Adult Immigrants’ Perspectives on Courses in Icelandic as a Second Language: Structure, Content, and Inclusion in the Receiving Society

Learning Insular Nordic Languages: Comparative Perspectives on Migrants’ Experiences Learning Faroese and Icelandic

“…In the qualitative research of the first author, several participants stated that they learned Icelandic primarily outside of the language classroom when interacting with native speakers. This is in line with prior findings showing that immigrants often experience formal Icelandic language education as insufficient, which is discussed in detail in (Hoffmann et al 2021).…”

“…Despite these high expectations to learn local languages, studies show that there are discrepancies between adult migrants' language learning needs, at different competence levels, and opportunities to learn the language (see, e.g., Simpson & Whiteside 2015, for similar discussions in the UK and beyond; Norton 2013; Holm 2021). Migrants in smaller communities face 'difficulties in accessing opportunities for both formal and informal language learning' (Holm 2021;Flynn & Kay 2017: 62) and the quality of language courses in small and rural communities in Iceland has been criticised by some migrants (Hoffmann et al 2021;Kristjánsdóttir & Skaptadóttir 2018).…”

Teachers’ approaches to social inclusion in second language teaching for adult migrants

“…Kloubert & Dickerhoff, 2020). Previous studies have further problematised how students within adult education are conceptualised from a deficit perspective which may infantilize the students and exclude rather than include them (Franker, 2007;Hoffman et al, 2021;Wildemeersch & Koulaouzides, 2022). Given the vagueness and the paradox between social rights and regulations that are underlying the use of adult education as means of social inclusion, we investigate teaching for social inclusion in, second language education of adult migrants.…”

“…Cowie & Delaney (2019) illustrate how, in classroom practice, information about the host country's society can be presented either as facts and with language development as the main purpose or carried out intending to encourage the students to ascribe to certain values. When focusing on adjusting the students to the new country, teachers can limit the students' learning agency (Pötzsch, 2020), and language courses which do not live up to students' expectations can be perceived as limiting and patronising, instead of having an empowering effect (Hoffman et al, 2021). Zachrison (2014) shows that students experienced alienation when they used Swedish inside (and outside) the classroom since the teaching was based on a monocultural norm, with greater emphasis on 'thinking like a good Swede' than on 'speaking good Swedish ' (p. 230).…”