First in-depth exploration of the impact of mobile communications technology on language learning in study abroad contexts

This book argues for a view of study abroad as emergent of, and negotiated through, tensions between localised and globalised imaginaries of language, identity and place. By examining the experiences of a group of Japanese high school students during, and after, a year embedded in families and schools abroad in countries across Europe, Asia and North and South America, it provides the first in-depth exploration of the role of mobile communications technology in study abroad. This includes its facilitation of strategic language learning, host community participation and the construction of multilingual identities. The student accounts covered in this book explore a number of other critical issues in contemporary study abroad, including translanguaging practices, racialised identities, the role of the host family and the status of English as a lingua franca in multilingual environments. The results demonstrate the importance of understanding study abroad and related language learning as intersecting with global flows of people and information.

"Understandings and discussions of study abroad are thrust into the social media era through these stunning, readable narratives of Japanese adolescents. Revealing experiences of what study abroad now means and how it interconnects with language learning and identity change in digital, social, and material spaces, this book pushes the edge of study abroad research." - Gary Barkhuizen, University of Auckland, New Zealand

"In today’s social media era, we need a new approach to study abroad research that starts before departure and continues after returning home. Durbidge leads the way in developing conceptual foundations to understand the impact of digital platforms on language learning and friendship development of five Japanese high school students as they study in Europe and North/South America. Anyone interested in conceptualizing social media in study abroad experiences will find this book a most helpful resource." - Yoko Kobayashi, Iwate University, Japan

"This lively, readable volume, which centres an underrepresented population of Japanese adolescents, offers a welcome update and expansion of the research on language learning in study abroad. It uses an ingenious mixed-methods design and focuses on contemporary communicative settings wherein local and digital affordances are intertwined and call for significant translocal negotiation of interpersonal connections and identity." - Celeste Kinginger, The Pennsylvania State University, USA