Islam and English Learning in Australia: Female Learners Working Through Differences

The study examines the way Islamic religion and culture influence Muslim immigrant women’s participation in English learning programs in Australia. It presents a narrative of three married Iraqi Muslim Immigrant Women’s (IMIW) experiences in both mainstream mix-gender and women-only English classes in Melbourne. Two data collection methods were employed, in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion, to generate data from the participants. The findings show that the participants struggled to cope with mixed-gender classes due to some social, cultural and religious attributes including familiarity with single-gender settings, family commitments and the culture of their community. The paper presents recommendations for the Australian government to pay more attention to women-only classes to stimulate immigrant women to English learning courses.