Approaches to studying abroad in Brazil and their effects on language learning and intercultural contact

In the last decades, higher education institutions have been offering a greater variety of study abroad (SA) programs. The expansion of these programs has resulted in a wider range of program durations (Hoffa & DePaul, 2010), languages of instruction (including both the host country?s language and English; Jackson, 2008), and new destinations (Twombly, Salisbury, Tumanut, & Klute, 2012). Even though student mobility is more frequent than ever before (Altbach, 2004), the predominant flow in student mobility is mainly from countries with less economic and political representation to those that are considered to be more ?developed? (Altbach, 2004; OECD, 2015; Plews & Jackson, 2017). Accordingly, most research studies that focus on SA take place mostly in economically and politically powerful countries where English is the official language (Block, 2007). The present study investigated the reasons that lead students to select SA programs in a country that is not among the