Representations of Language Learning in the Talk of Asylum Seekers in France

Abstract

AbstractIn this chapter, I present an interactional and multimodal analysis of video-recorded mental health consultations with asylum seekers in France. My main focus is on sequences in which the patients talk with the therapist about their learning of French, in some cases through the mediation of a professional interpreter. The particular context of psychotherapy sessions fosters a narration specially focused on emotions and representations, the analysis of which can offer some interesting insights into language learning as experienced by adult migrants and asylum seekers in France. I employ the theoretical and methodological tools of interactional analysis to investigate the language learning of migrants: I take a cross-disciplinary approach, in which the asylum seekers who participated in the study are considered as full participants in the interaction, participants whose practices are seen as sequentially arranged and locally designed according to the contingency of the unfolding conversation, as well as informants, according to a sociolinguistic perspective. In my analysis I pay special attention to emotions, identities and representations that emerge in the interaction. I also offer insights into asylum seekers’ experience of second-language learning, highlighting their awareness of the cognitive process at stake.KeywordsAsylum seekersEmotionsFranceFrenchIdentityInteractional analysisMental health consultations