The foreign language-speaking population of Finland is not within itself homogenous as illustrated by Figure 2, despite the national figures often focussing on Finnish, Swedish, Sami and ‘others’. Recorded growth in these foreign language speaking groups has been constant and substantial, with the most common foreign languages spoken as mother tongue in Finland being Russian, Estonian, Somali, English and Arabic (see Figure 2).
The issue of related statistics, specifically regarding foreign language-speaking population information, has not been refined in Finland as it has in countries with longer histories of large-scale immigration, like Canada or the United Kingdom, where census questions are more suited to a multicultural and multilingual public (Latomaa 2012: 533). Figure 2 however is not fully representative of the reality of language use in Finland; while English is not the most commonly spoken mother tongue of foreign language speakers in Finland, it is widely used as a language of wider communication.
1.3 Framing the Research, Aims and Questions
Whilst endeavouring to define and enact effective and comprehensive services to enable immigrant integration, needs and goals are identified and action plans designed to suit them. When addressing an issue as broad as integration for immigrants to Finland, it is undoubtedly challenging to prioritize and place in a logical order of importance the steps to successful integration of a diverse group of foreign nationals into a host society.
Just as the bases for relocation to a host state vary, so do the individuals accessing services and benefiting from policy and planning meant to facilitate integration. While concerned public officials are responsible for legislation, securing funding, programming and the provision of integration-related services, concrete definitions of successful immigration integration are difficult to devise.
These statements also ring true in discussions of language planning and policy for migrant populations, as diverse groups of learners and their respective needs require appropriate and effective language planning to provide not only language-in-education services that support successful language acquisition, but provide comprehensive training to support a multi-faceted ideal of immigrant integration. Discourse around
language planning for migrant populations has often focussed on language-in-education (acquisition) planning, while globalisation, internationalism and an increase in language learning and mobility have changed the landscape. Now, the study of one or more languages of wider communication (lingua francas, global languages), most notably but not exclusively English, has become commonplace and a cornerstone of education in many nations. (Baldauf Jr 2012: 239)
This research employs critical perspectives in its examination of language planning in place for migrants in Finland through informant narrative interviews. Their shared experiences will subsequently be contextualized and critical analysis of language planning will allow for a discussion on possible ways to further utilize language planning to advance social, economic and political equality for migrants to Finland.
This research also examines the relationship between the integration of foreign language-speaking immigrants through LP and language(s) of wider communication, while at the same time looking to the macro-level policies, ideologies and structures behind the phenomena. The informant interview data are analysed moving outward from the micro-level, making use of critical perspective and drawing evidence from relevant language planning.
Language planning is a widely researched field with similarly extensive research on LP in an era of mass migration and ‘globalisation’. Research on immigrant integration in theory and practice has in the same manner been on the foreground of research concerning demographic and cultural change. This thesis research focuses its lens on the experiences of immigrants with language learning in the host country, with a concentration on the individuals’ goals, motivations and experiences in contrast with existing LP discourses from a critical planning perspective. Motivation and individual difference in second language learning is an established field of research and provides a variable for analysis in combination with the existing discourses of language planning (see Dörnyei 2009; Ellis 1997, 2004; Gardner 1985). Notably, this research looks at the motivations reflected in language planning juxtaposed with those of the language learners and language planning’s current ability to cater to the diverse needs of language learners.
There is also certainly a discussion underway on the causes, effects and particularities of the prevalence of English as a global lingua franca (see Pennycook 1998; Phillipson 1998, 2003; Ricento 2000b; Tollefson 2000), as well as in the Finnish context (see University of Helsinki 2015; University of Helsinki 2015a; Bonnet 2002; Kangasvieri et al. 2011). Similarly, increased mobility has meant that immigrant integration, societal participation, employment and the role of language studies are widely studied in Finland and abroad (see Anderzén 2012; Filhon 2013; Forsander 2013; International Organization for Migration n.d.; Kiuru 2012; Latomaa et al. 2013; Pöyhönen, Tarnanen, Kyllönen, Vehviläinen & Rynkänen 2009). Research on integration and second language acquisition as well as motivation have sought to identify the motives and effects of learning on the lives of immigrants. Work on English in Finland has often had a particular focus on the views of English held by Finns as well as English in mainstream Finnish language planning.
Research on second language learning and immigrant integration has however intersected less with critical analyses involving the role of English. The field of language planning for foreign language speakers’ L2 acquisition and integration must, considering the current language situation of Finland, address the role of English as a language of wider communication. It must also take into account critical issues of race and existing relationships of inequality if language planning is to meet policy goals.
This research draws upon established fields in an investigation of language planning for foreign-language speaking immigrants to Finland that looks to identify challenges and motivators in L2 learning in the Finnish context and connect them with relevant LP phenomena, with a particular concentration on the role of English as a lingua franca.
Adding to the existing research on language planning, integration and L2 learning, this work focuses on critical analysis of language planning for foreign language speaking migrants in Finland with an added concentration on the role of English as a language of wider communication.
The research aims of this thesis are thus outlined by the following research questions:
RQ1: What are motivators and challenges in Finnish language learning from immigrants’ perspectives?
RQ2: How does language policy and planning for immigrants to Finland relate to or address these challenges and motivators?
RQ3: What is the role of English or other languages of wider communication?
The methods applied to gather data relevant to the above questions for analysis, namely informant interviews paired with critical analysis of language planning documentation, are discussed in further detail in Chapter 5 of this thesis. Data from the informant interviews are analysed on the backdrop of current, relevant language planning in place.
A critical analysis of the language planning phenomena is based on the narrative experiences of the informants, allowing for an examination of the issues at multiple magnifications. Critical language planning also allows the research to turn its lens to alternative issues and active discourses in LP for migrants. This means examination for example of the role of languages of wider communication, most notably English, in not only immigrants’ processes of language learning but in individuals’ experiences with integration from a broader perspective.
1.4 Structure of the Thesis
The thesis opens with an introduction to the subject matter and aims of the research, an examination of the methodology for data collection and analysis as well as the theory in use. This is followed by an introduction of and discussion on language policy and planning (LPP) as a field and an investigation into the current state of affairs in Finland.
The work continues with an analysis and discussion of the research interview data and concludes with an outlook to future strategies.