Language learning space and legitimation of adult second language speakers in the workplace

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ABSTRACT This paper explores space in relation to the (il)legitimacy of migrants as second language learners and speakers. Migrants learn the host country’s language(s) in multiple settings, both in language classrooms and beyond in various institutional and non-institutional settings. The workplace is a crucial setting for many migrant language learners. Applying the concept of positioning (Bamberg [1997]. Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.7.42pos; Bamberg & Georgakopoulou [2008]. Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk, 28(3), 377–396. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2008.018) to focus group discussions with four female highly educated migrants from Indonesia who recently came to Norway, the present paper explores the meanings and roles of space and place in the legitimacy of Norwegian language learners. As part of the focus group discussions, a city map was used to elicit the participants’ narratives. The findings illustrate that legitimacy as language learners and speakers is constantly negotiated and renegotiated in various learning spaces. Different spaces may be associated with different language ideologies shaping the power structures that affect how learners can be perceived as legitimate or illegitimate speakers. This study contributes new insights into the role of spaces in language learning and legitimisation of second language speakers, in particular, adult learners in a non-English-speaking country.