Learning English in the Real World: Investigating Live-Abroad Accompanying Wives’ Learner Agency

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 3:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Learning and Belonging in Out-of-School Contexts: Multilingual Learners’ Agency and Community Engagement

Abstract

Learner agency is essential in second language (L2) learning. However, little is known about how adult migrants outside college and the workforce exercise agency. This study investigated how adult migrants use agency to engage with contextual affordances and how these efforts support L2 development. Participants were ten Japanese-speaking mothers accompanying their husbands on job assignments in the U.S. They kept a daily activity diary for a week and participated in an interview on how their agency created L2 learning opportunities. We coded the data using grounded theory. Findings revealed that learner agency promoted strategy use (e.g., repetition) and external factors (e.g., relationships) encouraged agency, while beliefs limited agency use. Agency-driven opportunities facilitated lexical and pragmatic development and language skills practice.

Authors

• Angelica Ribeiro, University of Houston - Clear Lake

• Shuyi Yang, Johns Hopkins University