A review article by Timo Posti
This helpful article was written by Dr. Allyson Eamer, a sociolinguist who teaches at The University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Dr. Eamer outlines the challenges of providing accessible, suitable and practicable language instruction to migrants. She lists several reasons why some migrants do not readily benefit from language programs.
Dr. Eamer starts off by listing migration statistics, including the large number of international migrants living outside of their country of birth. As of 2018, the United Nations claimed that 3% of the world’s population are migrants. Twenty-two percent of all such migrants reside in North America, according to this research. Eamer also goes on to state that, according to the UN, 67 million (26%) of all migrants fall under the category of “refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced or stateless people”. She then distinguishes ‘forced migration’ from ‘voluntary migration’.
The motivation to learn a new language can vary among the different categories of migrants, according to Eamer. Those who choose to migrate to a country like Canada in order to pursue education or economic betterment differ from those who feel they were forced to migrate due to persecution, starvation or military conflict. Sometimes migrants desire to return soon to their country of origin, which limits their motivation to learn a new language. At other times, trauma severely affects one’s ability to acquire a new language. She also goes on to outline the impact of mental illness and also the detrimental effect on immigrant children who have to act as interpreters for their parents. Another factor that affects many migrants is their lack of access to language instruction – they may end up focusing on ‘financial survival’, working in a low-paying position or they may require childcare, which is not available at all language centres.
Towards the end of the article, Dr. Eamer mentions the “affective filter” which includes anxiety, stress and other negative emotions, as per the studies of Stephen Krashen (1982). This filter ‘derails comprehensible input’, to quote Eamer in the penultimate paragraph of this article. In other words, it is difficult to take in new language concepts when your anxiety level is high.
This article details ideas and concepts that may be familiar to many ESL teachers, but it may also be an eye-opener for those who have wondered why some ESL students have difficulty concentrating on an interesting lesson or perhaps even lack the motivation to come to class regularly. If you are interested in reading the article for yourself, the link is listed below.