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30 Jahre Yekmal

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Conference on Mother Tongue Day 2022: Gender and Language Learning

Learning the language of a host country fluently is one of the key factors that facilitate both inclusion and entry into the social, cultural and economic life for people recently settled or those with a migration background in that country. Gender has been a crucial theme in discussions over language learning in migration settings. Accordingly, it is suggested that women become less dependent on others, particularly male members of the family, in establishing relationships with the outside world through language learning. Besides, learning the language of the host country can be a tool for women in the family, not only in terms of economic and social empowerment, but also in terms of psychological resilience and coping with domestic violence. On the other hand, it is claimed that a lack of fluency in that particular language may result in a dual negative status  for women due to the reasons associated with migration and gender roles. Therefore, it is important to reveal the factors that facilitate and/or complicate women’s choices to learn the language of host country – factors such as how domestic tasks are shared between women and men in the family, or perceptions about gender roles that have been “imported” from the home country into the host country.

Departing from this point, we are organizing an online conference on the occasion of International Mother Tongue Day (February 21, 2022) to focus on the factors that facilitate and/or complicate women’s experiences and perceptions regarding language learning in Germany. The event is organized within the framework of a research project on language-learning experiences of immigrant women in Germany, which is carried out by Dr. Handan Çaglayan, guest researcher of  Einstein Foundation at IAAW. The conference has three main goals. Firstly, it will be one of the primary channels of sharing the findings of the research project in question. Secondly, it aims at creating an opportunity to bring scientists, representatives of public institutions, politicians, teachers, practitioners, activists, community members, and other interested individuals together to share their activities, opinions and experience regarding the factors that facilitate and/or complicate migrant women’s language learning experiences. Thirdly, the conference may contribute to efforts aiming at improving the methods and conditions of language learning and teaching activities targeting migrant women in Germany. Last but not least, the conference will seek to find  potential answers to the question “how can a gender-sensitive translocal perspective facilitate migrant women’s capabilities in language learning and thereby serve their empowerment?”

Date: 21.02.2022

Time: 09:30- 16:30

Location: Online/Zoom

Please register by Feb. 15 using the form on the link:

https://forms.gle/GrnJXApquUHP6UUt7

For questions or further information please contact akademie@yekmal.de

We look forward to your participation!