Research project The language café as a social venue and a space for language training

Research on the role of the civil society in the integration of migrants is still scant, particularly research concerning the organization of informal settings for language practicing and social integration. In this project, we therefore attempt to fill this gap by providing insights into the interactional ecology of language cafés, a setting designed to promote the migrants’ integration process within the local community. More broadly, our project can be framed within the field of migration studies where it shows the kind of language-related assistance that is provided to migrants at the micro-level of social interaction. The language cafés that we explore in this project are organized by non-profit organizations like churches, Red Cross and libraries.

The project consists of three part projects:

1. The overall organization of the cafés, the organizers' goal and the volunteers view
2. The endogenous organization of participation in language “training”
3. The emergent pedagogical practices and language learning behaviors.

Our general observations are the following:

(i) Variety of activities based on volunteers’ own ideas about language use/language learning and on migrants’ needs => rich and diversified opportunities for language training

(ii) Ubiquitous orientation to vocabulary work across activities (while grammar is typically dealt with in ad-hoc exercises)

(iii) Strong orientation toward the importance of mutual understanding as a way to foster participation

(iv) Attentive and affiliative listenership to encourage migrants’ tellings

(vi) Multilingualism as commonly implemented and well accepted in the café setting.

Project managers

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