Language experience: The forgotten dimension in cross-cultural social work?

Abstract

‘Practice Forum’ provides a forum for social work practitioners to share their practice with others; to describe what they are doing and assess its effectiveness. Cross-cultural social work literature has for some time addressed issues of cultural diversity within practice, however the dimension of language experience has received minimal attention. This article is an exploration into the significance of the language experience of people from non English speaking backgrounds. A study was undertaken with eight bicultural/bilingual Italo-Australian social welfare practitioners, exploring with them their awareness of the language experience and how they dealt with it in their practice. The main factors identified, through semi-structured interviews, included cross lingual difficulties between parents and children, and the link of language with culture, identity and ethnicity. The study indicated that although the practitioners were aware of the language experience, their knowledge within practice was limited. The study concludes that the language experience is likely to be a significant factor to consider in cross-cultural practice.