Adult migrants’ Norwegian language learning investment strategies in the workplace
Nuranindia EndahArum
University of Oslo
Abstract
Learning the host country’s language(s) is a necessary step toward social and professional inclusion for migrants.
However, it is often regarded as a challenging task that depends heavily on the sociocultural context in which migrants are
situated. This study explores the Norwegian language learning strategies of highly educated Indonesians outside the classroom,
particularly in the workplace, in Norway. Following the social turn in second language learning research, the study aims to
investigate how social context influences migrants’ strategies for learning Norwegian. The data were collected through a
combination of qualitative methods consisting of sequential in-depth interviews, language diaries, and focus group discussions
with four focal participants, including both recently arrived and long-term migrants. Based on Darvin and Norton’s (2015) investment model, participants’ narratives of their reported language learning strategies
are analyzed in relation to language ideology, identity, and capital in their language learning experiences. The findings from this
study suggest that migrant learners’ ideal learning strategies are influenced by their language ideologies. However, different
contextual factors, such as work tasks and roles, have a considerable impact on their learning opportunities, and consequently, on
why and how they end up using certain learning strategies but not others. Migrants’ professional identities also play an important
role in their strategy choice and use. By analyzing migrant learners’ narratives, this study provides a nuanced and
learner-centered understanding of language learning strategies in the context of migration in the globalized world. This study
also contributes new insights into the use of learning strategies of languages other than English by adult migrant learners inside
and beyond the classroom.
Learning an additional language is a demanding task regardless of the circumstances. It becomes a complex issue especially
for adults who move across borders due to the expectations to quickly adapt and integrate both socially and professionally into the
host country’s society. Adult second language learners encounter different expectations in regards to employment, education, and other
social domains. Moreover, language learning in the migration context often takes place under significant social, economic, and legal
pressure (Carlsen et al., 2023). For adult second language learners, language learning
occurs mostly in a variety of everyday life situations rather than exclusively in a classroom setting. Participants’ social roles and
positionings in different social situations, from casual interactions with friends to work meetings, are not always those of language
learners explicitly because learning is not the main goal of the interaction (Firth, 2009;
Kurhila et al., 2023; Ruuska, 2020). This
complexity highlights that the language learning process, including learning strategies, depends heavily on the sociocultural context
in which migrants are situated (Gao & Hu, 2020; Thomas et al., 2022). Do all migrants have the same conditions and opportunities to learn the host country’s language(s)?
In the lack or absence of learning access, which strategies do migrants resort to? Social contexts must be taken into account to
understand migrant learners because, as Miller (2014) remarks, “situations or spaces, and
the ideologies that are constructed in making such spaces recognizable, render some forms of linguistic expertise as legitimate and
others as non-legitimate” (p. 20). These social contexts and language ideologies have a significant impact on how migrants perceive
themselves as either passive or agentive in their language learning narratives (Miller,
2014).
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