Ulkomaalainen harjoittelija työyhteisössä – haasteena suomen kielen taito ja työelämän käytänteet

Authors

• Eila Minkkinen

Keywords:

työyhteisöt, sosiaalistuminen, viestintä, suomi toisena kielenä, work communities, socialization, communication, Finnish as a second language

Abstract

This paper discusses the socialization of a foreign student trainee in workplace. The paper draws on the results of a qualitative case study of a Finnish mediumsized company, in which a student with Asian background was doing his practical training period of three months. The objective was to study how the student adjusts to the workplace practices, and how he manages the professional and social communication in the work community. The student, the company’s management and the training supervisor of the University of Applied Sciences were interviewed in different phases of this training period. The datadriven analysis revealed that the student stayed as an outsider in the workplace. This can be explained by the short period of the training, by the independency of his work tasks, and by the student’s insufficient Finnish language skills. In addition, the work community did not offer enough support, and the student himself was not prepared to find strategies for language learning.