Developing (new) language skills through student mobility - the impact of an Erasmus+ experience

Language learning “folklore” has framed study abroad as one of the most efficient means of improving students` language competences. At the European level, Erasmus has been acting as the flagship student exchange programme for more than 30 years. In this context, the present paper proposes a “zoom in” on the influence that an Erasmus+ mobility for studies can have on developing (new) language skills for the participants. The analysis will reveal important details about the characteristics of students who decide to pursue a mobility for studies or about the status of English as a lingua franca during the mobility, emphasizing as well the difference between students` perception with regards to language acquisition after the mobility and the results revealed by the linguistic assessments taken through the Online Linguistic Support platform. Last but not least, it shall also look at the impact of the mobility duration on the level of language competences.