Högre seminarium: Ali Reza Majlesi

In this presentation, I provide an overview of four distinct studies centered on language cafés and their roles as arenas for both socialization and language learning among newly arrived migrants.

I explore a few practices including teaching language practices, e.g., the use of writing for teaching and learning purposes. I also show how using smartphones as epistemic check, as well as verbal and non-verbal practices such as reformulations and gestural matchings are used to clarify part of the previous turn or highlight it as the focus of pedagogy in talk in interaction in language cafés. At the end, I will also discuss the significance of language café in promoting social inclusion.

My discussion draws on one our studies that capture the perspectives of language café organizers and volunteers . They emphasize not only the linguistic training benefits but also the promotion of a sense of belonging through helping the migrants to access information and opportunities for social participation, something which aligns with the concept “everyday citizenship” as the basis of what language cafés in specific (or civil societies in general) could promote.