About

Celeste Kinginger is a Professor in Language Learning and a Professor of Applied Linguistics at Penn State University, where she also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies. Her scholarship focuses on environments for the development of meaningful world language abilities among Anglophone learners. She played a pioneering role in establishing the viability of Internet-mediated, telecollaborative approaches to classroom language instruction and has published works on second language pragmatics and multilingual life writing. In recent years, her research has concentrated on understanding the processes and outcomes of language learning in study abroad contexts. She has authored or edited five book-length works on language learning in study abroad, including 'Language learning in study abroad: Case studies of Americans in France' (2008), 'Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research' (2009), and 'Social and cultural aspects of language learning in study abroad' (2013). Her current work includes qualitative studies examining the home stay dinner table as a context for learning French and Chinese language and culture, as well as a nationwide mixed-methods investigation of career paths for language-focused graduates titled 'The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni' (2023). She regularly teaches courses in applied linguistics and second language acquisition, including advanced seminars such as Pragmatics in Language Learning and Teaching and Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Linguistics
• Pedagogy
• Social psychology
• Gender studies
• Medicine
• Philosophy
• Public relations
• Medical education
• Anthropology
• Biology

Selected publications

• Long‐term language use by US‐based study‐abroad alumni: Activity types and program effects

  Modern Language Journal · 2024-02-07 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract This article presents selected results from a large‐scale, mixed‐methods, federally funded investigation of US‐based language study‐abroad alumni of all ages, which included a nationwide survey ( N = 4,899) followed by professional life history interviews with 54 participants. Here, we focus on three questions heretofore unaddressed: (a) How do these alumni continue to use their additional languages? (b) How is long‐term language use associated with various study‐abroad program features? and (c) How is the role of program features reflected in life history narratives? We found that 79% of participants use their languages in at least one of the activities listed on the survey, though this use is generally confined to informal, interactive tasks. Our examination of program features using multiple regression revealed that while all features were statistically significant predictors for long‐term language use, those involving engagement with local communities (e.g., close personal relationships) showed more relative importance. Contextualized with a sample of our qualitative data, findings from this study offer a macrolevel confirmation that local engagement during study abroad retains its significance for language use over the long term and provide implications for designing study‐abroad programs that involve language learning.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni

  2023 · 1 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Pedagogy

  This book investigates the impact of language learning and study abroad on the career options and choices of US-based alumni of all ages. International education experiences are shown to exert considerable influence on the aspirations and career paths of individuals, and the long-term benefits are clearly demonstrated in participant narratives.

  PublisherDOI

• 1 Introduction and Literature Review

  Multilingual Matters eBooks · 2023-04-06 · 3 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mixed methods research on language learning in study abroad

  Research methods in applied linguistics · 2023-01-10 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Although research involving the theorized, principled, systematic integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches – mixed methods – is relatively rare in the literature on study abroad, there have been seminal, interesting, and impactful multiple methods contributions to this literature. This chapter first explores extant research on language learning in study abroad that involves both quantitative and qualitative data. The chapter will then present the key feature of mixed methods research: the principled integration of quantitative and qualitative data and analysis. Worked examples of these moments of integration – termed ‘points of interface’ – are drawn from our own current research and a published study. The chapter closes with reflection on how mixed methods might strengthen and extend the empirical case for study abroad.

  PublisherDOI

• The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni

  Channel View Publications eBooks · 2023-04-05 · 1 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Professional Lives of Language Study Abroad Alumni

  Multilingual Matters eBooks · 2023-04-03 · 2 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  This book investigates the impact of language learning and study abroad on the career options and choices of US-based alumni of all ages. International education experiences are shown to exert considerable influence on the aspirations and career paths of individuals, and the long-term benefits are clearly demonstrated in participant narratives.

  PublisherDOI

• Language learning in transition: narrative case studies of two provincial Korean high school students

  Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · 2022 · 3 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology

  What drives provincial students in Korea to choose a college in Seoul? What role does English language learning play in their choices? This study focuses on two young academic migrants to Seoul, Joon and Lynn, to explore how macrocultural phenomena shaped their psychology and contributed to their language education. Previous studies have focused on how the culture of English learning in Korea encourages study abroad. Less understood are nation-level migration trajectories and what drives this form of mobility. Participants’ narratives showed different values and opportunities assigned to different regions. ‘In-Seoul’ discourse and a sense of belonging in the imagined communities impacted their college choices and learning experiences. Both shared that their final goal of moving between regions was to expand their horizons: Joon perceived Seoul as a propitious place for his occupation, and Lynn saw it as an interim place where she could communicate freely with people from different cultural backgrounds. Joon showed voluntary alignment with the ideals sought by colleges in Seoul. Lynn negotiated her way into communities of fluent language speakers and academic pursuits within her major. This study shows how these migrants made sense of English language learning within their broader regional migration and learning experiences.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The sociocultural ontogenesis of international students’ use of pragmatic strategies in ELF academic communication: Two contrasting case studies

  Journal of Pragmatics · 2021 · 15 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Linguistics
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Eureka! or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the survey

  Language Teaching · 2020-08-19

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Two decades ago, a personally-addressed ten-page survey printed on salmon-colored stock appeared in my campus mailbox. An accompanying letter explained that the sender was a student collecting data for a graduate-level thesis and included contact information for the thesis advisor … in marketing. It was the one and only ‘Consumer Durable Goods Study’ I would ever receive as an applied linguist.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Second Language Concept-Based Pragmatics Instruction:

  2019-02-22 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sheng-Hsun Lee

  University of Queensland

  7 shared

• Qian Wu

  Zhejiang University of Science and Technology

  5 shared

• Vanessa Simpson

  Children's Medical Center

  5 shared

• Alison Gourvès-Hayward

  5 shared

• Jingyuan Zhuang

  Pennsylvania State University

  4 shared

• Dali Tan

  4 shared

• Rémi A. van Compernolle

  4 shared

• Julie A. Belz

  Infas Institut für Angewandte Sozialwissenschaft (Germany)

  3 shared

Awards & honors

• Best of MLJ 2024