Conclusion
This article describes a course taken while
students were studying abroad and attempting
to increase their oral profi ciency and
cultural understanding. During the semester-
long course, the students completed 12
tasks that required them to interact with
native speakers and subsequently to blog
about those interactions. The course was
designed, in part, because a review of the
literature reveals that students’ access to
native speakers while abroad is very uneven
and dependent on a large number of variables.
Because of this situation, the course
described here “forces” students to take the
initiative and approach native speakers.