Navigating Immigration Law in a “Hostile Environment”: Implications for Adult Migrant Language Education
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the communicative demands placed on migrants navigating immigration law in a fast-moving policy environment and implications for adult migrant language education, and argued that the link is rarely drawn between interaction in legal and other institutional settings and the content of language classes designed to aid adult migrant settlement.
Abstract: In this article the author analyses the communicative demands placed on migrants navigating immigration law in a fast‐moving policy environment and implications for adult migrant language education. Data are from an ethnographic study of a lawyer, Lucy, and her clients at a legal advice service in Leeds, England, and include interviews and recordings of lawyer–client interactions. The analytical focus is on Lucy’s stance (Jaffe, 2009b), on how she presents herself as an ally of her multilingual clients, and on the stance‐marking strategies she and her clients use as they strive to make meaning. The study took place in 2016, a time of volatility for the policies that impinge on immigration law and on legal interaction for migrants: the upsurge of right‐wing populist movements in Europe, erratic positions on migration in the United States, and the referendum that decided the United Kingdom would leave the European Union. The author maintains that the link is rarely drawn between interaction in legal and other institutional settings and the content of language classes designed to aid adult migrant settlement, and argues for an approach to adult migrant language education that critically addresses this point.
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TL;DR: In this article, an Iraqi man seeking asylum, Tailor F, was housed in a reception centre for asylum seekers located in a Swedish-dominant rural area of the country, where he navigated multilingually in his early settlement, his current work and his online life.
Abstract: This article is about navigating asylum, employment and language policy in a new country as an asylum seeker. Through the story of one individual, we show that profound inequalities are exacerbated when forced migrants are limited in their choice of language they might study or use. The individual is Tailor F, an Iraqi man seeking asylum, and the country is Finland, officially bilingual, with a majority language (Finnish) and a minority language (Swedish). Finland’s official bilingualism does not extend evenly to language education provided for asylum seekers, who are taught Finnish regardless of the region where they are placed. Upon arrival, Tailor F was housed in a reception centre for asylum seekers located in a Swedish-dominant rural area of the country. Through our linguistic ethnography we examine how he navigates multilingually in his early settlement, his current work and his online life. We relate his story to explicit and implicit official bilingualism in Finland and discuss his lived experiences in relation to the contexts of asylum policy and employment. Tailor F’s story shows how, through his practices, he has contested implicit language policy for asylum seekers in order to gain membership of the local Swedish-dominant community, achieve a sense of belonging, and potentially realise his aspirations for the future.
4 citations
TL;DR: This article used emergentist theory to account for difficulties in L2 (second language) learning as one of the 125 outstanding challenges facing scientific research and provided a framework for relating these changes to variation in the success of L2 learning.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the challenges faced by refugees on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons' Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) are highlighted and recommendations around changes to policy and practice in language learning may be applicable to teachers, policy-makers, and community organisers working at the nexus of language and migration.
Abstract: This article stems from research conducted into the barriers to education, employment and language learning for refugees resettled into the convergence areas of Wales, UK. The authors consider that effective language programmes should play a key role in migration policies designed for multilingual, multicultural societies. The provision of English language classes for speakers of other languages (ESOL) ensures equality of opportunities, and in doing so, enriches the culture of our societies. By highlighting the challenges to language learning faced by refugees on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons’ Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), this article draws attention to the fact that government directives for language provision commissioned under VPRS often do not sufficiently meet the needs of teachers and learners at grassroots level. Recommendations for greater flexibility in the organisation of ESOL provision for those resettled under VPRS are put forward. While this paper focuses on the specific case study of VPRS participants in Wales, it is hoped that recommendations around changes to policy and practice in language learning may be applicable to teachers, policy-makers, and community organisers working at the nexus of language and migration.
4 citations
22 Feb 2019
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a blog post offering immigration law practitioners reflections and tips for communicating with foreign language-speaking clients. But they do not provide any guidance on how to use them.
Abstract: Professionally-oriented blog post offering immigration law practitioners reflections and tips for communicating with foreign language-speaking clients.
1 citations
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TL;DR: The authors proposed a framework for the analysis of identity as produced in linguistic interaction, based on the following principles: identity is the product rather than the source of linguis... and identity is generated from linguistic interaction.
Abstract: The article proposes a framework for the analysis of identity as produced in linguistic interaction, based on the following principles: (1) identity is the product rather than the source of linguis...
2,419 citations
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: A conversation I overheard eight years ago between my son Sam and his best friend, Willie, aged six and seven, respectively: “Why don’t you trade me Many Trails for Carl Yats... Yes, it’s.. -strum-scrum.
Abstract: Whenever the subject of literacy comes up, what often pops first into my mind is a conversation I overheard eight years ago between my son Sam and his best friend, Willie, aged six and seven, respectively: “Why don’t you trade me Many Trails for Carl Yats . . . Yes, it’s . . . Ya-strum-scrum.” “That’s not how you say it, dummy, it’s Carl Yes . . . Yes . . . oh, I don’t know.” Sam and Willie had just discovered baseball cards. Many Trails was their decoding, with the help of first-grade English phonics, of the name Manny Trillo. The name they were quite rightly stumped on was Carl Yastremski. That was the first time I remembered seeing them put their incipient literacy to their own use, and I was of course thrilled.
1,580 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2001TL;DR: Transcription Conventions 1. A Dimensional Approach to Narrative 2. Becoming a Narrator 3. Launching a Narrative 4. The Unexpected Turn 5. Experiential Logic 6. Beyond Face Value 7. Narrative as Theology 8. Untold Stories as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Transcription Conventions 1. A Dimensional Approach to Narrative 2. Becoming a Narrator 3. Launching a Narrative 4. The Unexpected Turn 5. Experiential Logic 6. Beyond Face Value 7. Narrative as Theology 8. Untold Stories Notes References Index
938 citations
Book•
04 Jun 2009TL;DR: The sociolinguistics of stance, style, and the Linguistic Individual have been studied by Jaffe and Johnstone as mentioned in this paper, with a focus on gender, interaction and indexicality in Mexican Immigrant youth slang.
Abstract: 1 Introduction: The Sociolinguistics of Stance, Alexandra Jaffe 2 Stance, Style, and the Linguistic Individual, Barbara Johnstone 3 How Mr Taylor Lost His Footing: Stance in a Colonial Encounter, Judith Irvine 4 Stance and Distance: Social Boundaries, Self-lamination and Metalinguistic Anxiety in White Kenyan Narratives about the African Occult, Janet McIntosh 5 Moral Irony and Moral Personhood in Sakapultek Discourse and Culture, Robin Shoaps 6 Stance in a Corsican school: Institutional and Ideological Orders and the production of Bilingual Subjects, Alexandra Jaffe 7 From Stance to Style: Gender, Interaction, and Indexicality in Mexican Immigrant Youth Slang, Mary Bucholtz 8 Style as Stance: Stance as the Explanation for Patterns of Sociolinguistic Variation, Scott Kiesling 9 Taking an Elitist Stance: Ideology and the Discursive Production of Social Distinction, Adam Jaworski and Crispin Thurlow 10 Attributing Stance in Discourses of Body Shape and Weight Loss, Justine Coupland and Nikolas Coupland
362 citations