English as access for Syrian refugee students in Türkiye
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Language proficiency enables migrants to participate in the host society, resist marginalization, and pursue future goals and identities. This is particularly important for refugees negotiating the acquisition and use of additional linguistic capital amidst socioeconomic exclusion and legal precarity. Even in asylum settings where English is not the official language, it can facilitate access to educational and employment opportunities. Based on findings from an ethnographic dissertation study conducted in Türkiye in 2020, this article examines the role of English proficiency for Syrian refugees studying in Turkish universities, namely how participants invested in and employed English proficiency in order to access higher education and work toward future goals and identities. Layered narrative analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 Syrian young adults revealed distinct strategies for gaining and leveraging English knowledge for personal, social, and academic purposes. The article provides insights into the meanings and utility of English as an international language in asylum settings and pushes back against deficit discourses regarding migration, language learning, and higher education access.
Metrics
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Ager, A., & Strang, A. (2008). Understanding integration: A conceptual framework. Journal of Refugee Studies,
(2), 166–191. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fen016
Akbasli, S., & Mavi, D. (2019). Conditions of Syrian asylum seeker students in a Turkish university.
International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2019.1572796
Aydin, H., Gundogdu, M., & Akgul, A. (2019). Integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey: Understanding the
educators’ perception. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 20(4), 1029-1040. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0638-1
Aydin, H., & Kaya, Y. (2017). The educational needs of and barriers faced by Syrian refugee students in Turkey: A qualitative case study. Intercultural Education, 1–18.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2017.1336373
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays by M. M. Bakhtin. University of Texas Press.
Bayar, Y. (2011). The trajectory of nation-building through language policies: The case of Turkey during the early Republic (1920-38). Nations & Nationalism, 17(1), 108–128. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2010.00484.x
Bourdieu, P. (1977). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information, 16, 645-668.
Bourdieu, P. (2004). The forms of capital. In S. Ball (Ed.), Reader in sociology of education (pp. 15–29). Routledge Falmer.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. (1977). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. Sage Publications.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Bruner, J. S. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Harvard University Press.
Call-Cummings, M., Hauber-Özer, M., & Ross, K. (2020). Struggling with/against the unintentional reproduction
of power structures in participatory research: Using reconstructive horizon analysis. Action Research, 18(2), 171–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750319837324
Canagarajah, S., & Silberstein, S. (2012). Introduction: Diaspora and identity. Journal of Language, Identity and
Education, 11, 81–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2012.667296
Carspecken, P. F. (1996). Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide.
Routledge.
Council on Higher Education. (2020). Uyruğa göre öğrenci sayıları [Student statistics by country of origin].
https://istatistik.yok.gov.tr/
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 35, 36–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000191
Directorate General of Migration Management. (2023, September 14). Geçici koruma [Temporary protection].
https://www.goc.gov.tr/gecici-koruma5638
Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Duran, C. S. (2016). “I want to do things with languages”: A male Karenni refugee’s reconstructing multilingual
capital. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 15(4), 216-229.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2016.1194208
Ergin, H. (2016). Turkish university students’ perceptions towards their Syrian classmates. Education and
Science, 41(184), 399–415. https://doi.org/10.15390/EB.2016.6214
Flagler, M. (2019). Beyond the “basic stuff”: Authentic caring and digital storytelling with youth. Youth Theatre
Journal, 33(2), 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/08929092.2019.1688213
García, O., & Wei, L. (Eds.). (2015). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Hauber-Özer, M. (2019). Yabancı: An autoethnography of migration. Forum: Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(3), Art. 20. http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3328
Hauber-Özer, M. (2023). Journeys to higher education in displacement: A narrative portrait of Syrian refugees in Turkish universities. In A. Wiseman & L. Damaschke-Deitrick (Eds.), Education for refugees and forced im/migrants across time and context (pp. 195-211). Emerald Publishing.
Hauber-Özer, M., & Özer, M. O. (2021). Turkish national identity, language policy, and Syrian migration: From homogeneity to harmonization. In R. Bartholomae & J. P. Laut (Eds.), The Turkish language reform and beyond: A never-ending story? Harrassowitz Verlag.
He, Y., Bettez, S. C., & Levin, B. B. (2017). Imagined community of education: Voices from refugees and
immigrants. Urban Education, 52(8), 957–985. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085915575579
Heller, M. (1987). The role of language in the formation of ethnic identity. In J. Phinney & M. Rotheram (Eds.),
Children's ethnic socialization (pp. 180-200). Sage.
Hohberger, W. (2018). Opportunities in higher education for Syrians in Turkey: The perspective of Syrian
university students on the educational conditions, needs and possible solutions for improvement.
Istanbul Policy Center. http://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/OpportunitiesinHigherEducation_Hohberger_web.pdf
Hope, J. (2011). New insights into family learning for refugees: bonding, bridging and building transcultural
capital. Literacy, 45(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4369.2011.00581.x
HOPES. (2019). Higher and further education opportunities & perspectives for Syrians.
Hovil, L. (2014). Local integration. In E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, G. Loescher, K. Long, & N. Sigona (Eds.) The
Oxford handbook of refugee and forced migration studies. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199652433.013.0042
Kanno, Y., & Varghese, M. M. (2010). Immigrant and refugee ESL students’ challenges to accessing four-year
college education: from language policy to educational policy. Journal of Language, Identity &
Education, 9(5), 310–328. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2010.517693
Karam Foundation. (2019). Karam scholars. https://www.karamfoundation.org/karam-scholars
Karam, F. J., Kibler, A. K., & Yoder, P. J. (2017). “Because even us, Arabs, now speak English”: Syrian refugee
teachers’ investment in English as a foreign language. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 60, 169–182.
Kozikoğlu, İ., & Aslan, M. (2018). Socio-cultural, psychological and academic problems of undergraduate
Syrian students in Turkey. Issues in Educational Research, 28(3), 701–719.
Kramsch, C. J. (2013). Afterword. In B. Norton, Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation
(2nd ed., pp. 192–201). Multilingual Matters.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Pergamon Press.
Love, S. V. (2015). Language testing, ‘integration’ and subtractive multilingualism in Italy: Challenges for adult
immigrant second language and literacy education. Current Issues in Language Planning, 16(1–2), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2014.947017
Madison, D. S. (2005). Critical ethnography: Method, ethics, and performance. SAGE Publications.
Marlowe, J. (2018). Belonging and transnational refugee settlement: Unsettling the everyday and the
extraordinary. Routledge.
Morrice, L. (2013). Refugees in higher education: Boundaries of belonging and recognition, stigma and
exclusion. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 32(5), 652–668.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2012.761288
Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.). Multilingual Matters.
Norton, B., & Toohey, K. (2011). Identity, language learning, and social change. Language Teaching, 44(4), 412-446.
Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 9–31.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3587803
Özkırımlı, U. (2014). Multiculturalism, recognition and the ‘Kurdish question’ in Turkey: The outline of a
normative framework. Democratization, 21(6), 1055–1073.
Patel, L. (2016). Decolonizing educational research. Routledge.
Ramsay, G., & Baker, S. (2019). Higher education and students from refugee backgrounds: A meta-scoping
study. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 38(1), 55–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdy018
Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage Publications.
Rodriguez, S. (2019). “We’re building the community; it’s a hub for democracy.”: Lessons learned from a
library-based, school-district partnership and program to increase belonging for newcomer immigrant and refugee youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 102(2019), 135–144.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.04.025
Sezgin, A. A., & Yolcu, T. (2016). Göç ile gelen uluslararası öğrencilerin sosyal uyum ve toplumsal kabul süreci [The social cohesion and social acceptance process of immigrant international students]. Humanitas, 4(7), 417-436. https://doi.org/10.20304/husbd.14985
Shapiro, S., & MacDonald, M. T. (2017). From deficit to asset: Locating discursive resistance in a refugee-
background student’s written and oral narrative. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(2), 80– 93. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2016.1277725
Skrobanek, J., & Jobst, S. (2010). Cultural differentiation or self-exclusion: On young Turks’ and repatriates’
dealing with experiences of discrimination in Germany. Current Sociology, 58(3), 463-488.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392110364041
Smyth, J., & McInerney, P. (2013). Whose side are you on? Advocacy ethnography: some methodological
aspects of narrative portraits of disadvantaged young people, in socially critical research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(1), 1–20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2011.604649
SPARK. (2019). Turkey. http://spark-syria.eu/turkey/
Spivak, G. C. (1998). Can the subaltern speak? In Nelson, C. & Grossberg, L. (eds.). Marxism and the
interpretation of culture. University of Illinois Press.
Stevenson, J. (2019). Imagining a future: Refugee women, possible selves, and higher education. In H.
Henderson, J. Stevenson, & A.-M. Bathmaker, Possible selves and higher education: New
interdisciplinary insights (pp. 127–149). Routledge.
Stevenson, J., & Baker, S. (2018). Refugees in higher education: Debate, discourse and practice. Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Tezel McCarthy, A. (2018). Politics of refugee education: Educational administration of the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 1–16.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2018.1440541
Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed Books.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2019). DAFI annual report 2018.
https://www.unhcr.org/5d7f61097
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2024). Figures at a glance. http://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html
Wang, C., & Burris, M. A. (1994). Empowerment through photo novella: Portraits of participation. Health
Education Quarterly, 21(2), 171–186.
Weedon, C. (1987). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory. Blackwell.
Windle, J., & Miller, J. (2012). Approaches to teaching low literacy refugee-background students. Australian
Journal of Language & Literacy, 35(3), 317–333.