(project duration: 1 May 2021 – 31 December 2023)
The project aims at the preparation of tools and materials for the diagnosis of the mechanism of communication barriers that hinder contacts of migrants with native speakers of Polish in various everyday situations (e.g. in contacts with institutions, especially such as school, office, clinic or hospital). The process of effective integration of foreign language migrants in Polish social life often encounters obstacles, mainly due to communication barriers resulting from cultural differences and insufficient knowledge of Polish. This also applies to children who start or continue their education in Polish educational institutions (only in Pomeranian schools there are over 2,000 children with migration experience) and in whose case the communication barrier – as indicated by the report of the Supreme Audit Officepublished in 2020 – is mainly responsible for school failures.
A diagnosis of the mechanism of communication barriers cannot be made without a proper and detailed recognition of migrants’ language use. Two tasks planned in the project serve to achieve this main goal:
- pilot testing of tools to pinpoint the mechanism of communication barriers;
- gathering linguistic material for future research of this phenomenon: a corpus of Polish-language texts by pupils with migration experience attending Polish schools. Information about linguistic, social and cultural factors which hinder communication between migrants and representatives of institutions included in the study will be passed on to Pomeranian offices and organisations responsible for social and educational policy towards migrants. They will provide them with knowledge to properly design and organise activities for integration of migrants and to effectively plan the didactical process for pupils with migrant experience.