Indicators for refugees’ effective language learning. An exploratory study

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Communications - Intercultural Communication, grade: 1,0, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, language: English, abstract: A number of companies in Bremen, Germany, have opened positions for internships and vocational training to refugees and are currently in need of a guideline for employee selection. To this end, this study explored indicators of refugees’ potential language learning effectiveness by carrying out semi-structured interviews with six experts who teach the German language to refugees. Analysis of the interviews followed the thematic analysis procedure described by Braun and Clarke (2006). The results highlighted three steps that could be used as a guideline for personnel selection. First, teachers and other persons who have a realistic impression of the respective learner’s traits regarding intrinsic characteristics, surrounding conditions, and consequent motivation should recommend potential employees. In a second step, recruiters should take into consideration possible biases on part of the respective recommendation giver. In a last step, the role of autonomy as put forward by Ryan and Deci (2000; 2008) needs to be considered, as it can have major impact on the type of motivation of the respective learner and potential employee.