Browsing by Subject "maahanmuuttajaäidit"

Immigrant mothers are at greater risk, compared to other immigrants, of being excluded from the integrative structures of the employment market and education. Immigrant mothers integrate into society by learning a second language. In this thesis, the subject of interest is the language learning of immigrant mothers in the integration training implemented, partly with their own children’s classroom, in the Parents to school! and the Our turn, Mothers! -projects. Based on previous studies, it is known that immigrant adults’ second language learning is affected by length of stay, background continent, mother tongue, educational background, age, and the amount of use of the new language. The aim is to study how these above-mentioned background variables and the number of children affected the initial Finnish language skills of immigrant mothers in terms of reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. In addition, it is examined how language proficiency developed in the project and whether the initial level of the language skills sub-areas was related to the final language skill level. The data was collected from immigrant mothers who did not speak Finnish well and who participated in the Parents to school! and Our turn, Mothers! -projects in the academic years 2017–2020 (N = 33). The data consisted of group A (n = 16) initial language tests and data collected with the background form, as well as group B (n = 17) initial and final language tests. Group A data was analyzed by examining the correlations between initial language proficiency and background variables. Group B data was analyzed by examining the development of language proficiency in Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR) and by examining the correlations between language skills sub-areas in the baseline level and the final level of language skills. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. Results revealed that the Finnish language proficiency of immigrant mothers had already developed before the start of official integration training, and the development had been influenced by the length of stay and the active use of the Finnish language. In the integration training, language skills developed on average of half CEFR language proficiency level and language skills developed most among those, who scored lowest in the initial test. From language skills sub-areas, the development of language was best predicted by the initial test of speaking. The results of this thesis were in line with previous studies. The results show that integration training with children has developed the Finnish language proficiency of immigrant mothers and that the project has reached a target group that has been outside of the usual integration training.