TEACHING LANGUAGES TO STUDENTS FROM REFUGEE AND MIGRANT BACKGROUNDS AROUND EUROPE: EXPLORING DIFFICULTIES AND TEACHERS’ BELIEFS

This paper presents and discusses the results of a study which investigated the needs, attitudes and beliefs of foreign language teachers of refugees in Greece and other countries of Europe. The research which was conducted in two phases, with the one being the pilot phase, involved approximately 120 teachers who commented on the difficulties that they face in contexts with students from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Students' trauma experiences, lack of schooling experience, behavioral problems, lack of specially designed materials catering for the needs of refugees, and of course the language barrier, were among the most frequently claimed problems. The paper ends with some empirically derived suggestions on how teachers could deal with the challenges related to this new reality