A major rationale for study abroad (SA) from the perspective of second language acquisition is the presumed opportunity available to sojourners for naturalistic second language (L2) “immersion”. However, such opportunities are affected by variations in the linguistic, institutional and social affordances of SA, in different settings. They are also affected by the varying agency and motivation of sojourners in seeking second language (L2) engagement. For example, many sojourners prioritize mastering informal L2 speech, while others prioritize academic and professional registers including writing. Most will operate multilingually, using their home language, a local language, and/or English as lingua franca for different purposes, and the types of input they seek out, and language practices they enter into, vary accordingly. Consequently, while researchers have developed varied approaches to documenting L2 engagement, and have tried to relate these to measures of L2 development, these efforts have so far seen somewhat mixed success. This article reviews different approaches to documenting SA input and interaction; first, that of participant self-report, using questionnaires, interviews, journals, or language logs. Particular attention is paid to the popular Language Contact Profile (LCP), and to approaches drawing on Social Network Analysis. The limitations of all forms of self-report are acknowledged. The article also examines the contribution of direct observation and recording of L2 input and interaction during SA. This is a significant alternative approach for the study of acquisition, but one which poses theoretical, ethical and practical challenges. Researchers have increasingly enlisted participants as research collaborators who create small corpora through self-recording with L2 interlocutors. Analyses in this tradition have so far prioritized interactional, pragmatic and sociocultural development, in learner corpora, over other dimensions of second language acquisition (SLA). The theoretical and practical challenges of corpus creation in SA settings and their wider use to promote understandings of informal L2 learning are discussed.

从第二语言习得的角度来看，出国留学 (SA) 的一个主要理由是假定为旅居者提供了自然第二语言 (L2)“沉浸”的机会。然而，在不同的环境中，这种机会受到南澳语言、制度和社会可供性变化的影响。他们还受到旅居者寻求第二语言 (L2) 参与的不同机构和动机的影响。例如，许多旅居者优先掌握非正式的 L2 语音，而其他人则优先考虑学术和专业领域，包括写作。大多数人会使用多种语言，将他们的母语、当地语言和/或英语用作不同目的的通用语言，并且他们寻求的输入类型和他们输入的语言实践也相应地有所不同。最后，虽然研究人员开发了多种方法来记录 L2 参与度，并试图将这些方法与 L2 发展的衡量标准联系起来，但迄今为止，这些努力取得了一些成功。本文回顾了记录 SA 输入和交互的不同方法；首先，参与者自我报告，使用问卷、访谈、期刊或语言日志。特别关注流行的语言联系资料 (LCP)，以及利用社交网络分析的方法。承认所有形式的自我报告的局限性。本文还研究了在 SA 期间直接观察和记录 L2 输入和交互的贡献。这是习得研究的一种重要替代方法，但也带来了理论、伦理和实践方面的挑战。研究人员越来越多地招募参与者作为研究合作者，他们通过与 L2 对话者的自我记录来创建小型语料库。迄今为止，这一传统的分析优先考虑了学习者语料库中的互动、语用和社会文化发展，而不是第二语言习得 (SLA) 的其他维度。讨论了 SA 环境中语料库创建的理论和实践挑战及其在促进对非正式 L2 学习的理解方面的更广泛应用。