Open Collections

Wiebe, Karin Laureen

University of British Columbia

In recent years, British Columbia has welcomed more newcomers than ever before (Mendicino, 2019). British Columbia’s newcomers, many of whom speak English as an additional language (EAL), bring valuable skills, training, and experience to the Canadian workplace. These workspaces become places of ad lib, self-directed EAL learning. The new EAL skills acquired within the workplace, in turn complement and build on the resources newcomers already bring, to the benefit of coworkers, employers, and the community. Understanding and supporting self-driven EAL learning facilitates newcomers realizing their potential in a new place. This qualitative case study (Duff & Anderson, 2015) used a series of interviews and a focus group to look at the successful self driven language learning strategies, practices, and tools used by newcomers as they learn EAL in the workplace. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Following an additional language socialization framework (Duff, 2007; Duff & Talmy, 2011), data collected suggested that sympathetic interlocuters play a key role in workplace language learning through direct and indirect support, correction, and language learning synthesis. Further, interlocuters initially communicate existing language around workplace rules and policies, then eventually participate as co-constructors along with newcomers in the new workplace social group that fosters language learning. Findings also indicated participants employ metacognitive strategies (Oxford, 2017) to determine who and how to ask for assistance, to understand how to organize their learning methods, and to reflect on learning and goals. The study also found that participants engage in regular practices like meaning making and self-directed study to learn workplace English. Thus, a nuanced understanding of workplace additional language socialization is emerging, with implications for supporting newcomers as they participate in the English-speaking sectors of the Canadian workforce. The implications of this study include contributing a layer of academic understanding to self-directed EAL learning in Canadian workplaces where English is the language of business and communication. The study may also provide insights which can inform curriculum development for workplace language socialization courses and general EAL courses for newcomers.

Text

2022-08-11

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82332

Education

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/