Abstract
This chapter aims to explore and examine the role of language in the integration to the community of practice (CoP) of a culturally diverse group of participants, the Internationally Educated Professionals (IEPs) in Canada. Based on interpretive qualitative research and Bourdieu's theory as a lens, an in-depth interview, survey questionnaire and policy document data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis and the grounded theory. A selection of 30 IEP participants were divided into three categories according to their year of arrival. Findings reveal four different classes of IEPs and explain how they negotiate their language and cultural identity to integrate in their CoP post-migration. Results offer implications for reconceptualizing language norms, policies and practices in multicultural contexts.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Periphery Country: Refers to a country characterized by a least developed or still in the process of developing the economy. They produce labor-intensive and low-skill products that are typically exploited as a source of cheap labor, raw materials, or agricultural production for those countries in the core or semi-periphery of the global trade.
Integration: refers to the IEPs’ membership in his or her intended profession or community of practice.
Negatively Downward: Refers to movement of integration as depicted in the third quadrant of the integration-satisfaction matrix including the Low Achieving IEPs who are “not integrated and not satisfied;” they usually negotiate their language and cultural identity by avoiding attempts to be integrated due to lack of economic means.
Positively Upward: Refers to movement of integration as depicted in the first quadrant of the integration-satisfaction matrix including the Highly Achieving IEPs who are “integrated and satisfied as members of CoP;” they negotiate their language and cultural identity through collaboration with other members of their work environment.
Positively Downward: Refers to movement of integration as depicted in the second quadrant of the integration-satisfaction matrix including the Struggling IEPs who are “integrated in their CoP but not satisfied;” they usually negotiate their language and cultural identity by struggling to compete with other members of their CoP.
Levels of Job Satisfaction: Refers to the “nature” or characteristics of integration as to either satisfied (positive) or not satisfied (negative) as depicted in the four quadrants of integration-satisfaction matrix.
Movements of Integration: Refers to the “direction” of one’s intended profession described as either moving to (upward) or moving away (downward) from the intended profession or CoP.
Community Of Practice: A system of relationships between people, activities, and the world which embodied certain beliefs and behaviours to be acquired; also known as “integration into one’s profession”.
Positivist Approach: A term used to describe a scientific approach that relies on the collection of quantitative and statistical data using brief, clear, and objective discussions and interpretation of results, in contrast to using qualitative data, that uses descriptive narratives based on human feelings or subjective interpretation of facts, events or situations.
Cultural identity: Refers to anything that can be ascribed or assigned to a person including ethnic origin or skin colour, gender, language use, accentedness, education, employment or certain characteristics or connections based on what the person does and identifies with; sometimes used interchangeably in the context of the present study as “professional status.”
Negatively Upward: Refers to movement of integration as depicted in the fourth quadrant of the integration-satisfaction matrix including the Contented IEPs who are “not integrated in their CoP but satisfied;” they usually negotiate their language and cultural identity by accommodating others in their work environment.