The aim of this study is to have a deeper understanding about the motivations and the obstacles of an immigrant’s language learning. I have studied the problem with focus on integration and language learning. The study is principally based on deep interviews with Turkish immigrants. I have studied the question by means of a socio-cultural perspective of learning; Mead’s conceptions I, Me and the generalised other; Scheff’s conception, the social bonds and Freire’s conception, dialog and Asplund’s conception social responsiveness.
On the surface it seams like, the émigré is someone who is incapable or reluctant to learn Swedish and integrate in the society. During the study, I have discovered an emotional obstacle, which arises at the émigré’s meeting with the Swede. One usually bypasses this emotional obstacle and concentrates on the cognitive level for language learning. The emigrant thinks then the Swedish language is difficult to learn and she knows too little Swedish to communicate with the Swede. The Swede thinks that the immigrant does not want to learn Swedish and integrate in the society. When I focused on the immigrant’s subjective experience about the meeting with the Swede, I noticed that the emigrant experiences the meeting as a sort of one way communication. At this meeting, she is assessed negatively by the Swede. The immigrant finds it difficult to develop a positive emotional attitude towards the Swede and the Swedish language. Then she gets away from the meeting with the Swede and reduces her relations with the Swedish culture to a minimum level.
I have speculated on the immigrant’s negative experience by means of Asplund’s conception social responsiveness and a governmental report of investigation about segregation. For a more active language learning and integration, I proposed, that the language education (SFI) should encourage the emigrant to question society with a critical attitude to identify herself in th...
