| Despite the increase in qualitative studies, ethnographic research focusing on the cultural adaptation and language learning of adults in educational settings has been lacking. Through the contextualized, self-reported language learning stories of ESL adults, the study provides an understanding of the simultaneous processes of language acquisition and cross-cultural adaptation by providing a multi-layered description of the students' experiential learnings inside and outside of the school setting, and of their learning and cross-cultural adaptation strategies.;The study involves the development of case study profiles of Brazilian, Korean, and Swiss-German adults in a 12-week intensive English program (IEP). Using a qualitative approach, the researcher adopted a position of participant observer and used multiple data collection and analysis techniques, namely language learning journals written in English, administrative documents, learner assignments, persistent observation, a questionnaire about strategy use, taped interviews, shadowing participants, peer debriefing, member checks, prolonged on-site engagement and a researcher's log.;A taxonomy of five topic domains generated from informants' learning journals reveals how these students used their new target language to convey metacognitive reflection and to tell their language learning story. The study describes the interaction and influence of the learning/acquisition context (the school subculture and the target language culture) on the language learning process. In particular, the shared religious culture played an important role in the reduction of learner anxiety and the use of relaxation strategies, suggesting expansion of this and other categories in Oxford's (1990) taxonomy of strategies. Students demonstrated a reliance upon social strategies to learn the language, even when the first language expatriate community was strong and use of English negatively affected the cohesion of the first language community (Schumann, 1978). A strong multi-lingual, multi-cultural expatriate community within the target language culture (TLC) suggests that Schumann's rigid categorization of acculturation groups into either a TL or an L1 expatriate group needs re-examination. Students discuss perceived benefits of study abroad. Poignant stories of cross-cultural adaptation and language victories create a personal connection to data. Based on the findings, theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed. |
