This paper analyses the transitions experienced by international mobility students during semester-long sojourns in English as a Lingua Franca Study Abroad contexts, with a particular focus on the role of language. It responds to recent critiques of dominant terminology in mobility research by shifting the focus from fixed categories such as 'integration' to the more flexible, process-oriented notion of transitions — understood as multidimensional and ongoing adaptations to change Jindal-Snape, D. 2023. "Re-Conceptualising Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions of International Students and Significant Others." In Research with International Students: Critical Conceptual and Methodological Considerations, edited by J. Mittelmeier, S. Lomer, and K. Unkule, 165–173. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003290803-21. The study also addresses a gap in the literature by offering a systematic account of language as a dynamic factor shaping students' transitions. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative data from 22 Croatian economics students, four interrelated dimensions of transitions were identified: transitions into adulthood, into a global identity, into a wider academic community, and into the host context. Across all dimensions, language proved to be not only a communicative tool, but also a symbolic, emotional, and strategic resource. Participants activated their plurilingual repertoires in flexible, context-sensitive ways, often shifting between English as a lingua franca, host languages, and other previously acquired languages. These findings support calls for acknowledging diverse linguistic and cultural realities/experiences, and for moving beyond fixed notions of integration toward more holistic understandings of international student experiences.
Marinov et al. (2025) studied this question.