Struggles of highly educated adult immigrants as identity negotiations through Finnish language learning

This article aims to advance a critical understanding of language learning and identity negotiations among adult immigrants. Through Bonny Norton’s (2013) theoretical lens of ‘identity as a site of struggle’, we argue that immigrants often find themselves in contradictory positions assigned through unequal power relations because of their inadequacy in using the local language. Using narrative positioning analysis, we explore the ways in which highly educated adult immigrants in Finland negotiate their identities through Finnish language learning. Our data consists of initial interviews from a longitudinal study with seven adult immigrants who participated in Finnish Integration Training. Our findings show how the acts of identity negotiations referred to three specific types of ‘struggles’: struggle for recognition of competence; resistance against immigrant stereotypes; and the balancing act of parenthood in a multilingual context. These negotiations highlight difficulties and inequalities adult immigrants face, but also their empowerment through language learning.