A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Language and Literacy in Social Context (2020)


Suni, M., & Tammelin-Laine, T. (2020). Language and Literacy in Social Context. In J. K. Peyton, & M. Young-Scholten (Eds.), Teaching Adult Immigrants with Limited Formal Education : Theory, Research and Practice (pp. 11-29). Multilingual Matters.


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editors: Suni, Minna; Tammelin-Laine, Taina

Parent publication: Teaching Adult Immigrants with Limited Formal Education : Theory, Research and Practice

Parent publication editors: Peyton, Joy Kreeft; Young-Scholten, Martha

ISBN: 978-1-78892-699-7

eISBN: 978-1-78892-700-0

Publication year: 2020

Pages range: 11-29

Number of pages in the book: 208

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Place of Publication: Bristol

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 


Abstract

Language and literacy do not develop in a vacuum. They are tightly interconnected with the social environments where they are used. They are developed through interacting with other people. While teachers, tutors and program directors are often among the ‘significant others’ for newly arrived migrants, because they mediate the language resources of the surrounding community, they are not the only people with whom migrants interact. One of the key roles of language and literacy teaching is to pave the way for and support further interactions and learning outside the classroom. Literacy development by migrant adults in a second language is a process similar to that in one’s native language(s), where numerous people, in addition to the teacher, are involved and can take place during face-to-face interactions, through reading physical texts, or in the virtual world through various applications.

In this chapter, we focus on the roles of various social contexts for language and literacy development with the aim of raising the awareness of those who work with adult migrants with little or no formal education. These roles include parenting, schooling and work contexts where literacy is required and put into practice. In addition to these roles, literacy empowers individuals to play an active role in society and take on civic responsibilities. We begin by introducing different culturally bound conceptualizations of what literacy means and give examples of different types of literacy. The reader is invited to think about the roles of literacy in daily life and across the life span as well as in the history of a family and language community. The chapter also discusses research on connections between the predominant ideologies of a given society and the literacy skills of its population on the one hand, and between the literacy skills of parents and their children on the other hand.

Examples come from a context that is assumed not to be well known to those living outside the Nordic countries, the context of Finland. Using examples from the authors’ own country serves to raise outsiders’ awareness about one of many smaller countries in which migrant adults resettle and encourages the reader to observe similarities across contexts, starting with their own context. Features of the Finnish national curricula for literacy instruction for migrants (Finnish National Board of Education, 2012; Finnish National Agency for Education, 2019a, 2019b) are described to familiarize the reader with the ways in which literacy skills are understood in Finland. But Finland is just one example; there is well-established collaboration among professionals in the Nordic countries in supporting adult migrants’ development of basic skills. The activities of the Nᴏʀᴅɪᴄ Aʟғᴀ Cᴏᴜɴᴄɪʟ (Alfarådet, http://nvl.org/alfaradet), which is part of the larger Nordic network of adult education, are an example. The goal is to provide opportunities for active participation in community life and democratic processes for adult migrants with no or very short formal schooling. Finland also represents a Western welfare state with a strong positive profile in the international results of the Pʀᴏɢʀᴀᴍ ғᴏʀ Iɴᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ Sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛ Assᴇssᴍᴇɴᴛ (PISA) and other surveys. Yet despite these factors and the perception of some that Finland is an ‘educational paradise’, through the discussion below it will become clear that the same challenges confront low-educated adult migrants in Finland as elsewhere.


Keywords: immigrants; language skills; literacy; second language; Finnish language; social interaction; teaching and instruction; adult education; adult students

Free keywords: literacy; multiliteracies; Finnish language


Contributing organizations


Ministry reporting: Yes

Preliminary JUFO rating: 2


Last updated on 2024-03-04 at 17:06