Meeting the Needs of Reunited Refugee Families: An Ecological, Multilingual Approach to Language Learning

This book explores the gap between policy, practice, and academic literature in language learning for refugees and proposes a multilingual approach that combines translanguaging principles, decolonizing methodology, and linguistic hospitality to provide a more accessible starting point than current monolingual pedagogies. It highlights the multilingual and multilateral approach laid out in Scotland's New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, which recognizes the importance of linguistic diversity and two-way integration. The author suggests 'ecologizing' as an alternative language pedagogy that draws on three key findings: the significance of decolonizing, collaborative learner/teacher relationships during the liminal phase of refugee arrival; the importance of place and orientation; and an increased understanding of language and 'languaging.'

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 14 November 2023
Publisher: Multilingual Matters

This book delves into the disparity between policy, practice, and academic literature in language learning for refugees, highlighting the need for a multilingual approach that combines translanguaging principles, decolonizing methodology, and linguistic hospitality. It examines the multilingual and multilateral approach outlined in Scotland's New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, which recognizes the significance of linguistic diversity and two-way integration. The gap between policy, practice, and theory underscores the imperative to challenge the dominant monolingual/social cohesion narrative through appropriate pedagogies that celebrate linguistic diversity in a positive light. The author proposes 'ecologizing' as an alternative language pedagogy, drawing upon three key findings: the importance of decolonizing, collaborative learner-teacher relationships during the liminal phase of refugee arrival; the significance of place and orientation; and an enhanced understanding of language and 'languaging.'

This book explores the gap between policy, practice, and academic literature within language learning for refugees and argues that a multilingual approach, which combines translanguaging principles, decolonizing methodology, and linguistic hospitality, provides a more accessible starting point than current monolingual pedagogies.

It considers the multilingual and multilateral approach laid out within Scotlands New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, which recognizes the importance of linguistic diversity and two-way integration.

The divide between policy, practice, and theory points towards the need to counteract the dominant monolingual/social cohesion narrative through suitable pedagogies which highlight linguistic diversity in a positive way.

The author suggests 'ecologizing' as an alternative language pedagogy, drawing on three key findings: the significance of decolonizing, collaborative learner-teacher relationships during the liminal phase of refugee arrival; the importance of place and orientation; and an increased understanding of language and 'languaging.'

Weight: 530g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800414600