“If I was told about the Lucia tradition - I would have loved to join” : A qualitative study on how Swedish For Immigrants (SFI) students experience a sense of belonging through communication.

Abstract: This study aims to bring awareness about culture and social integration to investigate how newly arrived immigrants in a Swedish municipality experience their process of social inclusion, through communication whilst learning the Swedish language. The knowledge of a host country language helps an individual with cultural adaptation and integration. The questions asked were: How does SFI students' dominant culture affect their adaptation to the secondary culture through their experience of communication?, What is the role of communication in their experiences of integrating into Swedish culture? and How does learning the Swedish language impact SFI students' sense of belonging through communication? The research gap focuses on exploring how communication and the cross-cultural elements: belonging, culture and communication are all linked together. To then examine how dominant culture and secondary culture can affect their sense of belonging. Hofstede cultural dimension theory and social integration are the theories used. Through Semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis, a qualitative study was conducted. Through a thematic analysis approach the following themes were found: language, culture and trust through communication. The results found that SFI students' experience of social inclusion through communication was that a lack of communication from the municipality was a given factor when feeling less of a sense of belonging. Furthermore, they felt that social interaction was key to learning the language, culture of the host country and the most effective way to help the social integration process.