Wow! eBook
Study Abroad and Second Language Use: Constructing the Self
Author(s): Valerie A. Pellegrino Aveni (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: 10 Mar. 2005
- Language: English
- Print length: 202 pages
- ISBN-10: 0521827663
- ISBN-13: 9780521827669
Book Description
Language plays an essential role in how we portray our personalities. Through social interaction, others develop a picture of us based on our linguistic cues. However, when we interact in a foreign language and in a new country, limitations in linguistic and cultural knowledge can make self-presentation a more difficult task. This book explores the problems faced by language students embarking on ‘study abroad’ programmes, spending time in a foreign country and having to interact – and express their personalities – in a second language. Drawing on her extensive work with students, Valerie Pellegrino Aveni explores the factors that complicate self-presentation and the strategies students use for overcoming these, looking in particular at issues of anxiety, control, age, gender, risk-taking and self-esteem. Offering rich insights into the study abroad experience, this book will be an invaluable resource for professionals in second language acquisition, and for teachers and students preparing for study abroad.
