The student as an enterprising self: Neoliberalism, English and early study abroad

Abstract

In the process of neoliberal globalization, the number of pre-college-aged educational migrants from English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) countries, often referred to as an early study abroad (ESA) student, has dramatically increased over recent decades in many English-speaking countries. Much of previous research on these educational migrants has primarily focused on parents’ perspectives and involvement, and ignoring the engagement of and investment made by ESA students themselves. By analyzing transcripts of qualitative interviews with fifteen former early study-abroad students from Korea, this paper investigates how these ESA students narrate their experiences of early study abroad and how they understand their roles and experiences in the process. Findings of this paper show that ESA students’ ways of thinking and approaches to their educational trajectory and language learning strongly resonate with a practice of neoliberal responsibilization, by which each student is made responsible for her own choices and their consequences.

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