Language learners and educators have subscribed to the belief that those who go abroad will have many opportunities to use the target language and will naturally become proficient. They also assume that language learners will develop relationships with native speakers allowing them to use the language and become more fluent, an assumption Pellegrino (Pellegrino, 1997, 1998) found to be held by study abroad participants. However, recent research has shown that students do not always use the language to the expected degree and that they often fall back on social relationships with native speakers of their own language (DeKeyser, 2007; Dewey, 2008; Polanyi, 1995; Rivers, 1998; Wilkinson, 1998a, 1998b). This article highlights the potential for study abroad to promote gains in L2 speaking abilities. It also emphasizes the need for additional research on amount and type of language use students experience during study abroad, the development of social networks while abroad, and connections between social networks, language use, and language development. The authors of this study focused on connections between social networks, language use, and language acquisition for learners of Arabic studying in Jordan and Morocco during a fourteen-week study abroad program. Specifically, the research questions regarding study abroad in Jordan and Morocco were: (1) How much time do learners spend using Arabic and English during study abroad? (2) What sorts of social networks are students able to develop during study abroad? (3) How much does learners' language proficiency develop during their time abroad? (4) How are language use, social networks, and language development connected for study abroad participants?