Second language acquisition and the language tourism experience

There is a general consensus that study abroad fosters the development of communicative competence in a foreign language. This is the principle underlying the promotion of international mobility in academic environments and the growing demand for language learning courses in a foreign country. However, language travel as a typology of educational tourism has drawn relatively little scholarly attention. This paper focuses on language tourism as a holistic activity providing meaningful learning experiences in and beyond academic contexts, a phenomenon which needs to be analysed from the two complementary perspectives of supply and demand considering the determining factors, components and impacts. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.