International Study Trips and Individual Differences An International Literature Review to Identify the Areas of Research in Hungary

Abstract

Individual differences have long been considered and researched as an important area of applied linguistics, as research findings show clear differences between language learners both in the rate of foreign language learning and in their ultimate success (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015). Although studies tend to focus on classroom learning mainly, there is a growing demand that the research repertoire should be extended to include context-sensitive studies, as the role and impact of individual differences on learning processes may vary depending on the language learning environment. Such a learning context is the study abroad context, where the importance of individual differences is undeniable: they can play a role in students’ initial decision making (Ożańska-Ponikwia & Carlet, 2020; Stroud, 2010), they can potentially shape learning processes during and after study abroad, and their impact can extend to both linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes. It has often been argued that the modernization efforts in language teaching in Hungary in recent decades have not fully achieved their goals (Öveges & Csizér, 2018), and many problems remain in relation to foreign language learning. Among the solutions proposed was the possibility for secondary school students to participate in short international study trips, which, although has not been realized on a large scale yet due to the epidemic situation, is already available to a limited number of students in several secondary schools through Erasmus programs. However, we have very little knowledge about the effects of these trips, either linguistic or non-linguistic. Therefore, the aim of our article is to review the studies in the international literature that have explored the relationship between study abroad experiences and individual differences and, based on this, to identify areas of research that could provide important findings for language teachers, language teacher educators, and policy makers in Hungary.