The relationship between study abroad and motivation, attitude and anxiety in university students learning a foreign language

The objective of this dissertation was to discover the program effects of long- and short-term study abroad for university students at a midwestern, public university. Affective outcomes, such as motivation, attitude and anxiety, were examined using Gardner's Attitudes and Motivational Test Battery (AMTB) survey and a student demographic questionnaire. Quantitative data from the student demographic survey reported that the typical foreign language student surveyed is female, between the ages of 18-22, a junior, a liberal arts major with non-native fluency in the target language. The typical study abroad program attended by this sample is: short-term (less than eight weeks), most often 5-6 weeks in duration, a language and culture program with 10-16 hours of instruction per week. Quantitative data from the AMTB survey reported that SA students had a higher motivation index than the non-SA participants. The attitude index did not show a statistical difference between the SA group and the non-SA group. Anxiety, however, was found to be significantly lower in the SA students when compared to that of their non-SA counterparts. These findings contribute to the field of foreign language education by offering empirical evidence that a short-term study abroad experience does make a difference in regards to student motivation and anxiety in foreign language learning.