Introduction

The linguistic, political and pedagogic dimensions of language learning in migration contexts are changing fast. National policy responses to the dynamic diversity associated with migration can be uneven and contradictory. At the same time novel pedagogic practices are emerging to enable newcomers to gain access to the languages of wider communication, practices that often involve the adoption of a critical stance. This paper examines these two tendencies together, juxtaposing the policy landscape with aspects of emergent current pedagogic practice in adult language and migration contexts in the developed west and north.