Language Learning by Adult Migrants: Policy Challenges and ICT Responses
Launched in 2005 following the revised Lisbon Agenda, the policy framework ‘i2010: A European Information Society for Growth and Employment’ has clearly established digital inclusion as an EU strategic policy goal. Everybody living in Europe, especially disadvantaged people, should have the opportunity to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to benefit from ICT use by service providers, intermediaries and other agents addressing their needs. Building on this, the 2006 Riga Declaration on eInclusion1 defined eInclusion as meaning “both inclusive ICT and the use of ICT to achieve wider inclusion objectives” and identified, as one of its six priorities, the promotion of cultural diversity in Europe by “improving the possibilities for economic and social participation and integration, creativity and entrepreneurship of immigrants and minorities by stimulating their participation in the information society.” In the light of these goals, and given the dearth of empirical evidence on this topic, DG Information Society and Media, Unit H3 (ICT for inclusion) asked the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS)2 to investigate from different angles the adoption and use of ICT by immigrants and ethnic minorities in Europe and the related policy implications. In response to this request, IPTS has carried out since 2007 several studies and related policy support activities, whose results are available at the URL: http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/eInclusion.html This report stems from the research line on ICT contribution to social work, communication and integration needs in migrants' everyday life, and to the integration of disadvantaged youth. In particular, it provides results of the work done on the use of ICT for learning the host country’s language (henceforth L2, second language) by adult migrants in the EU.