Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2022) | Viewed by 23248

Special Issue Editors

Department of Romance Studies and Classics, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: high-level L2 proficiency; individual factors; social factors; idiomaticity; nativelikeness; intercultural pragmatics
Department of Languages, Linguistics and Translation, Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Interests: attitudes towards French L2 users; oral skills development; classroom-based research with low literacy learners; traditionally homogeneous immigrant-receiving communities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global mobility has become a natural and inevitable feature in the world today. Rapidly increasing mobility also constitutes one of the current societal challenges and scholars from the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences can contribute considerably to our understanding of this phenomenon, suggesting possible ways forward for both multicultural societies and traditionally culturally homogenous communities which have seen their ethno- cultural landscape swiftly transformed.  Speaking of mobility, one tends to think of migration that occurs due to economic and political reasons. It is also a much broader reality, with many people choosing to move to another country for various reasons, be they professional, emotional or lifestyle-oriented. Increased mobility, under forced circumstances or by choice, opens up a magnitude of new research avenues for SLA research. To date, SLA research has largely relied on population samples recruited from post-secondary institutions to draw conclusions about the capacity for adults to learn additional languages (Plonsky, 2017; Ortega, 2019), but it has also dealt with the migration context in, principally, two different ways. It has, on the one hand, studied learners in migratory contexts for a long time, without considering the specificities of the migratory context, such as the studies by DeKeyser (2000) or Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam (2009), just to mention a few examples of cognitively oriented SLA which has not taken the social context into account. On the other hand, SLA and migration has been studied from the perspective of critical sociolinguistics, where issues such as inequalities and power asymmetries have been explored (see e.g. Norton , 2014 and Duchêne, Moyer and Roberts, 2013). We can thus observe a clear gap, where there is need for more research actually taking the social context into account, but also doing it from different theoretical and ideological perspectives and not the least, examining different types of migration populations in different contexts. In line with the proposals of the Douglas Fir Group (2016), we assume that language learning will be dependent on cognitive, social, affective as well as ideological factors, hence the need to study different socio-cultural and socio-political contexts. The aim of the present Special Issue is thus to gather researchers working with different populations, beginners or high—proficient speakers, low-literate or highly educated, in different migratory contexts in different parts of the world, to offer new insights into the diversities of both language learning experience and migratory experience.

Tentative completion schedule:

  • Abstract submission deadline: 15 June 2021
  • Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 July 2021
  • Full manuscript deadline: 15 January 2022

References:

Abrahamsson, N and Hyltenstam, K (2009) Age of L2 acquisition and degree of nativelikeness – listener perception vs linguistic scrutiny. Language Learning 58(3): 249-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00507.x

DeKeyser, RM (2000) The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 22(4): 499-533. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100004022

Duchêne, A., Moyer, M. and Roberts, C. (eds.) (2013). Language, migration and social inequalities: A critical sociolinguistics perspective on institutions and work. Bristol: Multilingual Matters

Douglas Fir Group (2016). A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. The Modern Language Journal 100 (Supplement 2016): 19-47. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12301

Ortega, L (2019) SLA and the Study of Equitable Multilingualism. The Modern Language Journal 103: 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12525

Plonsky, L. (2017) Quantitative research methods. In S. Loewen et M. Sato (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, pp. 505-521

Norton, B. (2014) Idnetity and poststructuralist theory in SLA. In Multiple perspectives on the self in SLA. Edited bt Sarah Mercer and Marion Williams. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 59-74.

Peyton, J.K. and Young-Scholten, M. (2020) Teaching Adult Immigrants with Limited Formal Education: Theory, Research, and Practice. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Prof. Fanny Forsberg Lundell
Dr. Suzie Beaulieu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • migratory experience
  • low literacy learners
  • high-level proficiency
  • social factors
  • learning context
  • language at the work place

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1140 KiB  
Article
Sampling and Generalizability in Lx Research: A Second-Order Synthesis
by Luke Plonsky
Languages 2023, 8(1), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010075 - 06 Mar 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2624
Abstract
As in many other social sciences, second/additional language (Lx) researchers are often interested in generalizing their findings beyond the samples they collect data from. However, very little is known about the range of learner backgrounds and settings found in Lx research. Moreover, the [...] Read more.
As in many other social sciences, second/additional language (Lx) researchers are often interested in generalizing their findings beyond the samples they collect data from. However, very little is known about the range of learner backgrounds and settings found in Lx research. Moreover, the few papers that have addressed the range of settings and demographics sampled in Lx research paint a disappointing picture). The current study examines the extent to which concerns expressed over this issue are merited and worthy of further attention. Toward that end, sample-related features such as L1, Lx/target language, age, proficiency, and educational setting (or lack thereof) were extracted from a sample of 308 systematic reviews of Lx research. The data from this “meta-synthetic” sample are then used to estimate the extent to which Lx research has sampled—and might or might not be able to generalize to—different populations and contexts including those pertinent to migrant populations, the focus of this special issue. The results reveal an incredibly disproportionate interest in participants with English as a first or target language and as well as university students in a narrow range of countries. The findings are used to call out the applied linguistics community on this gross oversight while also seeking to inform future research and contribute to the ongoing methodological reform movement in applied linguistics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
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18 pages, 399 KiB  
Article
L1 and L2 Language Attitudes: Polish and Italian Migrants in France and Ireland
by Vera Regan
Languages 2023, 8(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010019 - 04 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1812
Abstract
Until recently, research on language attitudes focused mainly on attitudes relating to speakers’ L1. However, with the increase in interest in multilingualism in a globalised world, there has been a renewed interest in language attitudes relating to L2 speakers. This article focuses on [...] Read more.
Until recently, research on language attitudes focused mainly on attitudes relating to speakers’ L1. However, with the increase in interest in multilingualism in a globalised world, there has been a renewed interest in language attitudes relating to L2 speakers. This article focuses on these issues in the context of migration: how language attitudes associated with migrants’ L1 and L2 may affect the L2 acquisition process. The attitudes of two L2 groups (Polish and Italian) are compared to see if, in the case of speakers learning different L2’s (French and Irish English), there was a difference based on the different contexts. Qualitative data and analysis were used to attend to the voices of the participants in the study. Analysis revealed differences in language attitudes amongst Polish migrants in France, Polish migrants in Ireland, and Italian migrants in Ireland that paralleled differences in L2 strategies. This supports recent research which indicates that attitudes associated with L2s play a more important role than was previously realised and should be considered alongside L1 language attitudes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
16 pages, 980 KiB  
Article
The Perceived Importance of Language Skills in Europe—The Case of Swedish Migrants in France
by Klara Arvidsson and Andreas Jemstedt
Languages 2022, 7(4), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7040290 - 14 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1745
Abstract
In a European context, where member states of the European Union share a common language policy, multilingualism and foreign language (FL) learning are strongly promoted. The goal is that citizens learn two FLs in addition to their first language(s) (L1). However, it is [...] Read more.
In a European context, where member states of the European Union share a common language policy, multilingualism and foreign language (FL) learning are strongly promoted. The goal is that citizens learn two FLs in addition to their first language(s) (L1). However, it is unclear to what extent the multilingual policy is relevant in people’s lives, at a time when the English language is established as a lingua franca. This survey-based study contributes insights into the relevance of the EU multilingual policy in an intra-European migration context, by focusing on Swedish migrants (n = 199) in France, who are L1 speakers of Swedish. We investigated the perceived importance of skills in FL French, FL English, and L1 Swedish, for professional and personal life. The quantitative analyses showed that participants perceive skills in French and in English to be equally important for professional life, whereas skills in Swedish were perceived to be less important. For personal life, skills in French were perceived as the most important, followed by skills in English, and then Swedish. In conclusion, the European multilingual language policy appears to be reflected in Europeans’ lives, at least in the case of Swedish migrants in France. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
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26 pages, 3131 KiB  
Article
Learning on the Field: L2 Turkish Vowel Production by L1 American English-Speaking NGOs in Turkey
by Keryn de Jonge, Olga Maxwell and Helen Zhao
Languages 2022, 7(4), 252; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7040252 - 28 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2446
Abstract
This study adopts the Speech Learning Model to investigate the first language (L1) influence as well as the effects of the length of residence and second language (L2) exposure on American English-speaking learners of Turkish in their productions of Turkish unrounded–rounded vowel pairs, [...] Read more.
This study adopts the Speech Learning Model to investigate the first language (L1) influence as well as the effects of the length of residence and second language (L2) exposure on American English-speaking learners of Turkish in their productions of Turkish unrounded–rounded vowel pairs, with a particular focus on the vowel categories “new” to American English speakers (/y/, /œ/, and /ɯ/). L1 (English) and L2 (Turkish) speech samples were collected from 18 non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers. L2 experience was defined by whether the worker lived in an urban or regional environment in Turkey. Participants’ audio productions of the word list in L1 and L2 were segmented and annotated for succeeding acoustic analyses. The results show an interesting front–back variability in the realisations of the three vowels, including further back variants of the front vowels (/y/, /œ/) and more forward variants of the /ɯ/ vowel, with a substantial degree of interspeaker variability. While the analysis revealed no significant results for the length of residence, language experience was found to have a significant effect on the production of /y/ (F2) and /ɯ/ (F1/F2). This study forms a first step into the research of adult L2 acquisition in Turkish with a focus on L2 in the naturalistic workplace environment, rather than instructed settings. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of teaching materials for NGO workers learning Turkish as their L2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
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15 pages, 387 KiB  
Article
The Challenges of Conducting Research in Diverse Classrooms: Reflections on a Pragmatics Teaching Experiment
by Leila Ranta and Alisa Zavialova
Languages 2022, 7(3), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7030223 - 24 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2242
Abstract
For researchers, the typical way of determining whether a pedagogical innovation works is by conducting an experiment. In migrant settings, however, experiments are more challenging to carry out due to the diversity of the learner population. Unfortunately, how to deal with these challenges [...] Read more.
For researchers, the typical way of determining whether a pedagogical innovation works is by conducting an experiment. In migrant settings, however, experiments are more challenging to carry out due to the diversity of the learner population. Unfortunately, how to deal with these challenges is not addressed in a practical way in research methods textbooks, which typically provide a normative view of the research process. This paper aims to draw attention to the realities of classroom research carried out in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) setting. These classes consist of adult immigrants and refugees from a wide range of cultural, linguistic and educational backgrounds. We illustrate how this diversity along with other characteristics of LINC programs impact the decision-making of the researcher with respect to a pedagogical experiment focused on pragmatics. The study compared a formula-enhanced approach to teaching speech acts to the more mainstream approach aimed at raising learners’ meta-pragmatic awareness about speech act behaviour. The pre-post-delayed-post-test gains appear to favour the Formula group, but the interpretability of these results is compromised by the fact that the composition of the two classes was very different. Discussion of the limitations of this case study feeds into a broader consideration of the implications for classroom research of linguistic and cultural diversity typical of L2 educational contexts like LINC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
15 pages, 722 KiB  
Article
Professional Identities of French Lx Economic Immigrants: Perceptions from a Local French-Speaking Community
by Suzie Beaulieu, Javier Bejarano, Leif Michael French and Kristin Reinke
Languages 2022, 7(2), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020140 - 31 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2115
Abstract
Communicative expertise in the host society’s dominant language is central to newcomers’ socio-professional integration. To date, SLA research has largely ignored laypeople’s perspectives about Lx communicative expertise, though they are the ultimate judges of real-life interactional success. Sociolinguistic studies have shown that laypeople [...] Read more.
Communicative expertise in the host society’s dominant language is central to newcomers’ socio-professional integration. To date, SLA research has largely ignored laypeople’s perspectives about Lx communicative expertise, though they are the ultimate judges of real-life interactional success. Sociolinguistic studies have shown that laypeople may base their judgments of Lx speech not only on linguistic criteria, but also on extralinguistic factors such as gender and language background. To document laypeople perspectives, we investigated the professional characteristics attributed to four ethnolinguistic groups of French Lx economic immigrants (Spanish, Chinese, English and Farsi) who were nearing completion of the government-funded French language training program in Quebec City, Canada. We asked L1 naïve listeners (N = 49) to evaluate spontaneous speech excerpts, similar in terms of content and speech qualities, produced by a man and a woman from each target group. After they listened to each audio excerpt, we asked listeners to select the characteristics they associated with that person from a list of the most frequent professional qualities found in job advertisements. Data analysis showed that few Lx users were perceived as having strong communication skills in French. Logistic regression revealed no significant relationships between language group, gender, communicative effectiveness, and professional characteristics. However, there were significant associations between communicative effectiveness with the following characteristics: can work independently, can relate to others, is dynamic, has a sense of initiative, and shows leadership skills. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
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16 pages, 404 KiB  
Article
“Do I Have to Sign My Real Name?” Ethical and Methodological Challenges in Multilingual Research with Adult SLIFE Learning French as a Second Language
by Alexandra H. Michaud, Véronique Fortier and Valérie Amireault
Languages 2022, 7(2), 126; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020126 - 19 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1953
Abstract
In 2017, Quebec’s Auditor General reported several major issues regarding government-funded French as a second language (FSL) courses, especially those intended for adult students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). To this day, no official framework or program exists for this specific [...] Read more.
In 2017, Quebec’s Auditor General reported several major issues regarding government-funded French as a second language (FSL) courses, especially those intended for adult students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). To this day, no official framework or program exists for this specific population, a situation that the government of Quebec wishes to resolve. Our research team was thereby mandated by the Ministry of Immigration to conduct a large-scale multilingual study with the objective of gaining a better understanding of the realities and needs of the various stakeholders involved in low-literate FSL classes. We met 42 teachers, 24 French learning center directors, and 10 pedagogical advisors in individual interviews; we also led 107 group interviews with SLIFE in 26 languages, allowing us to meet 464 adult SLIFE enrolled in low-literate FSL classes from 11 regions of the province of Quebec, most of them being refugees. This article reports on the decision-making process in which we engaged to overcome the ethical and methodological challenges we faced at various stages of the data collection with SLIFE participants: recruitment, informed consent, confidentiality, interview protocol design, instrument piloting, data collection, and data translation and transcription. To make informed decisions, we had to turn to literature outside SLA (i.e., refugee research and translation/interpreting literature) for guidance. In this article we discuss the limitations and contributions of our research to guide researchers who will conduct studies with similar non-academic samples/populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
25 pages, 1970 KiB  
Article
The Acquisition of Quotatives and Quotative Be Like among Chinese L2 Speakers of English in Australia
by Jihyun Karen Choi and Chloé Diskin-Holdaway
Languages 2022, 7(2), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020123 - 16 May 2022
Viewed by 2396
Abstract
This study explores the acquisition of the English quotative system and the innovative quotative variant be like among Chinese L2 speakers of English residing in Melbourne, Australia. The L2 speakers’ use of quotatives such as say, go, be like, and [...] Read more.
This study explores the acquisition of the English quotative system and the innovative quotative variant be like among Chinese L2 speakers of English residing in Melbourne, Australia. The L2 speakers’ use of quotatives such as say, go, be like, and quotative zero is compared with quotatives used by native speakers of Australian English (AusE) in Perth and Sydney, as well as with a group of Polish L2 speakers in Ireland. A quantitative analysis of the Chinese L2 speakers’ sociolinguistic interviews shows that their distribution of quotatives is dramatically different from native AusE speakers, primarily because of their overall low proportion of be like and their high proportion of quotative say and zero. The L2 speakers also show neutralization (no preference) for language-internal constraints, which have traditionally shown be like to be preferred in first person contexts and for reporting inner thoughts, differing from patterns for AusE observed in Perth and in a recent study of second generation Chinese Australians in Sydney. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
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23 pages, 862 KiB  
Article
Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Fluency: Korean-Speaking Short-Term Sojourners in Australia
by Jeongmin Kim, Helen Zhao and Chloé Diskin-Holdaway
Languages 2022, 7(2), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020112 - 06 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3455
Abstract
The current mixed-method study investigated two groups of Korean-speaking short-term sojourners in Australia. One group (students) was composed of learners enrolled in English training programs, whereas the other group (workers) was of learners in the workplace. We administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview [...] Read more.
The current mixed-method study investigated two groups of Korean-speaking short-term sojourners in Australia. One group (students) was composed of learners enrolled in English training programs, whereas the other group (workers) was of learners in the workplace. We administered questionnaires and a semi-structured interview to examine their willingness to communicate (WTC) in English as their second language (L2) and explored the relationship between this variable and the sojourners’ amount of L2 contact and their oral fluency in English. Our quantitative analyses show that the student group showed a higher level of WTC and amount of L2 exposure than the worker group. For both groups, WTC significantly predicted sojourners’ amount of L2 exposure. However, oral fluency was found neither to be associated with WTC nor with the amount of L2 exposure. Qualitative theme-based analysis suggests that the two sojourn groups demonstrated similarities and differences in their attitudes and motivations related to WTC and unwillingness to communicate (unWTC). The students demonstrated a stronger tendency to engage in L2 interaction than the workers, aligning with their significantly higher frequency of reported L2 exposure. The workers’ attitudes were characterized by feelings of ambivalence, with co-existence of both WTC and unWTC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Language Acquisition in Different Migration Contexts)
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