Half-time seminar: Nora Duggan (PhD student in Linguistics)

This will be a hybrid event with the opportunity to either attend the seminar in C307 (Hus C i Södra Huset) or via Zoom. Since we need to limit our physical meetings, only a reduced number of people are allowed in C307. If you wish to attend, please register your participation by sending an email to Nora Duggan: nora.duggan@ling.su.se

The seminar will be followed by a ‘mingel’ in the kitchenette (pentry). STS-English interpreters are booked for both the seminar and the mingel.

Zoom

An invitation link to Zoom will be sent out via email lists. If you wish to attend but have not received a link, please contact Nora Duggan: nora.duggan@ling.su.se 

Abstract

Deaf migrants in Sweden are heterogeneous regarding their linguistic and educational backgrounds. Some have grown up with little or no access to a signed or spoken language, while others are fluent in several languages. Some have never attended school before coming to Sweden, while others have university degrees. The deaf migrants are provided opportunities to learn Swedish Sign Language and Swedish at folk high schools (adult education centres that provide non-formal education) catering to deaf and hard of hearing people.

“The Multilingual Situation of Deaf Refugees in Sweden” is a four-year project (2020-2023) funded by the Swedish Research Council. The project aims to describe the linguistic background of deaf migrants in Sweden and what consequences their backgrounds have for their language learning and socialization into Swedish Society as well as examine the current language instruction in educational institutions aimed at deaf learners (Holmström et al, 2021). My area of focus in the project is on how deaf migrants’ linguistic and educational backgrounds influence their language learning. I also observe deaf migrants’ language use in classroom interactions.

In the seminar, I aim to give an overview of the data that has been generated from the project’s fieldwork and I will present findings from two articles:

1. “They have no language”: Exploring language ideologies in adult education for deaf migrants (written together with Ingela Holmström)
2. Translanguaging practices in adult education for deaf migrants (written together with Ingela Holmström and Krister Schönström).

Nora Duggan. Private photo.