Lan­guage learn­ing ad­vising

Whether you are travelling in the language of instruction or the local language (in countries such as Sweden or Poland, teaching is often in English), a semester abroad definitely offers plenty of opportunities! In a real environment, you get a lot of input in the target language and countless opportunities to learn. Unfortunately, this potential is often underutilised and ^{underestimated1}.

Even though being abroad is only one part of the language learning process, there are significant differences between home and abroad.

4 Examples:

• Predictability: Communication situations abroad are often less predictable - you could be approached unexpectedly at university or on the street, for example.
  Possible preparation: You could focus on reacting spontaneously (this can be practised!), activating your prior knowledge and practising compensation strategies with your learning or tandem partner (e.g. using a similar word if you can't think of the word you're looking for).
• Real-life situations: Communication situations abroad are often much more real ("holistic"). For example, you actually shop in a shop in the foreign language instead of just practising it under simplified learning conditions.
  Possible preparation: You could use different senses and channels (seeing, hearing, acting, etc.) when learning.
• Feedback: You will often receive less feedback or correction abroad, as the locals are usually not language teachers and may be less language-sensitive.
  Possible preparation: You could practise strategies to ensure understanding, such as asking questions in the target language to make sure you are expressing yourself correctly.
• Pace: Communication situations abroad are often faster and more demanding, for example in lectures.
  Possible preparation: You could practise taking notes quickly or acquire vocabulary for likely conversational situations.

Individual differences between learners, such as motivation and enjoyment of communicating, as well as the activities they undertake, have the greatest influence on language acquisition. This is why individual language learning advising (LLA) in advance is the best option.

Language learning advising (LLA) can also be useful after your stay abroad, especially if you are no longer surrounded by the target language as much.

¹ see also the study by C. Braun (2010), the main results of which can be found in the "Recommendations for Outgoings" (download below) and are supplemented with quotes from ZfS interviews with former outgoings.