The Role of Languages and Cultures in the Integration Process of Migrant and Local Communities

Abstract

Summary There is no denying that fact that migration is a sensitive economic, political and social issue, which European institutions together with researchers and policy makers have been working on trying to create the cohesion between migrant and host communities. It has been widely recognized that attitudes towards migrants tend to be more positive when migrants have an opportunity to reveal their linguistic and cultural diversity to non-migrants. Researchers claim that local governments and municipalities “must be part of a framework of multi-level governance” for migrants’ integration (OECD, 2017). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highly recognizes the positive contribution of migrants, who deserve to live in a “just, equitable, tolerant, open and socially inclusive world” (2030 Agenda, 2015). Existing research has acknowledged that migrants make low use of local services, such as police, hospitals, educational institutions or leisure facilities due to language barriers and uncertainty on rules of engagement (Sime & Fox, 2014), cultural barriers and issues of trust in services (Alpers, 2016) or social exclusion (Arai, 2006). In order to develop insight into the realities of integration and social cohesion between migrant and host communities in Great Britain, in 2019 this study used a survey to explore how trust and meaningful interaction between all sections of the community could be created by providing social and educational activities for migrant and host communities in Boston, the UK. Furthermore, the research aimed to answer the question whether learning about another culture could increase understanding of how one’s own culture shapes the perceptions of oneself, of the world and of our relationship with others. The research sample was a group of 18 adults of non-migrant / British communities and a group of 15 adults of migrant communities / ESOL students who were attending the language and culture sessions with professional bilingual teachers. The first research sample, for which Lithuanian, Polish and Russian language and culture workshops were delivered, was carefully chosen to represent the native residents dealing with new arrival communities in their daily lives. The interactive workshops on the English language and British culture were delivered to the second focus group, ESOL students. All members of the focus groups expressed their primary wish to learn basic skills in the target language and improve their communication within the local area avoiding social tensions, cultural and linguistic misunderstandings. To explore the needs, experiences and attitudes of both migrant and host communities, a quantitative research methodology was applied, and short semi-structured interviews were conducted.