English and Migration Chapter 2 The Politics of English (Book 2)

Introduction What is migration?  What are the different countries that you may migrate to?  Why would you migrate?  Has the direction of migration always been to Anglophone countries (what about from Britain? – when? )  How has migration been defined? (p.49 – Kerswill and the UN) See p The migration example of the 14-year old pupil in London school.

English and Migration What is Migration – Patterns and Motivations  What is the role of English in different migration contexts? (p.51 – Inner circle, outer circle, expanding circles)  What are the different patterns of migration? Long term vs. short term (p.49) ‘voluntary’ and ‘forced’ migration (p.54)  On what basis would people in general choose their migration destinations?  What are the most popular destinations? (p.53)  What are some motivating factors? (51-53)  the drive for better education (the educational exodus) From non-English speaking countries to the UK, USA, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa  environmental, economic and political (distinction between forced & voluntary) reasons push factors & pull factors

Communities and languages  Minority or community languages of migrants  Dominant language of the receiving society  Heritage language (p.55)

English and Migration Citizenship and language tests  Who requires the citizenship tests? (p.55)  What is the official aim of the citizenship test? (p.56)  What does the English requirement serve? On what basis would people in general choose their migration destinations?  What are some differences between the Canadian and the USA language test requirements? (pp.57-60)  See pp. 151, 152, 153 in chapter 4 on IELTS, TOEFL & TOEIC (marketing, image, purpose)

English and Migration Multilingual resources in a global labor market  Linguistic capital was introduced as a concept in the previous chapter (exchanged eventually into economic capital)  What often happens when somebody migrates is that their linguistic abilities lose or gain in linguistic capital (p.61)  Different scenarios of status of migration groups – (refugees in the 1970’s & 1980’s vs. migrants from the ex-colonies during the 1940’s and 1950’s (elite members who were largely professional people, including university graduates, teachers and medical practitioners – e.g. of Caribbean migrants and the value of their English + attitudes towards variety) pp. 61-2) Female workers moving from countries where English is an official language (example of Philipinas in Taiwan p.63, Reading A, esp.pp.80-1)

English and Migration Languages and multilingual identities in migrant communities  Realignment of identity – self selected identity mainly based on higher status of national languages of home country as compared to local languages.  Tension between, on the one hand, maintaining heritage languages in order to safeguard cultural identity, while on the hand, needing to become fluent and literate in the dominant local language as soon as possible in order to obtain jobs and become integrated members of the receiving country.  Integrating in the new society and language maintenance is an active process for many immigrants, … including community school movements …  Different factors may encourage migrants to segregate themselves from mainstream communities. (p. 65) ‘Chain migration’ is one reason, example clusters of Mexicans in California, Chinese in New York, Irish people settled in areas north of London,… where people live in linguistic clusters, or ‘ethnic enclaves’ Working conditions (such as family businesses, long working hours, mainly because of lack of formal education and therefore opportunities) Result: -- dynamic bilingualism -- Hybrid identities -- creative displays of code-mixing (see chapter 5 of Book 1 + example of pun on p.69) -- and a tendency for code-switching

English and Migration Multilingual space and linguistic Landscape  Urban space – Linguistic landscape p.71  The role of English  See pp & Reading B pp (89-91)