Study Abroad and Intensive Linguistic Immersion in Spain: Undergraduate Oral Proficiency for Short-Term Study Abroad

Study abroad is an important piece of the internationalization of curriculum and is particularly advantageous for second language learners. Many students study abroad to learn a language and the majority of students studying abroad enroll in shorter-term programs. Given their strong representation in the field of study abroad, the following article addresses second language students and oral proficiency in shorter-term study abroad programs. This study focuses on participants (n = 8) who spent three weeks in Spain. These students completed six credit hours of online spring semester coursework and signed an immersion contract for their three weeks abroad over the summer. Before departure and upon returning they took the Versant for Spanish test. Findings indicated that the three-week program abroad led to gains in overall Spanish oral proficiency as well as in vocabulary acquisition, fluency, and pronunciation skills.