Journal Article

Migrant networks, language learning and tourism employment

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between migrants’ social networks, the processes of language acquisition and tourism employment. Data collected using netnography and interviews are used to identify the strategies that Polish workers in the UK use to develop their language skills. The paper highlights the roles played by co-workers, co-nationals and customers in migrants’ language learning, both in the physical spaces of work and the virtual spaces of internet forums. It also shows how migrant workers exchange knowledge about the use of English during different stages of their migration careers: prior to leaving their country of origin and getting a job, during their employment and after leaving their job. Implications for academic inquiry and human resource management practice are outlined.

Attached files

Authors

Janta, Hania
Lugosi, Peter
Brown, Lorraine
Ladkin, Adele

Oxford Brookes departments

Oxford School of Hospitality Management
Oxford Brookes Business School

Dates

Year of publication: 2011
Date of RADAR deposit: 2020-12-16

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

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Related resources

This RADAR resource is the Accepted Manuscript of Migrant networks, language learning and tourism employment