Second language development, language learning motivation and language learning opportunities: A longitudinal case study of German high school exchange students in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis reports longitudinal case studies of three female German high school exchange students in New Zealand. The students had advanced English proficiency levels at the beginning of their 5.5 month stay and were part of a large cohort of fee-paying international students who shared the same first language (L1) in the high schools where they chose to study. The study combines a detailed analysis of the students L2 development along with an analysis of the learners’ language learning motivation, the social contexts in which they operated and the opportunities that these afforded for language learning. The data collected consisted of weekly diary entries, monthly reports, and six individual audio-recordings of monthly semi-structured interviews. A qualitative data analysis was performed to scrutinize the students’ motivation and language learning opportunities as evidenced in their self-reports. A quantitative data analysis was carried out to capture developmental patterns in speech performance, using various measures of L2 complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Language learning opportunities were dynamically constructed between the students and their socio-cultural environment and were unique for each student. The students’ involvement in their L1 communities presented a challenge to the creation of L2 learning opportunities. Each student’s motivation was affected by a complex interaction between their goals, identities, and agency, and their perceptions of their L2 communities. The efforts they expended varied and were most clearly evident in social groups that gave them access and validated their sense of self. The students’ L2 development was non-linear and differed individually. Only the results for fluency were consistent, pointing to overall improvements. Findings for accuracy and complexity varied. Some trends, such as a decrease in lexical complexity, have not typically been observed in previous SA studies. A key finding was that the students’ L2 development was characterized by their adaption to the speech patterns of their native speaker interlocutors over time. The thesis provides a detailed, longitudinal account of the motivational and linguistic processes that characterize study abroad, providing insight into how and why learners perform differently in seemingly identical contexts of learning, and in this way adds to the existing literature on study abroad.