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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

11-2016

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

English: Teaching English as a Second Language: M.A.

Department

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

First Advisor

James Robinson

Second Advisor

Choonkyong Kim

Third Advisor

Isolde Mueller

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

Homestay Cultural Integration Language Growth

Abstract

The aim of this study was to look at differences in language outcome and cultural integration for adult sojourners outside of the university context. 131 participants responded to an online survey; 58% completed a homestay as a part of language and/or culture learning and 42% did not engage in a homestay. When these two groups were compared using an Independent sample t-test, it showed that homestay participants received statistically significant higher scores in final language achievement and final cultural integration. Within the homestay group, there was no statistical difference in these areas, except for those who engaged their homestay after three months of language learning, but before four months of language learning. This group performed worse than all other groups on final cultural integration. This study did not identify an optimal time for a homestay, although the participants recommend a basic level of language before engaging a homestay in order to achieve more language growth while in the homestay.

Additional Files
Stamped consent-Lewis IRB.pdf (144 kB)
Appendix C IRB Approval
Letter Approval IRB.pdf (278 kB)
Appendix C IRB Approval
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