ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis of social network formation and transformation of participants and their connections in a short-term study abroad program in Japan. The social network was examined with the use of survey instruments that looked into the participants’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral relations with other people within and beyond the program. The focal program examined in this chapter exhibited a case in which the program participants formed tightly knit connections with one another and with a few people from outside the program boundary. I call this type of program a ‘closed’ network’ in this chapter. The chapter discusses how this network turned out to be a closed type by referring to the physical settings, as well as the design features of the program, including the presence of the 24-hour language pledge that prohibited the use of English.
