language education policy, migration policy, integration policy, language and identity, linguistic ethnography, creative inquiry in applied linguistics
I am Professor of applied linguistics at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä. My research expertise is in the fields of language education policies and language policy, migration policy; language, identity & belonging, refugee & asylum seeker narratives, minorities and language rights, and adult migrant language education.
In general, research in applied language studies has an impact on people’s lives. Research themes arise from society, and the research results are applied, confirmed, and contested by various stakeholders and audiences. My research is not an exception: the interplay between development and practice, as well as an orientation towards multidisciplinary research, allows a multilayered approach to studying and discussing real-life phenomena involving language. I am interested in individuals behind statistics; their stories of being a person seeking asylum or a migrant professional trying to find a place in the labour market. Through linguistic ethnography, creative inquiry, and narrative approaches, I focus on individuals in interactions, telling with them their stories that are embedded within wider cultural and political contexts and social structures.
My research may be useful, for example, for integration experts in public authorities and non-governmental organisations, in the planning of education, in the development of working life practices and in voluntary work.
More about me and my research, see CV and publications below.
