Multilingualism, translation, interpreting and linguistic inequality

‘We feel at home, but we do not feel welcome’: Integration processes in a multi- and intergenerational perspective

Description: This dissertation enriched the knowledge on ‘integration’ by combining a multidimensional with a multi- and intergenerational perspective. We added to existing knowledge by including not only migrants and their children in our study, but also their grandchildren; and by studying integration from not only a multi- but also an intergenerational perspective. Furthermore, we showed how the concept of (the politics of) belonging provides much needed additional tools to open up the discussion about the definition and the pathways of integration with the perspectives of (descendants of) migrants themselves, to conceptualise their transnational belongings next to their local ones, and to grasp the dynamic interplay between (descendants of) migrants and the broader (receiving) society. We concluded that (studying) integration should not only be about increasing similarities to a dominant majority group, but also about the remaking of the mainstream and its growing capacity for dissent.
Promoter(s): Ilse Derluyn , Lieve Bradt
Researcher(s): Floor Verhaeghe
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2012 - 2019

Assimilation processes of migrants in an inter- and multigenerational perspective

Description: This research is about assimilation processes of several generations of migrants (1st, 2nd, 3rd generation) in different time episodes (sixties, eighties, present). Assimilation is not seen as an ideal to reach, but rachter as a possible way of examining processes migrants go through in the receiving country. Assimilation is used as a multidimensional concept, with a structural (education, labour market), cultural (language, leisure time), social (network, membership of organizations) and identificational dimension (self-identification in terms of ethnic/regional/national belonging). Objective as well as subjective components (own perception of migrants) are taken into account. Three studies are planned: a survey with youngsters in the last years of secondary schools in Genk and Sint-Niklaas, family interviews with multigenerational families with a migrant background and a discourse analysis of newspaper articles of different time episodes.
Promoter(s): Ilse Derluyn, Lieve Bradt
Researcher(s): Floor Verhaeghe
Faculty: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Period of time: 2012 - 2018

Institutional multilingualism in settings of asylum and migration: a linguistic-ethnographic study of global English use in lingua franca and interpreter-mediated interaction at the Belgian asylum authorities

Description: The project aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of global English use in dialogic and triadic asylum interaction at the Belgian asylum agencies. It provides a linguistic-ethnographic analysis based on interview data (both authentic asylum interview data and semi-structured interviews with asylum applicants, officers and interpreters) gathered at different asylum agencies. Adopting an integrated approach to the participation structure of the asylum encounter (incorporating both dialogic and triadic interaction strategies and research perspectives), this study aims to contribute to both fundamental and applied research insights into global English use in migration encounters where English has no official status. The project will explore how such different practices of multilingualism pragmatically and indexically impact on the interaction between the participants and by extension how they affect the discursive construction of socio-legal identities in the asylum process.
Promoter(s): Katrijn Maryns
Researcher(s): Katrijn Maryns
Department / Research group:
Department of Linguistics
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Language and employability. A sociolinguistic ethnography of the activation of migrant job seekers in Flanders

Description: This project proposes a sociolinguistic ethnographic analysis of the activation trajectories in which migrant job seekers are inserted in Flemish Belgium. The analysis aims at acquiring insight in the role of language in the different stages of these trajectories, focusing on the relation between small-scale interactional practices, policy requirements and public macro-discourses on integration, linguistic diversity and work.
Promoter(s): Sarah Van Hoof, Alfonso Del Percio
Researcher(s): Sara Nyssen
Department / Research group: MULTIPLES
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Language barriers and multilingualism in sexual and reproductive healthcare: A linguistic ethnography of an abortion clinic

Description: This PhD project comprises a linguistic ethnographic study of an abortion clinic in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The aim is to obtain insights into the various ways multilingualism and language barriers come into play in this particular setting. In doing so, it looks at the use of (non-professional) interpreters and their performances during abortion consultations, and the use of other strategies (e.g. Google Translate, multilingual websites, linguae francae), while also taking into account institutional language policies, discourses, translation practices, and viewpoints on linguistic diversity. The project seeks to gain understanding of the discursive and interactional nature of multilingual abortion consultations, as well as to examine the various ways in which language in the clinic is connected with access to information and services.
Promoter(s): July De Wilde
Researcher(s): Ella van Hest
Faculty / Faculties: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
Period of time: 2019 - 2023

Multilingualism and the social media when used in the diaspora: practices of code selection/switching by users of Iranian descent in Belgium

Description: The project investigates aspects of multilingualism on Facebook, in particular code selection/code switching by language users of Iranian descent in a Belgium. The focus is three-fold: (i) the distributional salience of the various languages used, (ii) their functional role in the interactional architecture of social media, (iii) the connections with the construction of a diasporic space.
Promoter(s): Slembrouck Stef, De Bot Kees
Researcher(s): Elmianvari Azadeh
Department / Research group: English Studies
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Research project Evaluation Zanzu.be

Description: This project aims at an evidence-based evaluation of the multilingual (in 14 languages) website of Sensoa, the Flemish expertise centre for sexual health. The website (zanzu.be) has been designed for newcomers, asylum seekers and people without residence permit and also serves as support tool for professionals in counselling and training. The project addresses three major goals: (1) evaluating the multilingual website zanzu.be; (2) evaluating its current implementation strategy and (3) formulating specific recommendations to improve the quality of the website and its implementation. Drawing from a combination of research methods (context analysis, digital survey, interviews, video-taped interaction and subsequent benchmark sessions), this project envisions an evidence-based answer to a number of research questions relating to communication about sexual health with vulnerable migrants.
Promoter(s): Katrijn Maryns, Ellen Van Praet, July De Wilde
Researcher(s): Pauline Van Daele
Department / Research group: Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication - MULTIPLES
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Secure bilingual capital. Language, ethnicity and the making of security officers in Brussels

Description: Since the suicide attacks in Brussels in 2016, the government of the Dutch-French bilingual Brussels Capital Region decided to hire 107 additional security officers for the public transport system. While French is Brussels’ lingua franca, Dutch-French bilingualism is still formally required for security officers employed by public services. However, only 7.5% of Brussels job seekers have a good knowledge of Dutch combined with French. Therefore, a training program was set up offering job seekers the chance to learn the Dutch required. Based on participant observations, semi-structured interviews and informal conversations with teachers, organizers and candidate security officers at a Brussels training center, this project explores whether and how the investment in and the significance of language(s) in Brussels is intertwined with forms of gatekeeping, social stratification, and racialization.
Promoter(s): Sarah Van Hoof, Alfonso del Percio
Researcher(s): Sibo Kanobana
Department / Research group: Translation, Interpreting and Communication
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy