Learning While Laboring: Understanding Motivations and Barriers to Language Learning Among Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong

Migrant domestic workers (MDWs) form a crucial yet vulnerable labour force worldwide, navigating complex linguistic and cultural environments. In Hong Kong, over 350,000 MDWs, primarily from Indonesia and the Philippines, rely on English proficiency for workplace communication and social inclusion. However, Indonesian MDWs often have limited English skills and face compounded barriers to language learning due to limited formal education, long working hours, and socio-economic marginalisation. While prior studies have explored various dimensions of MDWs’ lives, such as employment conditions and legal rights, their language learning experiences remain underexplored. This study fills this gap by examining motivations and barriers to English learning among MDWs in Hong Kong. Guided by investment theory (Norton, 2000), which conceptualises
language learning as tied to identity and access to symbolic and material resources, this research draws on a thematic analysis of interview data from 35 Indonesian MDWs. Findings show that MDWs are motivated to learn English to understand employer instructions, reduce workplace conflict, improve job prospects, gain social recognition, pursue future aspirations, and support their children’s education. These motivations reflect a strategic investment in language as a pathway to symbolic capital (recognition, dignity) and material capital (better wages, mobility). However, they face significant constraints, including physical exhaustion, lack of employer support, financial barriers, low confidence, and limited access to English-speaking environments, which restrict their learning opportunities. This study aligns with the conference themes “Epistemic Justice, Power, and Politics” and “Intercultural Practices and Social Justice” by highlighting how marginalised language learners navigate unequal structures through everyday acts of learning. The findings show that MDWs’ motivations are shaped by unequal labour conditions, and their struggles to access and sustain language learning raise critical questions about epistemic justice. The study calls for inclusive, worker-informed language policies that recognise learning as a survival strategy and agency in transnational migration.