The Approach to and Goals of the Study

Study abroad is generally thought to offer access to interaction with native speakers in a wide variety of settings, bringing students into close contact with the cultural practices of the host country, and resulting in dramatic increases in language proficiency, cultural awareness and intercultural communicative competence. However, recent literature in the field of applied linguistics shows that access to language learning opportunities in the field is anything but unproblematic. The data collection for the present study began in the fall of 2002 and continued through the fall of 2003. The data collection instruments used in this project allow for a qualitative report, supported by quantitative data, on the language learning experience of four American study abroad students during the spring of 2003 in France. I examine how the students positioned themselves and were positioned while abroad, and I analyze the effects that this positioning had on the participants'' access to social networks, language learning opportunities, and their overall public identity in France. The quantitative data reported herein are used to support the qualitative and narrative data.