Being an exchange student in the USA: How does it affect a student’s oral English skills? A case study.

Abstract

It is uncontroversial to assume that learners of foreignlanguages who spend extended periods of time in an environment of nativespeakers will improve greatly with regard to oral skills. However, according tomodern theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), it is also assumed thatsome features of a language are more difficult to acquire than others. Thisarticle explores how the oral English skills of a Norwegian teenager havedeveloped in the course of one year as an exchange student in the USA. Fluencyalong with grammatical and phonological features have been examined before andafter the student’s stay abroad, and accuracy rates have been discussed andcompared, also taking into account relevant theories of SLA. Finally, somedidactic implications are addressed as to what aspects of English should betaught at what stage in a student’s education.