This dissertation explores learner beliefs about pronunciation and their interaction with identity negotiations in a study-abroad context. Current research on studying abroad has experienced a wave of interest in learner-centered questions, gradually moving away from the narrow focus on students’ linguistic development. In particular, the effects of study abroad on learner identities have attracted attention, revealing the impact of the dispositions of individuals, as well as of interlocutors, on the language learning process. The realm of speaking, especially with regard to pronunciation research, however, has hardly benefited from this interest in the individual perspectives of sojourners. Existing studies merely measure the extent to which learners appropriate native-like accents, resulting in partly inconsistent findings with limited insight into individual learning processes and factors. I thus adopt a different focus by qualitatively investigating the interplay between sojourners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their identity constructions and negotiations. My research is based on five case studies of Canadian learners of German. Each research subject has attended a German university for one or two semesters. In applying narrative inquiry as a research tool for both the within- and cross-case analyses, I investigate participants’ accounts in interviews and e-journals, as conducted at different stages throughout the first sojourn term. Poststructuralist-constructivist conceptualizations of learner identities and beliefs guide the data analysis and interpretation. The results of the holistic and categorical content analyses give insight into the intricate relationship between beliefs about pronunciation and learners’ identity work. In their narratives, learners appear to actively use pronunciation as a tool to construct identity facets in correspondence to specific communities of practice, giving meaning to their investment in the sojourn experience. This process of mediating between different identity constructions appears to be highly complex and partially conflict-laden. The participants’ beliefs and reported learning behaviours are interconnected with their definitions of learning goals, which draw on native-speaker ideals to different extents and with varying results. These orientations are in turn related to the subjects’ degrees of critical language awareness, the latter a factor that appears to play a vital role in shaping the ability of learners to take advantage of learning opportunities. In assessing participants’ learning objectives and their readiness to reflect upon their beliefs and orientations, my study also sheds light on the influence of different learning factor constellations on intercultural learning. The results indicate that unidirectional cause-and-effect relationships cannot be drawn between learners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their abilities to approach their roles as intercultural speakers in sojourn environments. My study rather underlines the importance of illuminating individual learning experiences in their idiosyncrasies and complexities, which may lead to a stronger consideration of learners’ subjective stances in both research and teaching practice. The findings of my study suggest that the primary way that language pedagogy can thus foster the ability to engage in intercultural encounters is by helping learners to become aware of their subjective stances, their self-constructions, and the influence of those on the learning process. Therefore, developing the ability and willingness to critically reflect is crucial, especially with regard to pronunciation. In illuminating the intricate nature of learner beliefs and their influence on the learning process, my study demonstrates the importance of qualitative, emic research into the acquisition of L2 pronunciation.

ABSTRACT ADMINISTRATIVE AND SERVICE SATISFACTION WITH THE ERASMUS STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM AT MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY FROM THE VIEWS OF STUDENTS AND COORDINATORS Bulut Sahin, Bet&uuml / l M.S., Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hasan SiMSEK June 2008, 131 pages As a result of globalization, educational systems become more and more internationalized through mobility and exchange programs. The supra-natural organizations, such as European Union, have developed organized education programs to adapt to this transformation. Since 1987, the mobility of students and faculty throughout Europe has dramatically increased through Erasmus, which is the Program of European Union for higher education. Turkey, as a candidate country for European Union, became one of the participants of this program in 2004. Yet, the influence of the quality administration on such programs and customer satisfaction is relatively unexplored in Turkey. In this research, Middle East Technical University (METU), one of the leading universities in Turkey, is analyzed in scope of its effectiveness in the administration of Erasmus Program from the students&rsquo / and Erasmus coordinators&rsquo / point of view through questionnaires. Total Quality Management framework is used to design the research. The results of this study showed that students and departmental coordinators are generally more satisfied with the administrative services than communication, interaction with customers and academic issues.

This mixed-methods study contributes to the limited literature on global citizenship by comparing the impacts of two curricular methods used to educate for global citizenship: international education experiences and a school-wide approach. Using Round Square as the case study, an international association of secondary schools that incorporate both methods to foster global citizenship, and an adapted version of Hartman’s (2008) Global Citizenship Survey, this study examines the global citizenship qualities of 185 graduates from Canadian Round Square schools. Findings reveal that not only is the pursuit of global citizenship within schools valuable and possible, but that a school-wide approach is as effective a method to educate for global citizenship as international education experiences. Results are valuable as many schools lack the resources, capacity, and motivation for global citizenship programming, particularly if programming relies on international education activities. Results also question the necessity of international opportunities to foster global citizenship.

The purpose of this study was to produce five in-depth case studies of University of Georgia, USA, students who studied abroad for one semester in Spring of 2006. These case studies describe and analyze the students’ self-identified goals and motivations for participating in this study abroad experience. Utilization of Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) naturalistic inquiry method was used to explore the student experiences. In addition to qualitatively analyzing the goals and motivations of these specific cases, descriptive statistics of the student Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) pre- and post-test questions and answers (Intercultural Communication Institute, 2003), taken in Spring 2006 and two years later in Spring 2008, were compared for the purpose of measuring changes in worldview orientations over time. This provided the establishment of convergence or triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data. Further exploration of preferred student learning styles by use of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, v. 3.1 (Kolb, 1999) was initiated in order to analyze whether the study abroad program design matched the students’ learning style. A study abroad preparatory model, Adapt, Adopt, Adept: A Preparatory Model for Study Abroad, is proposed that increases student active engagement abroad, thereby increasing the potential for accomplishing the stated goal of the University of Georgia (UGA) study abroad program, namely to develop “global citizens.” Inquiry into these areas and the results obtained are directly relevant to study abroad program specialists, interested faculty, upper administrators in university policy making, and future students who might desire to participate in an international learning experience. This particular study, in contrast to those discussed in the literature review, indicates a unique approach by focusing on the following: • one specific, experiential study abroad program; • using naturalistic inquiry as the method of obtaining such data; • using IDI scores to triangulate results of qualitative data; • incorporating information measured by the KLSI. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Qualitative data were obtained via Blackboard, email, chat interviews via the internet, face to face interviews, and by means of journal entries. By using naturalistic inquiry, the specific form of data provided and its content was left largely to the students to choose via the options listed above in order to best represent their voices. Scores on the IDI provide the quantitative data used to assess qualitative findings. The intention was that this study would provide an in-depth investigation of the students’ experiences in order to be used by individuals who find the information to be practical, functional, and helpful in improving the learning and cultural environment of study abroad students.

香港與澳門的教育系統被中國視為歐洲的傳承並受到高度的重視，尤其是對在中國的新城市菁英而言。 隨著英語教育的需求增加，香港與澳門的大學在中國大陸學生招生方面歷經快速的成長，中國學生在特別行政區域（SARs）的社會中占有愈來愈大的存在比例。台灣在2011年開始開放陸生來台後，也成中國學生留學的新興目的地。此份研究主要分析中國大陸之學生在抵達香港、澳門與台灣前後對移入地的觀點，定義中國菁英學生在這些移入社會的新人口群體，並討論此新群體對其留學目的地與及中國所具有的社會意涵。 本研究透過質性研究方法與資料，發現選擇就讀於特別行政區域(SARs)的中國大陸學生，是因為地緣位置接近、文化、語言相同性及相對的教育價值等因素。這些中國學生也被視為特別行政區域(SARs)及海外的潛在移民者。本研究亦透過問卷訪問在台灣就讀的陸生，這些在台陸生仍是相對未被深入研究的人口群體。此份研究成果適合用於教育學、移民學以及社會學，亦對兩岸學術研究者具有重要的參考價值。 / Hong Kong and Macau's education systems are perceived to be part of their European legacy which is highly regarded in mainland China, especially among China's new urban elite. Along with a consistent increase in demand for an English education, universities in Hong Kong and Macau are henceforth experiencing rapid growth in enrollment of students from mainland China, who are ever more present in the Special Administrative Regions' (SARs) societies. Moreover, mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwanese universities just recently commenced in 2011 and it is a policy in its infancy. This study aims to analyze mainland Chinese students' perception of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan before and after arriving, define a new demographic of elite mainland Chinese students in these three regions, and draw potential social implications these students have for their respective host societies and Chinese society. This study used qualitative research methods and data to confirm that mainland students who chose to study in the SARs because of closer location, cultural and linguistic familiarity and relative value of education. They were also considered potential immigrants to the SARs and abroad. This study provides insight using primary source data on mainland students in Taiwan, which remains a relatively un-researched demographic. This study is applicable to disciplines such as education studies, immigration, and sociology. Information from this study may also be of interest to those who study cross-strait studies, as mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwanese universities just recently commenced in 2011 and it is a policy in its infancy. Hence, this may have implications for future cross-strait policy changes.

This mixed-methods study contributes to the limited literature on global citizenship by comparing the impacts of two curricular methods used to educate for global citizenship: international education experiences and a school-wide approach. Using Round Square as the case study, an international association of secondary schools that incorporate both methods to foster global citizenship, and an adapted version of Hartman’s (2008) Global Citizenship Survey, this study examines the global citizenship qualities of 185 graduates from Canadian Round Square schools. Findings reveal that not only is the pursuit of global citizenship within schools valuable and possible, but that a school-wide approach is as effective a method to educate for global citizenship as international education experiences. Results are valuable as many schools lack the resources, capacity, and motivation for global citizenship programming, particularly if programming relies on international education activities. Results also question the necessity of international opportunities to foster global citizenship.

This dissertation explores learner beliefs about pronunciation and their interaction with identity negotiations in a study-abroad context. Current research on studying abroad has experienced a wave of interest in learner-centered questions, gradually moving away from the narrow focus on students’ linguistic development. In particular, the effects of study abroad on learner identities have attracted attention, revealing the impact of the dispositions of individuals, as well as of interlocutors, on the language learning process. The realm of speaking, especially with regard to pronunciation research, however, has hardly benefited from this interest in the individual perspectives of sojourners. Existing studies merely measure the extent to which learners appropriate native-like accents, resulting in partly inconsistent findings with limited insight into individual learning processes and factors. I thus adopt a different focus by qualitatively investigating the interplay between sojourners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their identity constructions and negotiations. My research is based on five case studies of Canadian learners of German. Each research subject has attended a German university for one or two semesters. In applying narrative inquiry as a research tool for both the within- and cross-case analyses, I investigate participants’ accounts in interviews and e-journals, as conducted at different stages throughout the first sojourn term. Poststructuralist-constructivist conceptualizations of learner identities and beliefs guide the data analysis and interpretation. The results of the holistic and categorical content analyses give insight into the intricate relationship between beliefs about pronunciation and learners’ identity work. In their narratives, learners appear to actively use pronunciation as a tool to construct identity facets in correspondence to specific communities of practice, giving meaning to their investment in the sojourn experience. This process of mediating between different identity constructions appears to be highly complex and partially conflict-laden. The participants’ beliefs and reported learning behaviours are interconnected with their definitions of learning goals, which draw on native-speaker ideals to different extents and with varying results. These orientations are in turn related to the subjects’ degrees of critical language awareness, the latter a factor that appears to play a vital role in shaping the ability of learners to take advantage of learning opportunities. In assessing participants’ learning objectives and their readiness to reflect upon their beliefs and orientations, my study also sheds light on the influence of different learning factor constellations on intercultural learning. The results indicate that unidirectional cause-and-effect relationships cannot be drawn between learners’ beliefs about pronunciation and their abilities to approach their roles as intercultural speakers in sojourn environments. My study rather underlines the importance of illuminating individual learning experiences in their idiosyncrasies and complexities, which may lead to a stronger consideration of learners’ subjective stances in both research and teaching practice. The findings of my study suggest that the primary way that language pedagogy can thus foster the ability to engage in intercultural encounters is by helping learners to become aware of their subjective stances, their self-constructions, and the influence of those on the learning process. Therefore, developing the ability and willingness to critically reflect is crucial, especially with regard to pronunciation. In illuminating the intricate nature of learner beliefs and their influence on the learning process, my study demonstrates the importance of qualitative, emic research into the acquisition of L2 pronunciation.

Study abroad programmes have become popular among students around the world nowadays. Thanks to the participation in the exchange, students are able to improve their intercultural skills, which may be beneficial for them in their future careers. This study investigates students’ development of intercultural competence and identity after spending one semester at the university in Hong Kong. Its main focus is to analyse how study abroad programmes impact students’ abilities in intercultural communication by analysing their self-reflections towards their re-invented identities as well as the overall experience of living and studying in a different country. The whole study is also based on the concept of linguistic repertoire, which is here being updated in the context of globalisation. In order to collect the data, four participants from the Netherlands, Germany and Canada were asked to fill in initial contact forms by providing information about one specific intercultural encounter that they have experienced during the study abroad period. This information then acted as the background knowledge used in the following interviews with each participant, where their opinions have been further developed in more detail. The results show that the participants further developed their skills in intercultural competence as well as enhanced their already interculturally-oriented identities. As for the impact on their linguistic repertoires, the interesting finding shows that the linguistic repertoires of the participants with English as a second language might have been affected slightly more than those of the native speakers. In the end, these results agree with the previous research on the development of intercultural skills after the study abroad period and highlight the importance of participating in study abroad programmes as students become prepared for their future careers in the highly globalised world.

(in English): The master's thesis The Role of Studying Abroad for Future Teachers deals with the impact of an international study visit on prospective teachers and identifies areas of their professional training which can be affected most. The theoretical part of the thesis expands on studying abroad and the Erasmus Programme. It also deals with the teacher's personality, their competencies and pedagogical skills. The practical part of the thesis is devoted to specific international study visits within selected academic fields; it also analyses the respective study plans and estimates the extent of their possible influence on future teachers.

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), the study abroad context (SA) has gained attention as a site that offers the potential of significant second language (L2) development due to high amounts of input and interaction opportunities compared to at home foreign language (AH) and domestic immersion (IM) contexts (Pérez-Vidal, 2014). In previous research, the SA context has been a country where the L2 is the local language (e.g., English in the United Kingdom). However, with the increase of student mobility programs across Europe, such as ERASMUS, and the status of English as an International Language, another study abroad context is available, one where students can take English-medium classes and use English as a lingua franca in a country where English is not the local language (e.g., Germany, Poland, Spain). In the current study, this new context is operationalized as English as a lingua franca study abroad (ELFSA), the effects of which have received very little attention in SLA to date. By providing an alternative SA context through English medium of instruction on-campus, and English as an international language through off-campus interactions, this new context might bring further insights into the SA phenomenon. Motivated by this gap in the literature, the current longitudinal study aims to investigate the differentiated effects of the SA, ELFSA, and AH contexts on the linguistic development of Turkish undergraduates whose L2 is English. Given the multilingual nature of the ERASMUS context, this study also examines the contextual influences on participants’ perceptions towards multilingualism from a Perceived Positive Language Interaction (PPLI) perspective (Thompson, 2013). The participants of the study were 50 third year Turkish undergraduates, 33 of whom undertook a 16-week ERASMUS exchange semester in Spring 2016. Following a quasi-experimental mixed-methods pretest-posttest design, data were collected via a one-minute spoken and 15-minute written production test to determine linguistic complexity, accuracy, and fluency gains; an Elicited Oral Imitation Test (EIT, Ortega et al., 1999) to measure pre-departure proficiency; a monthly online Language Interaction Questionnaire to investigate the type and amount of language contact; and a dichotomous questionnaire to learn about participants’ perceptions towards multilingualism within PPLI. For triangulation purposes, qualitative data were collected via several open-ended items in the questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis indicated that the SA and ELFSA contexts were beneficial for English development on most of the measures, yet the former had certain issues for the participants pertaining to the dominant variety and features of spoken English (e.g., weak forms, connected speech, speech rate). The ELFSA was reported to be more multilingual as compared to the SA, also paving the way for seeing further Perceived Positive Language Interaction (Thompson, 2013) among the additional languages that their participants knew. The major difference between the two was described to be the ELFSA participants’ developing an ELF identity towards using English as an L2, as they tended to prioritize fluency over accuracy throughout their exchange semester. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated that the AH group had significantly more gains on written fluency than the two abroad groups. Also, time was found to be a significant factor for lexical development regardless of group differences. In terms of oral gains, main effects of time indicated that the participants as a whole group had significantly different means over time on speech rate and breakdown fluency, the inspection of which showed that the ELFSA had the highest mean differences. As for oral accuracy and lexical complexity, an interaction effect between time and context group was found to approach significance, indicating that both sojourn groups had mean gains on the former, while only the ELFSA had higher mean scores in the posttest for the latter measure. Finally, the data from the semi-structured interviews provided a holistic picture of the interplay between context and development in English. The major finding of the study, thus, indicated that the SA may not be the sole provider for intense L2 input to improve English during a semester abroad; the ELFSA appeared to be equally as beneficial as the SA in terms of linguistic development with a bonus of creating a linguistic identity of an ELF speaker for language learners. The study also provided several empirical and pedagogical implications for those interested in the stay abroad and its influences on L2 development.