Abstract:

The aim of European Union language policy is to promote the teaching and learning of foreign languages. As part of this policy, Erasmus not only is the EU's flagship education and training programme enabling two hundred thousand students to study and work abroad each year, but also an excellent way to learn and practice foreign languages.
The aim of this paper is to present and justify the methodology and data collection instrument of a research study which will be carried out with Translation and Interpreting students at the University of Valladolid (Spain) who will be spending their year abroad as Erasmus students. Our longitudinal study will measure their attitudes towards English as an International Language and the L2 spoken at the host country. These attitudes will be analysed before, during and after their Erasmus experience in order to assess the potential effects their year abroad has in foreign language learning and language use.

Keywords:

erasmus, attitudes, foreign languages, research project.