Keywords
competencia transcultural
discurso de aula
faultlines discursivos
español como segunda lengua.
study abroad
transcultural competence
classroom discourse
discursive faultlines
Spanish as a second language
How to Cite
Abstract
It is a reality that the university today is providing economic and academic facilities for university students to do part of their studies in another cultural context different to their own. The profits of this effort from the administration as well as from the students themselves are often difficult to quantify. In the field of language acquisition, it is often believed that students studying surrounded by the target language are better than those studying it only in the classroom (Howard, 2001; 2005; Martínez-Arbelaiz & Pereira, 2008; Meara, 1994; Milton & Meara, 1995; Pérez-Vidal & Juan-Garau, 2009; Pérez-Vidal, 2014; Segalowitz & Freed, 2004). However, there are few studies that have investigated what kind of impact this experience abroad has on the development of students’ transcultural competence (Modern Language Association, 2007), one of the main goals of any language curriculum. In three filmed classes from three different small size courses we analyzed the classroom discourse. We found that U.S. students in Madrid are critical observers of the host community and that these observations led them to challenge and refine previous ideas on Spanish society.
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