Deconstructing the Environment: The Case of Adult Immigrants to Canada Learning English

This article identifies and deconstructs the ways in which professionally successful adult immigrants to Canada chose to interact with and reshape different environments in order to foster their English learning process. The sample for this study was selected to be representative of the “brain gain” immigration wave to Canada of the last two decades. All 20 participants belong to the same category of highly-educated (17+ years of education), independent immigrants who came to Canada as young adults. The data collection process consisted of a series of three interviews with each participant. The data were analyzed following the principles of the grounded theory method. Several qualitative themes associated with learning English as an adult immigrant in various types of environments in Canada (instructed environments, ‘manipulated’ naturalistic environments, and unaltered naturalistic environments) emerged from the interviews with the participants. The themes are critically explored and special emphasis is laid on the ways in which participants overcame difficulties inherent in the environmental factors that were not readily structured to offer immigrants opportunities to learn and practice English.