Culture, Identity and Attitudes of Adult Immigrant Learners of German in the Context of the German Integration Course

Inspired by pioneering studies in the field of adult immigrants and second language acquisition, my dissertation research seeks to bridge the classroom as an inside space and the outside as lived social reality and to draw conclusions on how the interplay of these experiences affects and is affected by aspects of culture, attitudes and identity formation. Set in the specific context of the German Integration Course, this qualitative study is based on a series of guided conversations with and the written accounts of five adult immigrants enrolled in the Integration Course in Frankfurt, Germany in 2012. I am predominantly interested in socio-psychological factors affecting the learning process, including learnersâ perspectives on learning a second language in a compulsory setting in Germany, and the influence as well as the dependence of such perspectives on their identities and as result on their learning behavior. In my work, I donâ t draw a straight line between attitudes and language achievements. Much like water refracts light and produces images, I assert that our attitudes form interpretive stances through which we explain and make sense of our experiences. This process, in turn, affects our identity work and consequently our learning behaviour in and outside the classroom. As of today, research on the linguistic development in adult immigrant learners enrolled in the German Integrationskurs and the sociocultural factors that shape it is scarce. Consequently, the present study will contribute to the small but constantly growing body of research trying to shed light on the Integration courseâ s potential and capacity to meet its own goals. My work also has the intention to contribute to modern SLA pedagogy by shedding more light on the process-oriented, socio-psychological realm of language acquisition in migration contexts.Ph.D