Discursive constructions of English-speaking monolingual therapists about working with multilingual clients
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- Title
- Discursive constructions of English-speaking monolingual therapists about working with multilingual clients
- Creator
- Florence Little
- Date
- 2021
- Abstract
-
Linguistic diversity in the UK exists against a backdrop of English as the dominant language. Multilingualism entails specific emotional and cognitive ways of being, compared to monolingualism, and multilingual clients in counselling and psychotherapy have expressed that their linguistic identities are not always fully acknowledged. Multicultural literature underlines how therapists’ constructions of difference influence therapeutic work. Yet, even if scant studies have researched factors affecting the relationship between monolingual therapists and their multilingual clients, there is no research specifically about therapists’ attitudes to linguistic difference. The present study intends to fill this gap. It is located within Counselling Psychology’s ethos of
welcoming difference, and asks “how do English-speaking monolingual therapists talk about working with clients who use English as an additional language (EAL)?” From a social constructionist perspective, this study used critical discursive psychology to analyse transcribed semi-structured interviews with nine therapists. Analysis identified interpretative repertoires of: linguistic difference as unremarkable, or as requiring carefulness/caution; language as indicator of, or as disconnected from culture; cross-language therapy as “work-as-usual”, or as constrained/limited; English by-default. Constructions suggested ideological dilemmas and oscillating subject positions, such as “careful/competent” or “incapacitated” for therapists, and “active/passive agents”, or “extra vulnerable” for their clients. They tended to side-track linguistic difference and ignore the place of English. Key implications for training and practice are discussed, including the need to develop awareness of multilingual specificities and of the ways languages work, and to consider the impact of using English as the language of therapy. - Subject
- Counselling
- Psychotherapy
- Multilingualism
- Extent
- 202 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Regent's University London
- degree
- DPsych Counselling Psychology
- Language
- English
- Date Issued
- 2021
- Type
- Thesis & Dissertation
- Rights Holder
- Florence Little and Regent's University London
- Item sets
- Theses or Dissertation