THE IMPACT OF LANGUAGE BARRIERS IN A MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE NORTH HILL LISTENING PROJECT A thesis submitted to the Kent State University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors by Amanda Schwaben May, 2019 Thesis written by Amanda Schwaben Approved by _____________________________________________________________________, Advisor ______________________________________________, Director, School of Peace and Conflict Studies Accepted by ___________________________________________________, Dean, Honors College ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES...…..………………………………………………………………….vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....…………..….……………………………………………..vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION..……………………………………………….………1 II. REVIEW OF PRIOR LITERATURE......................……….…….….……3 Refugee Resettlement in the United States.....………..…………..……….3 Factors of Successful Integration………………………………………….5 The Impact of Language Barriers……...…………………………….…….6 The Impact of Language Barriers on Working Adults………………….…8 The Impact of Language Barriers on Older Adults…………………….….9 The Impact of Language Barriers on Youth…………………………….….9 The Use of Outside Organization to Overcome Language Barriers………10 III. METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………….13 Case Study………………………………………………………………..13 The Listening Project…………………………………………………….13 Listener Recruitment and Training………………………………….……14 Interview Participant Recruitment and Completion……………………...15 Analysis Methodology…………………………………………………...17 Sample……………………………………………………………………20 iii Study Limitations………………………………………………………...21 IV. ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………22 Difficulty Forming Social Connections…………………………………..22 Challenges Forming Social Connections Faced by Youth………………..23 Challenges Forming Social Connections Faced by Working Adults……..25 Challenges Forming Social Connections Faced by Older Adults………...28 Language Barriers Impacting Mental Health……………………………..29 Language Barriers and Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings………………31 Language Barriers and Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings Expressed by Foreign-Born Participants………………………………………...……...32 Language Barriers and Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings Expressed by Host Community Participants……………………………………………33 Language Barriers to Institutional Accessibility………………………….36 Language Barriers Interfering with Access to Services Expressed by Foreign-Born Participants………………………………………………..36 Language Barriers Interfering with Access to Services Expressed by Host Community Participants………………………………………………….38 Overcoming Language Barriers………………………………………….39 Previous Education of Foreign-Born Participants Helped Overcome Language Barriers………………………………………………………..40 Institutions Used as a Method for Overcoming Language Barriers………41 Host Community Members Help Foreign-Born Neighbors Access Institutions when Language Barriers are Present…………………………42 iv Host Community and Foreign-Born Community Actively Working to Communicate with Each Other…………………………………………...44 V. DISCUSSION..…………………………………………………………..46 VI. CONCLUSION.………………………………………………………….49 Future Research…………………………………………………………..50 Moving Forward………………………………………………………….50 REFERENCES…………………...……………………………………………...….......52 APPENDIX 1. Interview Questions….…………………………………..………………56 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Citizenship/Immigration Status..…………………………….…………………20 2. Religion..……………………………………………………………………….20 3. Gender………………………………………………………………………….20 4. Age.…………………………………………………………………………….20 5. Race…………………………………………………………………………….21 6. Affiliation with North Hill……………………………………………………..21 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis would not exist without the guidance and direction of Dr. Johanna Solomon. I thank Dr. Solomon for all the time that she has dedicated to this research and the many hours spent answering questions and offering support. Additional thanks to Dr. Patrick G. Coy, Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, and Dr. Ashley Nickels for your instruction and assistance in this process. Thank you to Jacquelyn Bleak, Joseph Bocchicchio, and Patricia Wyatt for your instrumental roles in this project. Thank you to the staff of The International Institute of Akron for your endless support. Thank you to Susan Berg-Herman for your guidance, support, and belief in the North Hill Community. Many thanks to the faculty of Kent State University’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies for your assistance throughout this project. Thank you to Dr. Coy for introducing me to this project and providing me with an incredible experience. Thank you to Liz Schmidt and Jenna Lada for your continued support and the countless hours you have poured into this project. Additionally, I would like to thank my family and friends for your support and understanding throughout this process. Many, many thanks to our Listeners. This project would simply not exist without you. Thank you to the North Hill Community. You are the heart of this project. vii 1 Introduction The ability to communicate is an essential skill needed to thrive economically, socially, and physically within a community. Without the ability to communicate it can be extremely difficult to gain employment and housing, form social connections, and access services. Language barriers can greatly impede communication. While there are many benefits that come along with a multi-cultural community, there are challenges associated with this. Foreign-born individuals entering a new community face the reality that they may not be fluent in the language spoken by the host community. Host community members are also impacted by the growing diversity within their community. Long-standing and well-established community members may find themselves in a position where they are no longer able to communicate with their neighbors and build relationships. The distance created between these two groups because of language barriers can lead to miscommunication, misconceptions, and tension. These tensions only heighten when multiple languages are spoken in a single community. The divisions felt by both foreign-born and host community members can lead to mistrust and conflict. When looking at the impacts of language barriers within a community both the foreign- born and host community must be included in order to gain a more holistic perspective. This paper will begin with a review of prior literature of public policy concerning refugee resettlement as well as successful refugee resettlement practices. In addition, the literature review will focus on the importance of language acquisition during the resettlement process and the services this skill provides. The methodology of the North 2 Hill Listening Project will then be discussed, elaborating on the case study and sample used in this project. The data analysis will focus on how the community-derived concerns about language in North Hill compares to the prior literature. The analysis will focus specifically on the impacts of language barriers in regard to forming social connections, mental health, access to services, and how these challenges were overcome. This paper offers a deeper understanding of how different challenges to communication impact the community as a whole, examining both grounded data analysis and existing theory, which can provide insight on how community members perceive these challenges and, ultimately, overcome them. This research provides a holistic view of how language barriers impact both foreign-born and host community members within a multi-cultural community. Looking at how these groups are impacted together allows for a better understanding of how conflict arises between and within these groups. 3 Review of Prior Literature Refugee Resettlement in the United States The topic of refugee resettlement has recently sparked public discourse as the conflict in Syria has intensified. In 2014, just three years after the conflict began, over one million Syrians fleeing the violence were registered as refugees in neighboring countries (Ostrand, 2015). Thus, began a debate amongst countries around the world, including the United States, as to how this refugee crisis should be managed. Despite the recent emergence of dialogue surrounding refugees within the United States, the country has a rich and lengthy history of immigration and refugee resettlement. The United States has historically led the world in refugee resettlement receiving more refugees every year than any other country that accepts refugees combined (Eby, Iverson, Smyers & Kekic, 2011). However, in 2017 the United States experienced a steep decline in the number of refugees admitted into the country (Connor & Krogstad, 2018). The United States resettled approximately 33,000 refugees while the rest of the world collectively resettled 69,000 (Connor & Krogstad, 2018). Despite this recent decline, the United States has accepted many immigrant and refugee groups for centuries. An estimated 4.1 million Irish immigrants entered the United States between the years 1820 and 1920 (Hout & Goldstein, 1994). In the 1880s nearly 1.5 million Germans immigrated to the United States (Library, 2014). By the end of WWII, there were around 130,000 German and Austrian refugees residing in the United States (Library, 2014). However, public policy and legislation concerning refugee 4 resettlement within the United States did not evolve until after WWII despite the centuries of immigration to the country (Zucker, 1983). The United States has experienced several changes in policy to address the various challenges of refugee resettlement. The first significant legislation concerning refugee resettlement in the United