6 Study Abroad from Home: Development of L2 Learner Autonomy in an Unprecedented Online Programme during the Covid-19 Pandemic Akihiko Sasaki and Osamu Takeuchi Introduction Study abroad (SA) programmes have been introduced in language education at colleges and universities worldwide. In Japan, due to the growing demand for English communication skills associated with the rapid advance of globalization, many institutions have developed curricula to send their students overseas. According to the Japan Student Services Organization (2020), more than 100,000 Japanese students were engaged in some form of SA programme in 2018. However, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 had a profound impact on SA programmes around the world. Several SA programmes shiſted to remote learning, causing international students to take online classes while confined to their dormitory rooms; some students were even compelled to return to their home countries, as their entire programme was cancelled. Covid-19 also affected students in Japan who were preparing for SA programmes. Due to travel restrictions and campus closures, many students were forced to change their plans for, or even abandon, their SA participation. However, a few programmes promptly switched from face-to-face classes to an online format so that students could participate in the SA programme while remaining in Japan. Students at the first author’s college, Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), participated in one of those few online SA programmes in 2020, offered by the college’s branch school in the United States. Although the students initially expressed frustration and disappointment about not being able to learn English in an on-site, in-person environment, they had positive impressions of online SA aſter completing the programme, and its novel environment appeared to provide them with a variety of experiences unique to online learning. In this chapter, the authors examine the students’ experiences of their online SA and investigate its benefits and drawbacks relative to conventional SA programmes. -1 0 +1 9781350271012_pi-248.indd 75 9781350271012_pi-248.indd 75 24-Nov-22 11:46:23 PM 24-Nov-22 11:46:23 PM