Development of Oral Communication Skills Abroad

This study examines the impact of a semester study abroad experience in Argentina on the second language acquisition of three American university Spanish learners. The goal is to measure development of two aspects of oral communication skills: fluency and performance in the oral functions of narration, and description and supporting an opinion. Research has shown that immersion in the target culture is of great value to the learner’s second-language acquisition, especially in improvement of oral proficiency (Freed, 1990a, 1990b; 1995a, 1995b; Ginsberg & Miller, 2000; Liskin-Gasparro & Urdaneta, 1995). Other study abroad research has focused on various aspects of acquisition such as sociolinguistic norms, lexical items, pronunciation and communication strategies, among others. Freed (1995a) points out that even though “previous investigations have laid the groundwork for fruitful explorations of the effects of study abroad experiences on the language proficiency of those who participate in these programs...numerous questions remain to be answered by carefully-controlled empirical studies” (p. 16). One of the many theoretical and practical questions she asks concerns the actual linguistic benefits of time spent in a study abroad program. She poses the question about what these benefits might be, “Is it improved accent, greater use of idioms, improved accuracy, expanded discourse strategies, greater fluency, improved listening comprehension, improved oral or written communication, greater syntactic complexity, or broader sociolinguistic range?” (p.17). I approach the issue by analyzing two of Freed’s topics of study: the learner’s improved fluency, and improved oral communication skills in language functions throughout the study abroad program. The term “fluency” is not easily defined, and it is not the purpose of the study to attempt that feat (see Freed 1995a for a discussion on fluency).