Stories

Tripp Strawbridge gave an invited talk to the Cluster on Language Research graduate student group at the University of California, Davis. The talk, titled "If they jumped off a bridge: The influence of social networks on language learning in study abroad," presented findings from his work on second language acquisition among university students studying abroad in Spain. After the talk, Tripp had the opportunity to sit down with the graduate student group to discuss dissertation development and navigating the job market. You can read his full interview for the Cluster on Language Research blog which includes the following important takeaways from his research:

“A couple things stood out from the results. First, the vast majority (24 of 27 participants, or 89%) of participants formed social networks that were quite dense (most people knew each other, sharing mutual contacts), and which were made up almost entirely of program peers (fellow U.S. students from the same study abroad program). But, these students’ language learning development varied a lot; students who spoke Spanish with their study abroad program peers improved their Spanish proficiency over two times as much as those who mostly spoke English with these peers. Also, the three students whose social networks were more fully integrated into the local community (and who improved their Spanish the most of all) were enrolled exclusively in larger study abroad programs, where they took more of their coursework at local universities (and not, for example, in private study centers). Smaller, “island” study abroad programs appeared not to encourage the development of this “integrated” type of social network.”