Talk at work: interactional challenges for immigrants

Abstract

This paper analyses the ways in which professional migrants from different cultural backgrounds, using English as an Additional Language, manage the demands of constructing a positive professional identity while also negotiating the complex relational aspects of workplace talk. The well-established methodology of the Wellington Language in the Workplace Project was used to collect relevant data from migrant workers interacting in professional New Zealand organisations. The analysis focuses on the sociopragmatic strategies used by two skilled migrants to manage identity construction through social and transactional aspects of workplace interaction. Different ways of undertaking a task tend to be made relatively explicit by colleagues and mentors, but different ways of establishing social contact at work tend to be overlooked since they are taken for granted as “normal” and unmarked. The analysis suggests that in some areas migrants are interactionally very competent. They tend to manage well with the more technical, task-oriented talk required by their positions. And while they participate appropriately in much of the social and small talk in which other engaged them in the course of their working day, there are nevertheless some areas where interactional problems arise. The challenges facing members of ethnic minorities who wish to progress in professional work contexts crucially involve identifying the differences between their norms and those of the majority group. Proceedings of Partnerships in Action: Research, Practice & Training. Inaugural Conference of the Asia-Pacific Rim LSP and Professional Communication Association, Hong Kong, China, Dec 8-10, 2008.

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