Period: 9.6.2020 - 20.1.2022

Content: Municipalities in Finland have the option to provide immigrants with
preparatory classes. However, this option further delays the integration of
immigrants into mainstream classes and produces poorer results compared to the
mainstream classroom. Our vision, therefore, is to enable the current L2
education in Finland to transform based on the current needs of society, in
order to ensure better integration of the immigrants.

This carefully designed, user experience approach will allow for optimal game
development. The intention behind the game is to provide a means to better
integrate immigrant students into mainstream classrooms, and close the
communication and achievement gap between immigrant students and their peers.
The game will provide teachers with a tool to implement in their classrooms to
facilitate cross cultural interaction and learning. It will be used to increase
motivation among immigrant students, and to build confidence in the target
language. Research conducted on Municipalities in Finland have the option to
provide immigrants with preparatory classes. However, this option further
delays the integration of immigrants into mainstream classes and produces
poorer results compared to the mainstream classroom. This game will help
expand empirical understandings on how to support immigrant students in Finland
in a more effective and meaningful l way. This research has the potential to
inform research-based educational practices that will have implications for
teaching and learning at a national level. It is necessary for new approaches
to immigrant integration to be tested in order to address the current
achievement gap in Finland.

Focus area: Konst kultur och entreprenörskap

Campus: Jakobstad

Financers: Svenska kulturfonden

Project manager: Tobias Björkskog

Partners: Åbo Akademi