Effects of a Virtual Year Abroad on L2 Chinese Interactionability

For several decades, technology-supported language learning, such as flipped classrooms or app use, have been increasingly used in various contexts including during residence abroad (e.g. Wang et al, 2018; Moffat, 2022), with varying degrees of success. However, after online or virtual learning became a necessity for all during the 2019-2022 pandemic, language-degree students requiring residence abroad faced hybrid or virtual only provision. For many institutions even after the pandemic has passed, residence abroad remain disrupted and may remain partially hybrid or with immersion experiences truncated.

There is little clear consensus on the impact of partial or fully virtual year abroad (VYA) experiences on students’ linguistic competence during the rest of their degree studies and future employability choices. Some research suggests little significant impact on linguistic progress (Peterson, 2021), while student voices and teacher experiences suggest the opposite, particularly in levels of dialogic interactional competence, confidence in authentic communication, and expectations of using their language degree experience to foster future employability choices.

This study examines students on two cohorts of Leeds' Mandarin degree programme: Cohort A were tracked from level 2 and level 3 (final) exams in 2022-23, who experienced VYA between 2020 and 2021. Cohort B were tracked from level 2 to level 3 in the following year, following actual immersion in Taiwan. Data is taken from oral exams, quantitatively analysed using an innovative framework for interactional fluency evaluation (Wright & Peltonen 2023) to compare changes between Year 2 and Year 3. The study also includes qualitative data from individual participant interviews, exploring impact of type of immersion on participants’ progress through to level 3, and eventual career choices post-graduation.

The two-fold novelty of the study lies, firstly, in the indepth empirical focus on the linguistic attainment and employability impact for language-degree students, and the clear benefit of even short lengths of actual immersion for boosting linguistic confidence and dialogic fluency. Secondly, the study also adds theoretically and empirically to SLA research into fluency development, by including a new framework for dialogic interactional competence - "interactionability".