Diverging Contexts for Language Learning and their Impact on Socialization: Observations from a Comparative International Study of Migrant Experiences

• In Event: Politics, Education and Citizenship

Proposal

Purpose: This presentation shares findings from a comparative study of the (in)formal language learning experiences of adult migrants. The study is motivated by the intensity of contemporary global migration in a context that Vertovec (2007) calls super-diversity. In this context, a dynamic interplay of variables among unprecedented numbers of adult migrants can create linguistically alien terrains where migrants are often isolated and disadvantaged by barriers that prevent full participation in host societies. The study responds to this challenge with a comparative analysis of the language learning experiences of adult migrants in three transit or destination countries characterized by an influx of newcomers: Canada; United States; and Italy.

Theoretical Framework: The study is migrant-centric (McAuliffe, Kitimbo, Goossens, & Ullah, 2017, p. 175) and provides insights into the first-person perspective of migrants on their language learning needs and experiences – in a home country, in a country of transit, in a destination country. This focus is informed by a hybrid theoretical framework linking transnationalism (Glick Schiller, Basch, & Szanton Blanc, 1995) and translanguaging (Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015). Transnationalism challenges long-held narratives portraying migration as a unidirectional and permanent move from a country of origin to a country of residence, what one might call ‘a voyage of no return.’ In so doing, it enables a fluid and multidirectional study of migration. For its part, translanguaging (Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015) adopts a radically emic or insider perspective on language use. It is oriented to the reality that speakers typically draw on all their linguistic resources without recourse to externally defined distinctions.

Methods: Drawing on surveys and interviews, the proposed study privileges migrants’ priorities for language learning; their agency in choosing language learning opportunities; and how this language learning serves their needs. Supplementary perspectives are gathered from adult education providers and from academics in migration-related fields. Study data are analyzed qualitatively (Glesne, 2010; Lichtman, 2013) with a view to achieving thick descriptions (Geertz, 1973) of how migrants construct and share meaning in their social contexts. Data analysis identifies common themes in responses to open-ended questions tapping participants’ opinions and previous experiences. Triangulation of data across three research sites enables comparative analysis of migrant experiences in diverging sociolinguistic contexts, while data from migrants and adult education providers enables comparative analysis of migrant language learning across multiple perspectives. Analysis privileges migrants’ views as they relate to social integration.

Data Sources: For this presentation, we draw on an expanded data set of 76 online surveys and 18 online follow-up interviews tapping the following broad areas: language learning experiences of adult migrants; diverging sociolinguistic contexts for language learning; migrant agency and need in the area of language learning; and the role of language learning in the social integration of migrants. The online surveys provide an experiential view from migrants on whether and how formal and informal language learning opportunities in transit and destination countries respond to their needs, while the follow-up interviews with a subsample of six migrants chosen from among survey participants in each of the three research sites probe participants for extended reflections on language learning and social integration.

Results: The data indicate that, while oral receptive skills (listening and speaking) are a priority for migrants across all three research sites, only those migrants in North America are either taking or planning to take a course in this area, with the Italian migrants identifying the workplace as a preferred learning site for acquiring such skills. This is to be expected since the Italian migrants in this study do not have access to formal language classes. This preference among the Italian migrants for the informal language learning setting of the workplace may account for the higher rates with which they speak as often as they possibly can to local people who do not share their home language. Excluded from this group of potential interlocutors are other migrants who do not share their home language. This is precisely the demographic that migrants in North America are most likely to interact with in their formal language classrooms. It may be the case that the Italian migrants avoid other migrants who do not share their home language since they do not view them as a resource for learning the host language. In this way, diverging contexts for language learning appear to hold direct implications for patterns of socialization into the host society, with formal, classroom language learning linked to a network of migrants who do not necessarily speak the same language (as in Canada and the United States) and informal workplace language learning linked to a more exclusive self-selection of interlocutors, that is, local people who do not share their home language (as in Italy). In this presentation, we extrapolate from this dynamic interplay of language learning and social integration to make suggestive recommendations for practice and policy.

Educational Importance: The educational importance of this study is centered on its privileging of migrants’ perspectives related to language learning. A report from the International Organization for Migration suggests “while some policymakers have access to a wider range of information and data than ever before, it is apparent that there still exists a level of presumption and a lack of knowledge about potential and actual migrant decision-making and experiences” (McAuliffe, Kitimbo, Goossens, & Ullah, 2017, p. 175). The overall goal of this proposed study responds to the call for a “migrant-centric approach” (McAuliffe, Kitimbo, Goossens, & Ullah, 2017, p. 175), what Triandafyllidou (2017, p. 2) terms an “anthropocentric perspective.” It prioritizes migrant experiences of language since, as Burns and Roberts (2010) further observe, “the need for sensitively designed and socially and culturally responsible educational and language programs for adult immigrants, migrants, and refugees who relocate, both voluntarily and involuntarily, across the world has never been greater” (Burns & Roberts, 2010, p. 409).

Authors

• John Ippolito, Faculty of Education, York University

• Katherine Rehner, University of Toronto Mississauga