In English, Osallisuus & vastuullisuus 10.3.2025

Enhancing Workplace Language Learning: Insights from the MAKU Project

Teksti | Berenice Rivera-Macias

Finnish language learning in the workplace poses opportunities and challenges to companies and their employees of migrant background. To find out solutions supporting that, the Maku project undertook a journey of collaboration with employers and employees. This article provides a summary of the project’s perspective, core learnings, and its story through its dissemination.

Collage of four images: one person with VR glasses, two people with a mobile phone, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, and a board game.
Image 1. Multisensory approaches to language learning (Source: the author)

Collaborative engagement for functional language learning

During its lifespan, MAKU collaborated with Finnish companies in service and health care fields concerning ways to support functional Finnish language learning in the workplace. MAKU – Moniaistinen kosketus uuteen kieleen (in English: Multisensory approaches to language learning) was an ESF+ project coordinated by Laurea UAS, with Haaga-Helia UAS, Lingsoft Oy, and Arffman Oy as partners (1.2.2023 – 31.1.2025) (Laurea UAS 2023).

Collaborations with employers and staff of migrant background varied in depth creating a rich picture of the problem we wanted to solve. MAKU went through a path of discovery not only of ways in which migrants, as language learners, want to learn Finnish in the workplace, but also of situations in everyday work life in Finland that employers, migrants and the work community experience. While the project team kept the focus of language learning needs, we found out that language was one of many very relevant components of work life in Finland that need to be championed. According to Einovaara, Kivistö and Rivera-Macias (2024), other MAKU findings include language awareness and the development of a flexible and inclusive onboarding structure and of a supportive work community. The needs of the job and of the language learners informed the co-development of multisensory tools for Finnish language learning. Image 1 shows examples representing some of the ways in which we approached functional Finnish language learning.

Learning Finnish poses different challenges to adults than to children, who mostly learn it naturally through interactions in their ecosystem. Adults, on the other hand, tend to learn it in the formal language classroom, where written Finnish is mostly taught. Research shows that differences between children and adult language learning include cognitive development, see Blumenfeld, Quinzon, Alsol and Riera (2017), adults having a greater variety of life-related responsibilities and concerns, to say the least, as researched by Intke-Hernandez (2015), in addition to diverse metacognitive skills, and own language repertoire as reported by Cenoz (2017), Kärkkäinen , Liaqat , Munteanu and Demmans Epp (2021), Komorowska and Krajka (2025). Moreover, as mentioned by the Finnish Immigration Service (2024), people who have come to Finland do so for different reasons ranging from willing to forceful migration. All of that also affects language learners’ well-being and influences their will and interest in acquiring and using their Finnish language resources, as researched by Häkkinen and Mikkilä-Erdmann (2024). Through MAKU, we encountered a variety of personal and professional situations that supported and corroborated findings from other research, while informing the prototypes that the team co-developed.

Multidisciplinary partnership and multisensory strategies

Little is known about multisensory methods for adult language learning in the workplace, see Kirilova, Tranekjær, Holmen and Pedersen (2024). Nonetheless, benefits from multisensory language learning methods for adults have been researched for some time, i.e. Stapleton (2014) and Myréen (2017). That view was at the core of MAKU’s social co-design approach informing the project team towards co-developing tools that support language learning according to the work context of each stakeholder. During project and stakeholder collaboration we had conversations and used qualitative research methods and techniques, i.e. focus groups and individual interviews with HR managers, unit heads, team leaders, employees of migrant background and other members of the work community. We used the collected data to co-design the language learning tools needed by language learners, followed by testing cycles and iterations, until we concluded the collaboration with each stakeholder. At the end they received a toolkit for functional Finnish language learning.

Also, the project partners had different tasks according to their core expertise, while also developing additional skills for their own professional development. For instance, Laurea’s task was to use social co-design approach and tools, Haaga-Helia’s role included Finnish language learning and technology developments, Arffman’s comprised Finnish language and pedagogical developments, and Lingsoft’s task was on technological developments for Finnish language learning. Having such a multidisciplinary team facilitated an explorative and flexible innovation, which is described chronologically here as a way of telling the progress of the project.

Dissemination: A reflection of MAKU’s journey

As the project advanced, we noticed that it would be relevant to gain feedback from external stakeholders working in integration-related initiatives and from researchers in the field of migration, employment, education, and language learning. This proved to be very useful as it served various purposes, such as sharing the project’s growth, learning about others’ perspectives and experiences in the topic area, and developing our network. The first opportunity that MAKU had to share the project’s background and the steps taken so far was through the Partnership Program Competence Events (Kumppanuusohjelman osaamispysäkki), from the Integration programme of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in Finland (TEM). This was part of a series of nation-wide presentations where other projects and organisations shared interest around integration phenomena. This was an online presentation taking place on 7.11.2023.

Subsequently, we had a conference presentation titled: ‘Co-creating Finnish language learning tools for the work environment with adult learners’ in the Adult Education Conference (Aikuisten tutkimuspäivät), University of Helsinki, on 8-9.2.2024. By then, MAKU had already explored concepts such as flow in language learning as explored by Rivera-Macias, Lydén, Heikinmatti and Leminen (2023), used social co-design tools and serious play to co-produce with language learners a series of videos representing some language situations at the workplace, see Laurea-RDI (2023) and Lydén, Einovaara, Mäkelä and Rivera-Macias (2024).

State of the art technological developments were at the heart of the project from its beginning. In March 2024, during the inauguration of Laurea’s i4L (Integration and Language Learning Living Lab) (Laurea UAS 2024), we tested the first chatbot prototype with the event participants, and the team decided to continue co-developing it with the project’s stakeholders. The chatbot uses artificial intelligence (AI) as well as Lingsoft’s speech recognition tech. At the same time, the Arffman team was exploring ways in which AI could be used to facilitate their own practice. Based on that, we presented and ran a workshop on Artificial Intelligence In Integration-The Future Is Already here (Tekoäly kotoutumisessa-tulevaisuus on jo täällä), as part of a Partnership program day in Helsinki, on 23.4.2024.

A period of research, prototype co-development and testing took place with the project stakeholders. That was particularly needed for the progress of the chatbot, which served the needs of companies in health care, hotel and cleaning services fields. This became the basis of a presentation in an event titled: Artificial Intelligence in Integration: What About It? (Tekoäly kotoutumisessa – mitä siitä? ), organised by Pirkanmaan Ely-keskus, the city of Tampere,and Moniheli ry, in Tampere on 22.10.2024. This event was a great platform for continuing building our network and corroborating that MAKU was on the right path.

Since collaborations with the companies also shed light on deeper challenges affecting employees of migrant background well-being at work, we started to explore additional concepts. One such concept was language awareness, for which the team developed a poster and a guide, both promoting a positive work community (see images 2 and 3). That also led to the brief study of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). DEI encompasses employer commitment to structures, actions and implementations contributing to job satisfaction, retention, and well-being of a diverse work community. The result was a second conference presentation titled: ‘Reflecting on practices that promote diversity and inclusivity of highly educated international people in Finland. Experiences from three work settings.’ on Work Life Conference (Työelämän tutkimuspäivät) , Tampere University on 7-8.11.2024.

illustration.
Image 2, Work community poster. Source: the author.
illustration.
Image 3, Cover of the multilingual workplace guide. Source: the author.

Finally, the most significant event where the project presented its activities and results was Integration 2024 in Turku on 15-16.11.2024. The project had a stand for two days attracting many people. In addition, the project held a co-creation session by presenting activities and testing prototypes with the participants. There, we received feedback from key actors in the field, increased our network, and our knowledge.

What next?

MAKU’s endeavours were various and included collaborations with a diversity of internal and external stakeholders. Participating in events alongside the project’s own progress, was a rewarding experience because each one of those situations led to disseminating Laurea’s RDI work as well as helping the project team learning more about the field of integration and language learning. We are currently disseminating the language learning tools (see the i4L Portfolio (Laurea UAS 2024) through various channels.

References:

URN http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025031016833
author's photo.
Berenice Rivera-Macias
berenice.rivera-macias@laurea.fi
Specialist

collaboration DEI multisensory approaches social co-design Workplace language learning

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