Language, Migration and In/Exclusion in the Workplace

Edited by Jo Angouri, Dr. Julie Kerekes, Minna Suni

Publication date:

12 September 2023

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781800416949

In today’s globalised world, large-scale migration is the norm. A contributing factor to the successful settlement of migrants is the ability to access work and economic security. This book focuses on the lived experiences of migrants who (try to) access the workplace, and explores the barriers and support they encounter. The editors bring together studies which look at the ways in which inclusion and exclusion from the workplace are done linguistically from historical, discourse analytical, narrative and language assessment perspectives. The chapters represent an innovative, holistic, intersectional and multidisciplinary approach to the subject, and illustrate a wide range of analytical methods and theoretical tools for the study of multilingualism and professional identity. The rich empirical data contained in the book cover a variety of professional contexts and countries, and the book will appeal to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Contributors

Chapter 1. Jo Angouri, Julie Kerekes and Minna Suni: Migration and Language at Work: Current Trends and Future Opportunities for Multidisciplinary Research

Chapter 2. Florian Hiss: Contextualising Diversity, Work and Mobility across Time: Cases from Norway's 'High North'

Chapter 3. Nóra Schleicher: 'Doctor Johnny': The Discursive Construction of the Medical Doctor as an Immigrant

Chapter 4. Fiona O'Neill: Multilingual Professionals, Monolingual Contexts and Multicultural Mindsets: Towards an Intercultural Mindset

Chapter 5. Marta Kirilova: 'Getting the Job Done': Conventional Expressions as Shibboleths in Multilingual Job Interviews

Chapter 6. Marja Seilonen and Minna Suni: Assessing and Analysing Health Care Finnish: Test Performance and Lived Experiences

Chapter 7. Julie Kerekes and Jeanne Sinclair: The Role of Soft Skills in Vocational ESL: Their Potential to (Dis)Empower Migrant Employment Seekers

Chapter 8. Johanna Tovar: Impression Management Games: Language and Mobility among Southern European Migrants in a London Call Centre

Chapter 9. Art Babayants: Understanding the Immigrant Actor through a Multilingual Lens

Chapter 10. Kristina Humonen and Jo Angouri: ‘[They] thought I didn’t know how to be a chef because I didn’t speak Finnish’: Gatekeeping and Professional Role Enactment in a Multilingual Kitchen Context

Index

This expert editorial team present a rich range of research from diverse temporal, geographical and linguistic contexts. Qualitative analysis of workplace interactions explores migrants’ lived experience and the complex relationship between language policy and actual practices. At the forefront of workplace discourse research, the editors strongly advocate an activist agenda for sociolinguistics and applied linguistics research.