Virtual Study Abroad Language Programmes: An Inferior Stand-in or a Promising Opportunity?

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the short-term Chinese language study abroad programmes had to be conducted remotely. This study compares the learning experiences of the physical study abroad with these ‘virtual’ ones. A total of ten participants were recruited for interviews. Adopting a perspective of activity theory, we investigated the participants’ language learning motives and the development of their motivation in study abroad. The findings suggest that the virtual programmes attract heritage learners or learners with linguistic motives, but not those with career-oriented motives. Both groups of participants found the experiences valuable and reported that the intensive programmes had improved their proficiency. However, while enhanced motivation was observed for all physical participants, some virtual participants suffered from demotivation due to a less dynamic learning community or difficulties in fulfilling their responsibilities. Based on the results, we proposed ways to improve virtual programme design and administration. We believe that virtual study abroad could be an effective alternative and recommend Chinese programmes to include virtual study abroad in addition to the regular study abroad.