Using English in real-life situations can motivate students. Some Japanese tourism-major students conducted simple interviews with inbound visitors, and I compared their attitudes using pre- and post-questionnaires. Although many students said they were anxious about speaking English before conducting the interviews, they found the experience encouraging and motivating. In a mock-interview activity, where students played tourists and interviewers in turn, the participants showed similar increases in motivation for language learning.

This study looks at factors contributing to student satisfaction with study abroad programs. We will present the results of our survey of English Communication and International Business returnee students from study abroad programs in Malaysia. Our aim is to identify common elements of a successful study abroad experience. The study’s main focus is Malaysia, but the results could prove useful to any study abroad program in both preparation and evaluation.

Workplace interaction and social support can have a significant effect upon the cognition and development of novice teachers as they navigate the transition between training and teaching. This paper reports on findings from a qualitative longitudinal case-study of five novice EFL teachers, exploring the positive and negative influences which interaction with colleagues and wider social support had upon their cognition and development during this formative time.