Monolingual versus Multilingual Perspectives: An Exploratory Study of the Role of English and Dutch in Reception Centres in the Netherlands

Abstract

This exploratory study aims to fill the gap between the well-intended critiques on the current immigration situation regarding language and the attitudes of the party concerned, the asylum seekers. Furthermore, the role of English in reception centres (AZC) is portrayed and reviewed. The methodological approach used in this study focused on gathering qualitative data, including interviews with three employees from the AZC and three interviews with asylum seekers. The main point of critique on the current immigration situation is that asylum seekers have to adapt to the language of the host country, in this case Dutch in the Netherlands, while their multilingual repertoire is not being activated and employed in the Dutch context (Extra & Spotti, 2009; Nortier, 2009; Van Avermaet, 2009; Van Avermaet & Gysen, 2009). This paper presents a monolingual view or perspective as having to adapt to one language, while enabling the multilingual repertoire of the asylum seekers is seen as a multilingual view. This study has not been able to find evidence of negative attitudes of asylum seekers towards a monolingual view in AZCs in the Netherlands. Furthermore, both employees and asylum seekers did not report miscommunication and misunderstanding caused by the use of English.