Language Acquisition Among Adult Immigrants in Canada: The Effect of Premigration Language Capital

Gaining proficiency in the host country language is a key element to successful integration of new immigrants. In this article, the author adopts Bourdieu's perspective that accumulation and conversion of forms of capital is only possible through practice in a social field; therefore, the author puts forward the idea that language capital acquisition occurs through active participation in the host society. By employing data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, this article demonstrates the variability in premigration language capital among recent adult immigrants to Canada and the effect of premigration language capital and individual factors on language proficiency gains over 4 years of arrival. The study examines opportunities for language acquisition through formal and informal learning and demonstrates that vulnerable groups, such as women, older immigrants, and less educated immigrants who have less language capital at arrival, report also limited access to learning opportunities.