Will the “normality” times como back? L2 learning motivation between immigrants and refugees before Covid-19.

Abstract

In these turbulent times of changes and transformations where educational processes are being virtualized due to the pandemic, we must not forget the difficulties that this implies for certain vulnerable learners and some learning contexts. That is the case of the L2 learning by immigrants and refugees. Such learners already have a starting difficulty, both for not mastering the language of learning and for the digital divide, which is increased by the migration variable. This work analyses, within a context of “normality”, the motivation of immigrants and refugees, in the light of their links and expectations. The differences in the relation with the Italian language are shown. The results show that the dependency on the host society, the uncertainty of the future and the absence of family ties are influential factors for refugees learning motivation. On the contrary, immigrants are not subjected to these factors, and therefore their Italian L2 learning motivations are different. By this research we conclude that adult refugees and immigrant students have different attitudes through the residency country language learning.