Oksana

Domina

I joined the Research Unit INSIDE at the University of Luxembourg as a PhD Candidate in September 2017.

Currently I work on my project “Employability among university graduates in Luxembourg: the role of sociolinguistic repertoires” under the supervision of Professor Robin Samuel. The aim of the project is to investigate the role of sociolinguistic repertoires in shaping young people’s employability in such a multicultural and multilingual country as Luxembourg.

In this project, we investigate the role of sociolinguistic repertoires in relation to employability. Employability among young people is one of the major priorities in the European Union and in the top 3 national objectives of the growth strategy for Luxembourg. To date, however, little is known concerning the interplay between sociolinguistic repertoires (i.e., biographical collection of linguistic, personal and social resources) and employability. The main goal of our project is to investigate how sociolinguistic repertoires interact in shaping young people’s employability in Luxembourg. This matter is particularly relevant to Luxembourg, given its multicultural and multilingual diversity.

The project employs a mixed-methods design. Qualitative interviews and surveys will help to explore sociolinguistic repertoires and employability among young people. Employers will be interviewed and surveyed to determine how they conceive of youngsters’ employability with respect to sociolinguistic repertoires.  This project promises to generate much needed knowledge on how certain elements of employability and sociolinguistic repertoires interact in young people looking to find their place in the rapidly transforming and digitalizing economy of Luxembourg. The results will further serve as a basis for the improvement of youth and labour market policies.

The project is funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) (2017-2021).