Acquisition of L2 vocabulary in a study abroadprogram : A longitudinal study of Swedish learners of L2 Italian

This study investigates whetherthe context of learning contributes to the vocabulary acquisitionin asecond language. Swedish L2 learnersof Italian studying at Stockholm universityare compared to Swedish L2 learners studying atthe same program in a study abroad context inRome. The study is longitudinal,and the development of vocabulary knowledge is measured by the Vocabulary Levels Testwith a month in between the tests. Both groups showeda higher knowledge of low frequency words compared to high frequencywords,by the secondtest there had also been establishedan increaseof vocabulary knowledge. However, they study found that the group studying in an at home-contextoutperformed their peers in the study abroad program in Rome in both of the tests