Catalan Law and Business Students in Italy:

Abstract

The growing number of EMI courses offered across Europe is increasing the opportunities for student exchanges. This study follows the progress of three students from Universitat de Lleida after their Erasmus experience at three different European universities, two in Milano and one in Macerata. The students took a monological English oral test before and after their stay abroad, and fluency and accuracy measures have been calculated from it. The students were also interviewed and participated in FG discussions. The measures from the two students who went to Milano show an improvement in their English level, whereas the student who went to Macerata performs even worse on his return. However, the experience from the two students in Milano was substantially different from the one who went to Macerata. Using the ethnographic information and the qualitative data available, we bring forward arguments that can help to account for these different outcomes.