Vasilica Mocanu

A Mixed Methods Approach to Identity, Investment, and Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Case of Erasmus Students in Finland, Romania, and Catalonia Vasilica Mocanu http://hdl.handle.net/10803/667829 A Mixed Methods Approach to Identity, Investment, and Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Case of Erasmus Students in Finland, Romania, and Catalonia està subjecte a una llicència de Reconeixement-NoComercial-SenseObraDerivada 4.0 No adaptada de Creative Commons (c) 2019, Vasilica Mocanu TESI DOCTORAL A Mixed Methods Approach to Identity, Investment, and Language Learning in Study Abroad: The Case of Erasmus Students in Finland, Romania, and Catalonia Vasilica Mocanu Memòria presentada per optar al grau de Doctor per la Universitat de Lleida Programa de Doctorat en Territori, Patrimoni i Cultura Director Enric Llurda Giménez Tutor Enric Llurda Giménez 2019 i Celor care mi-au dat viață, Mirela și Ion. Acknowledgments Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Professor Enric Llurda for his continuous support, patience, and endless generosity. Without his kind guidance, I cannot imagine this project seeing the light. Gràcies, Enric! Sense la teua confiança mai hauria arribat fins aquí. Similarly, I would like to thank the Erasmus students who kindly accepted to participate in this project and let me become a part of their experience. I have no words to express how lucky I feel for having had the chance to share your Erasmus with you and I hope I was able to voice your thoughts as well as you deserve! A very special gratitude also goes to the Departament d‟Anglès i Lingüística, and most especially, to my colleagues from Cercle de Lingüística Aplicada whose companionship and support have made of these four years a pleasant and humane journey. I would like to thank both the Agència de Gestió d‟Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca and the Universitat de Lleida for funding my research, as well as the Université de Fribourg for funding my stay at its Institut de Plurilinguisme, and Simon Fraser University for hosting my stay as a visiting researcher in their Department of Education. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Alexandre Duchêne from Université de Fribourg for kindly having guided my work for five months. His generosity, empathy, and steady work for equality rubbed off on me. In the same way, I would like to thank Professor Steve Marshall from Simon Fraser University for giving me the chance to learn from him and his fellow colleagues in the Department of Education. His words of trust and support soothed my soul when storm clouds were approaching. On a similar note, I would like to thank Professor Bonny Norton from the University of British Columbia for the opportunity to attend one of her courses and for inspiring me and to Professor TainaVuorela from Oulu Ammattikorkeakoulu as well as to Professor Roxana Marinescu from Academia de Studii Economice din București and to the International Office Staff at their universities, as well as to the ones at the International Office at Universitat de Lleida for their support with my data collection. I also wish to express my infinite gratitude to Professor Tracey Derwing for being a lighthouse in my life and to her amazing family and friends for having made my journey in their country an amazing one and for bringing joy to my existence. On a more personal level, I would like to thank my parents, Mirela and Ion for being my anchor and offering me priceless moments of love, peace, security, and comfort, and to my dog, Estrella, for making me feel the most deeply loved person on Earth. My gratitutde also goes to my grandparents, Nicu, who bought me my first notebook and pencil even though I was not able to write yet and whose energy still travels with me and to Stana, Valerica, and Ioan for their insurmountable trust in my work despite not understanding it at all as well as to my aunts, uncles, and cousins, most especially my aunt Cerasela, my uncle Adrian, and my cousin, Claudiu for being always there. Va iubesc mult de tot! My deepest gratitude also goes to Pol, for being the most amazing companion through this rollercoaster trip, for his unconditional love, his infinite calmness, and for always raising me up. His family also deserves a big thank you for their words of trust and comfort. Gràcies, guapos! And last but not least, I would like to thank my friends, whose presence has been one of the best parts of this work. To my sweet sugababes Airi, Joana, and Vane, astonishing young women who fill my life with laughter, love, and joy. Sense vosaltres, jo no seria jo i la vida tindria menys sentit! To my soulmate and sister, Ia for finding the right words in the right moment and for helping me not to lose track of what is really important. T‟estimo, Titi! To Agus and Milio for the funny and “come down to Earth” moments. Sou lo millor que he tret del rectorat! And to Simona and Ana for blindly believing in me. During this journey, I was lucky enough to have the best office mates ever: Francesc (thanks for the technical support!), Balbi, Ieva, Irati, Judith, Leyre, and Maite (OK, she was in the front office, but I love her) who made me feel part of a team of superwomen for whom I feel a mix of love, admiration, and deep gratitude. Gràcies, amors. Sempre sere aquí per vosaltres! To Wes, Bryan, and Colleen for making me feel at home in Vancouver. I‟ll find you in every KD I eat! To Mattie for being the brother I‟ve never had and for so sincerely loving my weirdness, and to Alice and Andrea for making my stay in Fribourg unforgettable. Grazie mille! Vi voglio un sacco di bene! I would also like to thank Desi, Gina, Maiju, Zorana, and Maria Rosa for the sweet little Swiss moments. Finally, I would like to thank all those people whose name do noy appear but who have nevertheless contributed to this project in one way or another. You know who you are! This thesis has been financially supported by a research grant I was awarded in November 2015 by the Agència de Gestió d‟Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Generalitat de Catalunya (ref. 2016 FI_B 00624). In the same way, it was possible to present some of the results of this project in several international conferences thanks to the following grants: SGR 2017-2020 (ref.2017-SGR- 1522) and MINECO 2016-2019 (ref. FFI2015-67769-P). Abstract Existing research on the impact of sojourns abroad on identity and on the relation between study abroad, identity, and language learning shows a variety of, sometimes contradictory, results. While some scholars doubt that study abroad is a long and destabilizing enough type of mobility having a direct impact on the identities of the participants (e.g. Block, 2014), others claim that study abroad can trigger an „alteration‟ or modification of the self, due to the need to live in a foreign language (e.g. Pellegrino Aveni, 2005). This research project adopts a mixed methods longitudinal framework to approach the issue of identity, investment, and language learning in study abroad. The study follows a PRE-POST design with data obtained at different moments during the academic year 2015-2016 through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with Erasmus students in three different contexts: Oulu (Finland) in Northern Europe, Bucharest (Romania) in Eastern Europe, and Lleida (Catalonia) in Southern Europe. The study examines the sense of belonging, imagined identities, attitudes towards languages and cultural difference, expectations and degree of investment in both personal and professional learning among European higher education students in the three settings. The results of the study reveal the Erasmus experience has an impact on the participants‟ identities, language attitudes and uses, as well as pn their perception of employability. However, the outcomes of the stay abroad are influenced both by the expectations and the degree of investment of the students as well as by the contexts and the linguistic landscapes of their stay. Keywords: identity, study abroad, investment, language learning, Erasmus. Resum La recerca al voltant de l'impacte de les estades a l'estranger sobre la identitat i la relació entre l'estudi a l'estranger, la identitat i l'aprenentatge d'idiomes, majoritàriament duta a terme mitjançant mètodes qualitatius, mostra una varietat de resultats que poden arribar a semblar contradictoris. Mentre que alguns acadèmics manifesten una actitud escèptica sobre el fet que un període d'estudi a l'estranger constitueixi un tipus de mobilitat suficientment llarg i desestabilitzador perquè pugui tenir un impacte en les identitats dels participants (Block, 2014), altres afirmen que estudiar a l'estranger pot desencadenar una „alteració‟ o una modificació del jo a causa de la necessitat de viure en un idioma estranger (Pellegrino Aveni, 2005). Aquest projecte d'investigació adopta una metodologia mixta amb un enfocament longitudinal per tal d‟abordar el tema de la identitat, la inversió i l'aprenentatge d'idiomes en estades de mobilitat universitària a l'estranger. L‟estudi segueix un disseny PRE-POST, amb dades obtingudes en diferents moments durant el curs acadèmic 2015-2016, mitjançant qüestionaris i entrevistes semiestructurades amb estudiants Erasmus en tres contextos europeus: Oulu (Finlàndia) al nord, Bucharest (Romania) a l‟est, i Lleida (Catalunya) al sud. L'estudi examina el sentit de pertinença, les identitats imaginades, les actituds cap als idiomes i les diferències culturals, les expectatives i el grau d'inversió en l'aprenentatge personal i professional entre els estudiants europeus d'educació superior.

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