The meanings of learning as described by Polish migrant bloggers

Author: Monika Popow
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland

Edition: Volume 56, Number 3, November 2016

Summary: This paper addresses the meanings given to learning by Polish migrant bloggers. It presents the result of an analysis of ten blogs, written by Poles living abroad. The blogs under analysis were chosen on the basis of random sample. The analysed material was categorised by recurring themes, which included: learning in Poland, language acquisition, formal education, learning about the new culture, discovering the social norms of the host society and seeing immigration as an all-round learning experience. Four types of meanings given by authors were distinguished: migration as learning experience, learning as effort which deserves a reward, learning as a change, and learning as adapting to multiculturalism. The meanings were analysed according to the principles of critical discourse analysis. The paper discusses how the meanings given by authors are linked to a broad socio-cultural context. It analyses also the impact of learning into identity creation processes.

Keywords: migration, Internet blogs, learning, discourse analysis

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 56_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.