Averil Marie Grieve* The Impact of Host Family Relations and Length of Stay on Adolescent Identity Expression during Study Abroad Abstract: This study focuses on the relationships between host family success, social integration, length of stay and acquisition of adolescent language by students on extended international homestay programmes. Degree of adoles- cent language acquisition and integration is measured by use of two hallmarks of adolescent language: markers of approximation (e.g. “and stuff”) and inten- sification (e.g. “like”). Participants are 26 German teenagers on either a 5- or a 10-month exchange to Australia. Their use of approximation and intensification markers is measured quantitatively before arriving in Australia and then after 5 months of living in the host country. Host family relations and levels of social integration are measured qualitatively by analysis of interview content and responses to a Language Contact Profile. Results indicate that there is a direct link between host family relations, social integration and acquisition of markers of adolescent language. Additionally, exchange students on a 5-month exchange use fewer of those approximation and intensification markers most associated with Australian adolescent language than students on a 10-month programme. This can be explained by lower investment and integration in the Australian adolescent community. Keywords: study abroad, pragmatic markers, adolescent identity, second language acquisition, identity DOI 10.1515/multi-2014-0089 Received September 12, 2014; accepted November 29, 2014 1 Introduction This study focuses on how adolescents, whose sense of self is at a critical stage of development in their first language and culture, develop a capacity for identity *Corresponding author: Averil Marie Grieve, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, University of Melbourne, 3 Caroline Street, Clifton Hill, VIC 3068, Australia, E-mail: agrieve@unimelb.edu.au Multilingua 2015; 34(5): 623–657 Authenticated | agrieve@unimelb.edu.au author's copy Download Date | 9/10/15 9:17 AM