Introduction

This chapter deals with the new world of internationalizing higher education, but not as it directly affects students moving to Anglophone contexts. It focuses on the empirical study of Anglophone sojourners abroad. De Swaan has proposed his so-called "world language system" to account for contemporary patterns of multilingualism and second language acquisition. The supposed attractiveness to employers in a global economy, not only of multilingual proficiency but also of the intercultural awareness which accompanies it, is increasingly promoted among both educational professionals and their students. The increasing promotion of the sojourn abroad among British and American students of languages, from the 1960s onward, led in due course to concern about learning outcomes. Since the mid-1990s, sociocultural themes of identity and language socialization have become increasingly prominent in debates on second language acquisition. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed this book.