Abstract

Given the basic notions regarding the connections between language, culture, and identity, and the role that education plays in the formation of the three, this study was created to understand what effect language might have on the development of personal perspectives. The aim is to evaluate whether the vehicular language of basic schooling plays a part in the decisions that students later make about where to continue their studies at university and whether the influence of their academic language might outweigh the mother tongue or other languages spoken at home or in their social environment. Using an online survey, graduates from an all-English-based educational model in Spain were questioned regarding their selection of university and degree and the predominant language of both. Likewise, they were also asked to report on their language profile growing up, as well as the difficulties they perceived when integrating into their higher-level education. By cross-referencing their answers and understanding the relationship between the different variables analyzed on a case-by-case basis, there is some concluding evidence that daily immersion in a foreign language might not have as great an impact on personal image and thought processes as was originally hypothesized.