The first IRAAL public lecture will feature Prof. Nicolas Guichon from Université Lumière Lyon 2 (France), who will speak on adult migrants’ smartphone use for language learning and social integration.
The abstract of the talk can be found below.
The lecture registration link is provided here. Once the registration form is completed, participants will see the Zoom link and in-person venue details on the confirmation page.
Adult migrants’ smartphone use for language learning and social integration
It has become essential to understand the literacy practices that adult migrants develop both inside and outside the classroom when using digital tools to manage situations requiring them to read and write in the language of their host country. Digital literacy is increasingly recognized as a key component of migrants’ successful inclusion into host societies, as it facilitates social interaction, access to employment (Hokkinen & Barner-Rasmussen, 2023), and, more broadly, helps them navigate everyday life (Tammelin-Laine, 2020). Yet, studies focusing on adult migrants’ digital literacy remain scarce (Bradley et al., 2025) and seldom examine the actual literacy practices they engage in during daily life.
Professor Guichon will first outline key issues related to technology-enhanced language learning for migrants. He will illustrate his presentation with two studies. The first examines the in situ use of digital tools (e.g., smartphone applications) by adult migrants, exploring how these tools provide insights into their developing literacy and the role of digital resources in that process. The analysis draws on multifocal recordings of three migrants using digital tools (e.g., machine translation) to solve problems related to reading and writing in an additional language (French, in this case). It is argued that such “digital literacy events” (Prinsloo & Baynham, 2008) can shed light on the role of digital tools in migrants’ literacy development.
The second study, part of the ongoing SAALAM project, presents an analysis of tutorials conducted with adult migrants. These analyses offer insights into how participants progressively identify and exploit the affordances of smartphones to enhance their language learning strategies. Implications for teacher training will be discussed in the conclusion.
