Cover not available

Article published In: Language, Culture and Society
Vol. 6:1 (2024) ► pp.28–55

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Competing language ideologies of health literacy

ORCiD logo with link | University of Oslo
Published online: 3 September 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lcs.23003.val
Abstract
This article examines how ‘Sara’, a migrant woman living with a disability, narrates her experiences with Norway’s welfare and healthcare. Sara invokes a trope — tydelighet [clarity] — to describe successful communication styles in Norwegian institutional spaces. Through ethnographic investigation, I demonstrate how this trope indexes broader linguistic ideologies cycling through different levels of the Norwegian nation-state. To be able to communicate with clarity is linked to being a specific type of citizen-subject. On the one hand, Sara describes the sociopragmatic style of clarity as enabling access to healthcare and welfare services, stable employment, and speaker legitimacy. On the other hand, lack of clarity rationalizes inequalities in institutional spaces. I propose that this ideology has a racializing, gendering, and disabling function. The article offers insights into how language ideologies regulate Sara’s lived experience with health literacy to secure a healthy and employed life as a migrant with disability living in the welfare state.
Article outline
  • 1.Setting the scene
  • 2.Context
    • 2.1Health literacy in Norwegian welfare and workfare
    • 2.2Norwegian and sociolinguistic employability
  • 3.Methods, analysis, and concepts
    • 3.1Data and ethics
    • 3.2Ideologized narratives
    • 3.3Investing in linguistic capital
  • 4.Analysis and findings
    • 4.1Sara’s lived experience of language
    • 4.2Assuming a ‘responsible’ position
    • 4.3Clarity of health communication
    • 4.4Clarity as indexical of linguistic ideology
    • 4.5Clarity as a tool to cope with inequalities
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Transcription conventions
  • References
References (47)
References
Bamberg, M. (1997). Positioning between structure and performance. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 335–342. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Stories: Big or small. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 139–147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bauman, R., & Briggs, C. L. (2003). Voices of modernity: Language ideologies and the politics of inequality (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bekkedal, T. (2020). The internal, systemic and constitutional integrity of EU regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems: Lessons from a scandal. Oslo Law Review, 7(3), 145–167. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1977). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science Information, 16(6), 645–668. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Busch, B. (2012). The linguistic repertoire revisited. Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 503–523. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Expanding the notion of the linguistic repertoire: On the concept of Spracherleben — The lived experience of language. Applied Linguistics, 38(3), 340–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carlsen, C. H. (2022, April 18). Urimelige norskkrav kan stenge døren til arbeidslivet. Aftenposten. [URL]
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity and a model of investment in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 351, 36–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ehmann, A. T., Ög, E., Rieger, M. A., & Siegel, A. (2021). Work-Related Health Literacy: A Scoping Review to Clarify the Concept. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9945). 2–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flubacher, M.-C., Duchêne, A., & Coray, R. (2018). Language investment and employability. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gal, S., & Irvine, J. T. (2019). Signs of difference. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. J. (1964). Linguistic and social interaction in two communities. American Anthropologist, 66(6/2), 137–153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanisch, H. & Solvang, P. K. (2019). The urge to work: normative ordering in the narratives of people on long-term sick leave. Health Sociology Review, 28(2), 126–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hemmings, P., & Prinz, C. (2020). Sickness and disability systems: Comparing outcomes and policies in Norway with those in Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland. (OECD Economics Department Working Papers No. 1601, p. 28). [URL]
Hua, Z., Wei, L., & Jankowicz-Pytel, D. (2019). Intercultural moments in translating and humanising the socio-legal system. Language and Intercultural Communication, 19(6), 488–504. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Juffermans, K., & Tavares, B. (2017). 5 South-North trajectories and language repertoires. In C. Kerfoot & K. Hyltenstam (Eds.), Entangled discourses: South-North orders of visibility (pp. 99–115). New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamerāde, D., & Bennett, M. R. (2018). Rewarding work: Cross-national differences in benefits, volunteering during unemployment, well-being and mental health. Work, Employment and Society, 32(1), 38–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kickbusch, I., Pelikan, J. M., Apfel, F., & Tsouros, A. D. (Eds.). (2013). Health literacy: The solid facts. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kraft, K. (2020). Trajectory of a language broker: Between privilege and precarity. International Journal of Multilingualism, 17(1), 80–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lippi-Green, R. (2012). English with an accent: Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States (2nd ed.). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lønsmann, D. (2020). Language, employability and positioning in a Danish integration programme. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2641, 49–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
NAV. (2018, October 2). Hvordan gjøre tung tekst lettere å forstå [How to make a heavy text easier to understand?]? [URL]
. (2024, June 6). What is NAV? [URL]
Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed.). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norton Peirce, B. (1995). Social identity, investment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 9–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
NOU 2000: 9. (2020). Blindsonen. Gransking av feilpraktisering av folketrygdlovens oppholdskrav ved reiser i EØS-området. [The blindspot. An investigation into the wrongful implementation of the National Insurance Act’s residence requirements when travelling within the EEA]. Departementenes sikkerhets — og serviceorganisasjon, Teknisk redaksjon. [URL]
NOU 2017: 2. (2017). Integrasjon og tillit. Langsiktige konsekvenser av høy innvandring [Integration and trust. Longterm consequences of increased immigration trends]. Departementenes sikkerhets — og serviceorganisasjon Informasjonsforvaltning.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nutbeam, D., Levin-Zamir, D., & Rowlands, G. (2018). Health literacy in context. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(12), 2657. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pérez-Milans, M., & Xiaoyan, G. (2020). Hoping for success, becoming a spiritual subject: Converted returnees in China. Language, Culture and Society, 2(2), 197–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peterie, M., Marston, G., Humpage, L., Mendes, P., Bielefeld, S., & Staines, Z. (2021). The trope of the vulnerable child in conditional welfare discourses: An Australian case study. Journal of Sociology, 00(0), 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plain Language Association International (2022). What is plain language? [URL]
Regjeringen (2020, October 30). Endringer i sosialtjenesteloven (vilkår om norskopplæring for stønad til livsopphold) [Changes in the Act on Social Services (requirements for Norwegian learning for livelihood support)]. Retrieved from Regjeringen website: [URL]
Røyneland, U., Lohndal, T., Sandvik, H., Harsvik, W., Soldal, H. A., Rana, S., & Sollid, H. (2018). Språk i Norge — kultur og infrastruktur [Languages in Norway — culture and infrastructure]. Språkrådet. [URL]
Sandberg, S. (2016). The importance of stories untold: Life-story, event-story and trope. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 12(2), 153–171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sørensen, K. (2019). Defining health literacy: Exploring differences and commonalities. In O. Okan, U. Bauer, D. Levin-Zamir, P. Pinheiro, & K. Sørensen (Eds.), International Handbook of Health Literacy (pp. 5–20). Bristol: Policy Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Språklova (2021). Lov om språk [Language policy] (LOV-2021-05-21-42). Lovdata. [URL]
Språkrådet (n.d.). Kort om klarspråk [Brief outline of plain language]. Språkrådet. [URL]
Stjernø, S., & Øverbye, E. (2012). Arbeidlinja [The workline. Arbeidsmotivasjonen og velferdsstaten. Oslo, Norway: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strömmer, M. (2017). Work-related language learning trajectories of migrant cleaners in Finland. Apples — Journal of Applied Language Studies, 11(4), 137–160. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Umblijs, J. (2020). Kunnskapsoppsummering om deltakelse i arbeidslivet for kvinner med innvandrerbakgrunn [Knowledge summary about work participation for women with immigrant backgrounds] (Report No. 2020: 2; pp. 1–75). Institutt for Samfunnsforskning. [URL]
Valen-Sendstad, I. B. (2023). (e)Health literacy brokering: bridging sociolinguistic gaps at the welfare office? International Journal of Sociology of Language, 2811, 187–212. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wahl, A. K., Andersen, M. H., Ødemark, J., Reisæther, A., Urstad, K. H., & Engebretsen, E. (2022). The importance of shared meaning-making for sustainable knowledge translation and health literacy. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. 2022, 1–7. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wanberg, C. R. (2012). The individual experience of unemployment. Annual Review of Psychology, 63(1), 369–396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Warda, M., Kristiansen, M. & Sørensen, K. (2019). Migrant health literacy in the European Union: A systematic literature review, Health Education Journal, 78(1) 81–95. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ylvisaker, S., & Rugkåsa, M. (2021). Dilemmas and conflicting pressures in social work practice. European Journal of Social Work, 25(4), 643–654. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue