The focus of this study is the exploration of the relation between language and home, in the context of immigration to a country where one has to learn to speak English as a second language. The need for a feeling of being at home has been explored as a further consideration when discussing the needs of immigrants in the context of ESL programs. Reflection on the dominant approach taken to ESL curriculum has formed the ground for the question of the research: To what extent does home have a language and languages give a sense of home? That is, what is the lived meaning of the language of home and the home of language?

Since language is a human way of knowing the world, it would appear that learning a new language is an integral dimension of becoming at home in a new country. The major thesis of the study is that there is a "languagely" way of being in the world which is lost when one leaves one's home country and home language.

The present research uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The study involved thirty-five immigrants to Canada. Through research conversations the people describe their experiences of living in a new country and a new language environment. On the basis of the conversations, themes are disclosed. The themes consider the relationship between language and identity, learning a language and making a home, the intimacy of the human way of being with one's first language, and the way in which the language of home means more than a linguistic code. The discussion of the themes has been structured according to five generative, everyday questions: Where do you come from? What are you doing here? How long have you been here? Do you like it here? Can I stay here? The reflective interweaving of the thematic structures that make up the experience of home is performed on the basis of insights gleaned from the participants' descriptions, as well as from phenomenological literature, poetry and novels.

The thrust of the work is to deepen our understanding of the experience of language learning for immigrants. The work is an invitation to reflection on the significance of the relation of home and language and how this may be embedded in practice.

ABSTRACT v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii

ARRIVING AT THE QUESTION 1

Orienting to the Question 1

Explicating Presuppositions 7

The Nature of the Question 9

Exploring the Phenomenon 11

Personal Experience 14

Descriptions from others 15

The conversations 16

Conducting Thematic Analysis 19

Uncovering thematic aspects in life-world descriptions 20

Writing and Re-writing 21

APPROACHES TO THE NEEDS OF LANGUAGE LEARNERS 24

An Historical Perspective 24

The Linguistic Approach 26

The influence of government policies 26

The influence of psychology and linguistics 27

The audio-lingual method 27

Cognitive code method 28

The Communicative Competency Approach 29

The influence from ethnolinguists and sociolinguistics 29

Communicative approaches to syllabuses 30

Communicative approaches to instruction 30

The Need to Question 31

The philosophical perspective 33

Another Look at "Needs" 34

Organization 37

WHERE DO YOU CONE FROM' 39

Anecdotal theme: Concretizing Self and Place 41

Anecdotal theme: Leaving Home Can Mean Seeing Oneself in a New Way 46

Anecdotal theme: We See Ourselves as Part of our Country 50

Theme one: Home Is One Source of Identity 52

Anecdotal theme: At Home People Speak to Each Other in a Particular Way 54

Anecdotal theme: At Home There Is More Laughter 57

Anecdotal theme: An Accent Comes From Somewhere Else . . . 61

Anecdotal theme: When Away From Home We Hear the Sound of Words 63

Anecdotal theme: The Talk of Home is Different 65

Theme two: Home is in the Way We Speak 67

Anecdotal theme: There's a Little Bit of Home in this 68

Anecdotal theme: Home can be in the Music of Home 72

Anecdotal theme: Empty Streets 74

Theme three: Home is in the Language of Things 76

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE' 79

Anecdotal theme: The Need to Find a Job 82

Theme one: Becoming at Home Involves the Activities of "Building" and "Dwelling." 86

Anecdotal theme: Waiting for the Future 87

Anecdotal theme: Looking Back 94

Anecdotal theme: Starting Over Again 96

Anecdotal theme: Catching Up 101

Theme two: Being at Home is an Integration of What We Know with Where We are Going 105

Anecdotal theme: Trying to Learn 107

Anecdotal theme: Parties and Practice 111

Theme three: The Language of Home Need Not Be Practised 113

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE' 115

Anecdotal theme: Continuing the Journey 118

Anecdotal theme: Journeying the Path of Language 119

Anecdotal theme: Re-tracing Steps 123

Anecdotal theme: Taking New Steps 124

Anecdotal theme: Taking No Steps 126

Anecdotal theme: Home Is Where You Can Find Rest 129

Theme one: Leaving Home and Language~is a Long Journey 131

Anecdotal theme: Living with the Unexpected 132

Anecdotal theme: The Little Things Are Sometimes the Hardest to Forget 133

Anecdotal theme: Eventually, Some Things Pass Unnoticed . . . 136

Anecdotal theme: The Time of Home 137

Theme two: To Feel At Home Consists in the Ability to Take Things for Granted 139

Anecdotal theme: Language Is Not Mere Words 140

Anecdotal theme: At Home, Speaking can be "Thoughtless" . . 143

Anecdotal theme: The "Doing" of Language 146

Anecdotal theme: The "Acting" of Language 147

Anecdotal theme: The "Space" of Language 151

Theme three: At Home, Conversation can be the Intimate Expression of Self 154

DO YOU LIKE IT HERE? 156

Anecdotal theme: Some people cannot be replaced 156

Anecdotal theme: One cannot leave home without saying goodbye 161

Anecdotal theme: Homesickness 163

Theme one: Home is where we are tied to 174

Anecdotal theme: The cosiness of language 176

Anecdotal theme: Words have a certain connection 179

Anecdotal theme: Words can lose us 181

Anecdotal theme: Names have a certain "fit" 182

Anecdotal theme: The play of words 185

Anecdotal theme: Language at home 186

Theme two: Home without a "languagely" homeness is not quite home 189

CAN I STAY HERE? 192

Anecdotal theme: Children and the future 193

Anecdotal theme: Children give us a new identity 196

Anecdotal theme: At home, one can look forward 197

Anecdotal theme: Home consists in a sense of involvement 200

Anecdotal theme: The "prison" of the new country 201

Anecdotal theme: Going back can result in a letting go 202

Anecdotal theme: Home is where we have a history 204

Anecdotal theme: The past of home stays with us 207

Anecdotal theme: The new country lacks tradition 208

Building the bridge 212

Anecdotal theme: The second home becomes the first home 214

Theme one: Being at home has a past, present and future 217

A FURTHER LOOK AT NNEEDSN 220

Is there a pedagogy of homeness' 221

Pedagogical intent and being at home 221

Pedagogical understanding and being at home 222

Pedagogical responsibility and being at home 223

Keeping the question open 224

AFTERWORD 226

BIBLIOGRAPHY 231

© Max van Manen, 2002
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