Résumé
Le projet Migra-Lang est un projet de recherche interdisciplinaire (sciences du langage, enseignement/apprentissage des langues, sciences de l’éducation, sociologie, psychologie) et intersectoriel, qui se donne pour ambition d’étudier la communication et la place des langues, celle du pays d’accueil mais aussi celles du migrant nouvellement arrivé, dans les différents dispositifs d’accompagnement des publics migrants, en Europe et au Québec, et de concevoir des préconisations et outils pour les politiques publiques en Europe.
Les rapports européens sur la question de l’intégration linguistique et sociale mettent en effet en évidence un certain nombre de problèmes dans l’accompagnement à l’intégration des publics migrants, et notamment une faible efficacité des cours de langue proposés dans les dispositifs de formation linguistique, et des problèmes de communication dans l’ensemble des dispositifs d’accompagnement, social et professionnel, psychologique et médical. Le défi du présent projet est de faire émerger une réflexion globale, à partir de différentes disciplines, sur les différents enjeux sociétaux et d’intégration liés à la communication avec un public dit vulnérable.
Ces deux journées de séminaire seront ainsi orientées autour de deux axes :
1- la question de la langue et de la communication dans les dispositifs d’enseignement de la langue du pays d’accueil pour les publics migrants, aussi bien du point de vue de l’existant que des innovations et expérimentations
2- la question de la langue et de la communication dans les dispositifs d’accompagnement non linguistique (difficultés et/ou propositions de remédiation).
Abstract
The Migra-Lang project is an interdisciplinary (language sciences, teaching/learning of languages, education sciences, sociology, psychology) and intersectoral research project; it focuses on the study of communication and languages from the host country but also from the newly arrived migrant, in the various support systems for migrants in Europe and Quebec, and it aims to design recommendations and tools for public policies in Europe. The European reports on the issue of linguistic and social integration highlight a certain number of problems in supporting the integration of migrant groups, in particular the low effectiveness of language courses offered in language training systems, and communication problems in all support systems, social and professional, psychological and medical. The challenge of this project is to bring out a global reflection, from different disciplines, on the different societal and integration issues related to communication with a so-called vulnerable public.
Two topics will be therefore developed during this workshop:
1- the question of language and communication in the language teaching systems of the host country for migrant people (existing systems and/or innovations/experimentations)
2- the issue of language and communication in non-linguistic support systems (difficulties and/or remedial proposals).
Organisatrices / Organization Committee:
- Emmanuelle Canut
- Juliette Delahaie
- Laura Tonet (MasterStudent, Louvain-La Neuve University, Belgium)
- Sabrina Royer
Projet Emergent 2020-2021
Cet évènement est soutenu par le MESRI et le Conseil régional Hauts-de-France dans le cadre du CPER ISI-MESHS
Pre-program
9.00 - Participants’ welcoming
9.30-12.00 - Focus 1 Language and communication in language support systems (teaching)
Speakers:
9.30-9.50. Juliette Delahaie, Emmanuelle Canut (Lille University/STL, France), Mariame Camara et Imaad Ali (Thot School, France): ‘Toward a better integration of newly arrived migrants. Case study of an experimental school in Lille’
9.50-10.10. Morgane Jourdain (KU Leuven & Lille University, Belgium and France) & Ahmad Yar Wali (VUB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium): ‘Language teaching in Belgium: a study on different categories of migrants’
10.10-10.30. George Androulakis (University of Thessaly, Greece): ‘Combining creativity and translanguaging for an effective language education with adult refugees’
10.30-10.50. Coffee Break
10.50-11.10. Silvia Kunitz (University of Stockholm, Sweden): ‘Pedagogical practices in language cafés for newcomers’
11.10-11.30. Sabrina Macchetti/Carla Bagna (University of Sienne, Italy): ‘Language learning and teaching to migrant people in Italy’
11.30-11.50. Gloria Chamorro (University of Kent, United Kingdom): ‘British teachers’ perspectives on the language learning experiences and challenges of their migrant students’
11.50-12.10. Discussion
12.10-13.30 Lunch
13.30-17.00 - Focus 2 Language and communication in non-linguistic support systems
Session 2.1: Communicating with Unaccompanied Minors
Speakers :
13.30-13.50. Juliette Delahaie & Emmanuelle Canut (Lille University/STL, France), Fatima Landy & Pascal Quesque (EPDSAE/La Sprene/Trajet association, France): ‘Unaccompanied Minors support systems in France. Communication issues’
13.50-14.10. Amy Stapleton & Paula Mayock (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland): ‘What do you think? Understanding separated young people’s perspective on labels and the transition to adulthood’
14.10-14.30. Daniel Senovilla Hernández (CNRS-MIGRINTER, University of Poitiers, France): ‘Informing young people on the move: an ethical and effective research tool’
14.30-14.50. Isabelle Estève (Grenoble-Alpes University-LIDILEM, France) & Guillaume Coron (Expert consultant in international migration, international social work and child welfare): ‘Unaccompanied Minors (Ums) and emergency frist line professionals: a situation of “shared disability”’
14.50-15.10. Discussion
15.10-15.30. Coffee Break
Session 2.2: Communication and Psychology
Speakers:
15.30-15.50. Isam Benbellat (CRéSaM: Mental Health Center, Belgium): ‘Migrations, sexual orientation and communication. The case of gay asylum seekers’
15.50-16.10. Johan Vanderfaillie, Ann-Katrin Thiele, Camille Verheyden & Frank Van Holen (VUB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium): ‘Contact of unaccompanied refugee minors with peers and adults from the host country: promoting well-being?’
16.10-16.30. Lara Gautier (Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec/Centre Population et Développement, Paris), Stéphanie Ngeungang-Wakap, Juan-Diego Poveda, Magali Bouchon (Médecins du Monde, Paris): ‘Providing psychosocial support to unaccompanied minors during the COVID-19 health crisis: communication challenges for Médecins du Monde in Paris’
16.30-16.50. discussion
9.30-12.00 - Collective working session
Summary of the previous day's presentations: what exists, what is missing, what needs to be built.
Proposals for group work sessions on specific topics.
12.00-13.30 Lunch
13.30-15.30 – Group Work sessions
15.30-16.30 - General Overview
How can we build together a multidisciplinary consortium to submit a European project?
ABSTRACTS
Focus 1.
Ahmad Wali Ahmad Yar and Morgane Jourdain. Language teaching in Belgium: a study on different categories of migrants
The aim of this study is to investigate the way local languages are taught to migrants in Belgium. We tried to assess whether (i) the teaching methods meet the migrants’ needs and (ii) the migrants themselves are satisfied with the teaching they receive. We considered language schools open to all migrants and those specialized in helping migrants with a lower education background.
We carried out three in-depth interviews, with a European migrant, a non-EU migrant, and a migrant with an international protection status. We then set up a questionnaire filled by 89 migrants from 31 different countries.
Our study shows that the teaching in language schools in Belgium is form-based and traditional, and does not target the specific needs of migrants. The migrants with an international protection status have to retake class levels more frequently and face more problems understanding their instructors than other learners, even though they express a stronger desire to acquire the local language and use it more frequently in their daily lives.
We did not find any advantage for migrants attending schools specialized for migrants with a lower education background: even though the pace was slower, the methodology was similar to other language schools and led to similar issues. In general, most students of our study wish that teaching methods were more task-based and more relevant to their daily needs.
George Androulakis. Combining creativity and translanguaging for an effective education with adults refugees
This paper presents some of the findings and outcomes of two recent research and education projects that focused on language teaching and learning for adult refugees in Greece. The project MATHEME was funded in 2015 by the European Integration Fund, and the project PRESS funded in 2016 and 2017 by the Hellenic Open University, and were research-based and community-based efforts for providing alternative, quality language education for newly arrived immigrants and refugees in Greece, that is in a very challenging context of economic and social crisis for the society of reception.
Even if the main objective of the MATHEME project was the teaching of Greek language, and the project PRESS included a wide arrow of actions, two common axes of their design and implementation were the exploration of translanguaging and creativity. The benefit of using linguistically diverse resources, and the multilingual repertoires of adult refugee students arouse from the very first stages of the needs-analysis process in the field. As a consequence, the teaching materials took a multilingual turn, and guidelines to teachers were given so that translanguaging techniques are used in the language learning settings.
Furthermore, in a framework of critical pedagogy and multiliteracies, the combination of linguistic and artistic expression was highlighted, and the potential of creativity was explored. In fact, the abovementioned projects clearly displayed that communication boundaries in multilingual learning groups can more easily be crossed when learners’ creativity is protected and stimulated.
Carla Bagna & Sabrina Machetti. Language learning and teaching to migrant people in Italy
In Italy, the weakness and/or poor application of language policies are having fairly serious effects in various social contexts, and especially on Teaching Italian as a Foreign Language to Migrant people.
Although linguistic and cultural diversity are key features of the EU language policy and, in many EU documents, linguistic diversity and multilingualism are considered as a priority, in Italy they are increasingly seen, just as they are in other European countries, as a problem. Linguistic insecurity has certainly been one of the factors resulting in the prevalence of a monolingual attitude in different spheres of Italian society. Our contribution aims to explore the (scarce) place of language and cultural diversity in the Teaching of Italian as a Foreign Language to Migrant people. To do so, we will consider the following points:
- the impact in Italy of EU projects known as FEI and FAMI projects (European Fund for the Integration of non-EU immigrants, 2007–2015 and 2017-2021), explicitly linked to migration policies and aimed at promoting the social, linguistic and cultural diversity of the migrant population in European countries;
- in the field of scientific research, the main results of some recent Italian studies aimed at investigating the visibility and vitality of immigrant languages in Italy;
- the effects of the test for long-term permits on the courses of Italian Language to adults. This test was introduced in Italy by a ministerial decree in 2010 and new regulations in 2019 (Decreto Sicurezza).
Emmanuelle Canut & Juliette Delahaie. Toward a better integration of newly arrived migrants. Case study of a linguistic and integrative support system in Lille (France)
This communication presents the first results of an experiment done in Lille (France), in order to improve the teaching and learning of French to newly-arrived adults migrants and unaccompanied minors (project led by the University of Lille and supported by the local authorities, 2019-2020) : during 16 weeks, 45 learners benefited from 160 hours of French lesson, 30 hours of professional workshop, and a possibility of social, legal and psychological support. The purpose of this integrative system is to address some key problems well known in the integration process of newly arrived migrants: language courses weakly focused on social and professional integration, a lack of intercultural approach of the language and the host society, the segmentation of integration pathways which undermines the learning capacities of migrants (see for example, Integration of young refugees in the EU : good practices and challenges, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2019 ; Intégration linguistique des migrants adultes : politique et pratique. Enquête du Conseil de l’Europe, 2014). We present here the first impact study of our experimental school by answering the following question: What is the impact of an integrated system on the linguistic skills? We will answer this question through the quantitative analysis of the linguistic level of our learners, from the pre-test to the final test, and through the qualitative analysis of the interviews conducted before, during and after the experimental system. We will also explore this question through the analysis of the participation of the learners to the other types of supports (number of participants, interviews with the professionals involved).
Gloria Chamorro. British teachers’ perspectives on the language learning experiences and challenges of their migrant students
This paper presents the findings of a study that is part of a larger project carried out at The University of Kent (UK) to support the language learning and integration of unaccompanied refugee minors in Kent: The English Hub for Refugees. The aim of the study was to explore the language learning experiences and challenges that refugees and asylum seekers face when they arrive in the host country and start learning the new language. To achieve this, an online questionnaire was completed by 72 language teachers from different institutions throughout the UK supporting refugees and asylum seekers. The findings from this questionnaire, which among other issues enquired about the background and experiences of the teachers and their students, the migrants’ language and communication difficulties, and the teaching techniques used with these learners, will be discussed.
Silvia Kunitz. Pedagogical practices in language cafés for newcomers
The present study discusses pedagogical practices that are enacted in language cafés for newcomers to Sweden. These cafés are promoted by non-profit organizations to aid the social integration of immigrants and to provide them with an arena for “language training”. The study is part of a larger project in which ethnography and conversation analysis have been adopted to explore the material and social ecology of the cafés, together with the emergent pedagogical practices and the language learning behaviors accomplished by the participants. The dataset consists of approximately 130 hours of video-recordings in 13 cafés. Typically, each café has a Swedish-speaking coordinator and volunteers, who usually are not language teaching professionals. Overall, despite the heterogeneity of these cafés, we have observed a predominance of activities with clear pedagogical goals such as form-focused exercises, reading and theme-based discussions. In this paper I will illustrate a sample of the activities conducted in the café sessions, either frontally or in a small group arrangement. I will then show video-clips displaying how the pedagogically-oriented interaction unfolds, with a specific focus on the affordances for participation for the visitors and on the treatment of the emergent objects of learning. The clips will thus illustrate the immanent pedagogies with which teaching and learning are actualized in the cafés. Overall, the analysis will provide insights regarding laymen’s pedagogic ideologies concerning the language learning process, which emerge in the choice of activity itself and in the way in which each activity is conducted.
Focus 2.
Isam Benbellat. Migrations, sexual orientation and communication. The case of gay asylum seekers.
Crésam is a belgian organisation located in wallonia. Through is work as an observatory exploring and studying the curent issues of mental health in our modern societies, this association is also involved in a european cross-border project to improve the housing and living conditions of migrants in host and transit countries.In order to achieve this goal, crésam has started a study about lgbt asylum seeker, focusing is attention on the difficulties faced by gay migrants. LGBT persons often adopt a strategy of invisibility because of the perceived risks of being exposed to discrimination. The purpose of the present study is to assess the psychological impact of this adaptative behaviour. The first results revealed by this survey shows a specific problem in terms of communication. Specialy regarding the relationship that gay migrants have to maintain with translators during their asylum process. The main difficult lies in the fact that those translators often come from countries that gay migrants have left because of persecutions on the grounds of sexual orientation, wich leads to a contradictory situation forcing them to take a risk by sharing their secret.
Emmanuelle Canut & Juliette Delahaie. Unaccompanied Minors support systems in France, communication issues
Based on an experimental study of the first phases of reception and social support for unaccompanied minors in the Nord department (January-September 2019), we will show that the question of understanding the language of the host country is crucial from the very first meetings with the social services. We will approach this question from the point of view of oral communication and written text.
From the point of view of oral communication, we will propose an interactional analysis of the social evaluation phase of the minority and the isolation of the young migrant. We will highlight the need to find tools to improve a complex and anxiety-generating interaction: the superimposition of roles and functions, the paradoxical injunctions to which the young migrant and the evaluators are subjected make this interaction a discursive patchwork. During this interaction, each participant finds it very difficult to position themselves, and the Department, as the absent interlocutor, plays a primordial role.
From the point of view of written communication, we will analyse ways of simplifying the texts intended for Unaccompanied Minors during the evaluation and reception phase in emergency accommodation. We will base on research about the characteristics of spoken French and the didactics of French as a foreign language.
Isabelle Estève & Guillaume Coron. Unaccompanid Minors (Ums) and emergency first line professionals : a situation of “shared disability”
The aim of this communication will be to report on the problems of access to information for UMs when they are received in emergency reception centres, by observing them in the light of the concept of shared disability (Mottez, 2006): each person is unable to understand the other and to be understood by the other. This concept centrally circumscribes the way in which these inter-action issues are reciprocal, from the point of view of both parties:
- UMs needing to acculturate to new (socio)cultural, (socio)linguistic, (socio)interactional conventions
- professionals and the mediation strategies they use to acculturate themselves also to other ways of interacting: with an interlocutor who does not share the same ways of saying, thinking, doing, etc...
These exolingual (asymmetry in the language of interaction) and intercultural interactions (shifting/distance/breaking in the universes of meaning) centrally raises the question of access to information and thus reexamines the notion of adapted (child friendly) information as defined by the Council of Europe (2018). In our view, in order to be able to speak of effectively adapted information, it is not only essential the UM should be able to interpret information, but also be able to appropriate it and build knowledge that is meaningful to him/her (Estève & Coron, 2019, forthcoming).
Within the framework of the MIMNA project, we have designed an approach to information mediation by transposing the notion of Universal Design (Council of Europe, 2009), which advocates equal access for all to everything, whatever the context of each UM: heterogeneity of individual baggage - linguistic, cultural, literacy, etc. - and degree of remoteness or familiarity with the information provided.
In our view, this approach, which led to the design of a visual and non-linguistic welcome booklet, seems to be transposable to many contexts, not only the emergency reception of UMs.
Conseil de l’Europe (2018). Child-friendly information in migration – What do children think ?
Conseil de l’Europe (2009). Assurer la pleine participation grâce à la conception universelle.
ESTEVE, I. (à paraître, 2020). Des données de terrain à la conception d’outils de médiation de l’information: élaboration d’une démarche d’information adaptée aux MNA, Questions vives.
Lara Gautier, Stéphanie Ngeungang-Wakap, Juan-Diego Poveda & Magali Bouchon. Providing psychosocial support to unaccompanied minors during the COVID-19 health crisis: communication challenges for Médecins du Monde in Paris
In France, unaccompanied minors (UMs) theoretically benefit from child protection. However, a large proportion of them do not have access to it because of an initial rejection of their status as unaccompanied minors. This situation throws them into social precariousness. In Paris, Médecins du Monde (MdM) offers UMs medical and psychosocial care. In March 2020, measures aimed at containing the COVID-19 epidemic (notably lockdown) have increased the psychological vulnerability of unprotected UFMs. This situation prompted MdM to adapt its services. Through interviews with MdM volunteers and staff (n=15), we analyzed the experience of telephone consultations for psychosocial support with a cohort of 58 UMs, followed three times a week during eight weeks of lockdown. The results reveal that the switch to phone consultations profoundly reconfigured the space of interaction with UMs. This strategy likely contributed to reduce the sense of isolation of many UMs. However, it also raised the issue of narrowing the interaction to a dual communication space, no longer anchored in the institutional space of MdM. For volunteers and staff, difficulties related to language also brought out more uncertainty in establishing an accurate diagnosis, as compared to face-to-face consultations.
Magali Husianycia. A set of linguistic criteria for professional French language to non-French speaking communities
The principles of simplification recommended by the FALC ("Easy to Read and Understand") present writing criteria that do not solve all the problems of comprehension of texts intended for non-French speaking communities. We will present a study of "simplified" written documents intended for unaccompanied foreign minors in which we have highlighted the persistence of linguistic difficulties which hinder comprehension and which are linked to a multiplicity of interpretations of the overly generalised FALC writing criteria.
This communication will present a reflection on the elaboration of a linguistic reference system proposing specific linguistic criteria determined on the basis of the work of corpus linguistics and spoken French, and of a previous study on the construction of the lexicon of cleaning professions (OPCALIA Propreté, 2013). The aim is to identify linguistic patterns close to the comprehension level of this public and to apply them to different types of texts.
Sabrina Royer. Language courses for migrant workers in areas of short-staffed jobs: engineering in French as a professional language and on-site training
This contribution proposes to reflect on the interweaving of professional and linguistic training for the integration of migrant workers in France, taking as a support the example of professional areas in tension. In professional learning situations, learning professional culture systematically involves the presence of the language within professional situations: understanding work instructions, safety warnings, explanations and justifications for work tasks, readings of work protocols. However, the language teacher does not always feel “legitimate” (Abou Haidar, 2019) to develop language training on the professional site and needs the collaboration of professional trainers to collect the data (Mangiante & Parpette, 2004; Mourlhon-Dallies, 2008).
This proposition questions the object of the analysis of interactions when the language part of the work is not apparent in professional communication situations and puts the language teacher in insecurity. What methodology for analysing language and activity can we adopt to take into account the interweaving of language and action in the composition of language activities? How to combine the work of the FFL teacher and that of the professional trainer? Thanks to the analysis of interactions in a corpus from vocational training, we will present educational proposals for the development of on-site training.
Daniel Senovilla Hernández. Informing young people on the move: an ethical and effective research tool
In our previous research experiences with unaccompanied minors in different European contexts, we have noted the key importance of providing them with appropriate and adapted information on their situation, particularly in terms of migration status, providing them the opportunity to understand and express their point of view independently on all decisions concerning them. As indicated in a recent Council of Europe report (2018, Communication d’information adaptées aux enfants en situation de migration. Manuel à l’usage des professionnels de terrain, Conseil de l’Europe, Children’s Rights Division), migrant minors report receiving most of the information during their migratory journey from smugglers, which leads them to potential situations of vulnerability caused by the false or inaccurate information they may receive. The paper will highlight how right to information is a compulsory condition to allow children to assert their fundamental right to participation (article 12 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child) and will explore the strengths and shortcomings of collective information workshops with young migrants and children as an innovative participatory research tool conciliating scientific effectiveness and ethical engagement
Amy Stapleton & Paula Mayock. What do you think? Understanding separated young people’s perspective on labels and the transition to adulthood
Separated young people (those who are outside their country of origin, without their parent or customary/ legal guardian and have recently turned eighteen) confront significant challenges as they navigate the transition to adulthood due to a lack of family support and because of their distinctly limited access to state support. This PhD research aims to share the perspectives of aged-out separated children by gaining a detailed understanding of their experiences of the transition to adulthood using a qualitative Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach. Separated young people living in the the département Nord were invited to participate in a participatory group project and in one in-depth interview. A PAR methodology was chosen as it provided the young people with a framework for encouraging social change and collaboration by supporting them to co-create new knowledge while reflecting on their own realities. To explore the deeper meaning and impact of labels and terminology in separated young people’s lives, the presentation will examine the young people’s perspectives and understandings of the label ‘unaccompanied minor’ , and the concept of ‘transition to adutlhood’.
Johan Vanderfaeillie, Ann-Katrin Thiele, Camille Verheyden & Frank Van Holen. Contact of unaccompanied refugee minors with peers and adults from the host country: promoting well-being?
In 2016, 1,076 unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) sought for asylum in Belgium. Although family foster care is often preferred over other living arrangements, little research has been done into the outcomes for URM in family foster care. The results presented in this presentation are part of a larger study into the well-being of URM in foster care and focus on the relation between the well-being of URM and the relations with the peers and adults from the host country.
To research well-being and supportive relations, 27 URM filled in a Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, Reactions of Adolescents to Traumatic Stress Questionnaire and Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale.
About 23% of URM had high levels of trauma symptoms (TS) (≥ pc 80) and about 19% high levels of behavioral and emotional problems (BEP). Most URM (> 85%) had contact with Belgian peers and adults. Contact with Belgian peers and adults was negatively associated with TS (respectively ρ=-.40, p<.05 and ρ=-.50, p<.01) and positively with BEP (respectively ρ=-.44, p<.05 and ρ=-.41, p<.05).
URM are at risk for TS and BEP. Contact with peers and adults of the host country (implying knowledge of the language), adds to the promotion of well-being in URM.
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