Language learning in vocational practice

Experiences of adult students with migrant background in Norway

Abstract

In Nordic countries, adult vocational education and training (VET) is increasingly mobilised to integrate linguistically diverse populations into the labour market. While policy frameworks place primary responsibility for language proficiency on the individual, a gap exists between low educational entry requirements and the comparatively high-level communicative demands of care-oriented workplaces. This study examines how adult students with migrant backgrounds in Norwegian Child and Youth Care and Health Care Worker programmes experience learning Norwegian within workplace placements. Using a sequential qualitative design, we conducted focus group interviews with 17 adult VET students with migrant backgrounds in Phase 1, followed by a collaborative reflection phase with 9 different students in Phase 2 to refine the thematic categories. Data analysis followed a reflexive thematic approach. Participants described key facilitators for their vocational language learning, including (1) proactive student strategies such as clarification requests; (2) supportive conversation partners who provide explicit communicative scaffolding; and (3) interactions with service users (children and elderly patients). Conversely, participants identified interactional barriers, such as rapid speech rate, social exclusion in staff areas, and fear of communicative mistakes. Overall, vocational language learning is experienced as a co-constructed phenomenon that depends on how interlocutors include learners in workplace interactions. These findings highlight the importance of supportive communicative environments in vocational placements and underscore the need for specialized training for teachers and workplace mentors to foster inclusive practices. This study aligns with the focus and scope of the NJCIE by investigating how integration of adults with migrant backgrounds, language learning, and vocational education and training intersect within the Nordic welfare and educational model. Furthermore, its focus on localized workplace interactions and institutional barriers contributes critical comparative insights into how broader international challenges of migration and labor market inclusion are experienced and negotiated at the micro-level.