Plurilingual students' navigation of learning in an undergraduate business program: a qualitative study of language, discourse, and practices

This research was designed to provide insight into the learning strategies of plurilingual students in an undergraduate business program in Western Canada, with a specific focus on how the students draw on their plurilingual and pluricultural competences. To investigate relevant phenomena, a qualitative methodology was used; data was collected primarily through interviews, with supplementary sources being follow-up communications and the collection of relevant documents (such as course notes) which participants shared. In addition to lines of inquiry related to students' plurilingual practices while navigating learning, the role of discourse was also explored and analyzed. Participants shared a wide variety of learning strategies in which not only their L1, but also their greater plurilingual and pluricultural repertoires played an important role. Additionally, participants shared the ways in which discourse shaped their practices; this included discourses around such topics as linguistic purity, English-only policies, and deficit perspectives toward English as an Additional Language students. Notably, participants also shared instances in which they resisted their positioning into harmful discourses or were open to revisiting beliefs held about language.