Innovation in Language Learning

Due to the increasing migration flows in the recent decades, language learning has become an important issue related to the integration of newcomers in Europe. In fact, the migration crisis has resulted with the creation of new integration policies that have as a main preoccupation the acquisition of the country of arrival language by the newly settled immigrants. Lesser attention has been shown by the policy makers about the linguistic background of the immigrants, which often includes a multilingual repertoire. Literature about language learning is hence now getting specialised in migration contexts, putting its attentions on the new country of residence language learning by the immigrants. However, few attention has been dedicated to the specific case of refugee learners and their linguistic background. The aim of this research is to study the multilingual competences of the refugees and the relation of the refugees’ linguistic repertoire with the migration experience. In order to achieve the objective of this research, we have used an ethnographic approach which has allowed us to enter in a direct contact with the subjects of the research in a natural way. Specifically, the instrument used in this study has been the in-depth interview, which has been focused on the linguistic biography of the informants. This instrument allowed us to know in deep both the refugee migration experience and its relation with the languages of the migration process. The data collected by this research show that the peculiar migration experience of the refugees, which often includes a long migration process, reflects in the language learning process. In fact, refugees’ linguistic repertoires are shaped by the migration experience. On another hand, the possibility to learn the languages met during the migration is related to the experience lived in the countries of the migration. Similarly, the vocabulary acquired reflects the traits of the forced migration.

Keywords: Refugees, migration, language learning, L2;