings for post ‘year abroad’ language teaching and the more theoretical consequences for future research into learner-attitudes.

Key words:	language learning
		attitudes
		methodology