The overarching aim of this master thesis is to explore what obligations immigrants have towards the host country in terms of learning the official language. Generally, it is expected that immigrants integrate into their host countries by learning the language, respecting social norms and values, and making economic and political contributions (Macleod, 2021). In my thesis, I will provide a definition of integration and describe the key dimensions of integration–cultural, social, political, and economic. I will discuss language integration in a broader picture, explaining the role of language education concerning these key areas of integration. I will use Sweden as a case in point and utilize official documents regarding language training programs executed by Swedish for Immigrants (SFI). I will assess whether these documents entail norms and values that immigrants should adhere to, as well as sociological research on Swedish norms and values in language courses for immigrants (Carlson, 2021). If they do, I will critically discuss the extent to which immigrants should adopt or adhere to these values and norms. My primary focus will be on immigrants who have legal permission to reside in the host country and who can be seen as standing in a contractual link with the host state. On this basis, then, I will use John Rawls's contractualist approach to provide a normative framework to critically discuss whether a liberal democratic society can require immigrants to undergo language education to integrate into the host country (Rawls, 1971).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-204240 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Behzadnia, Melika |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för kultur och samhälle |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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