A Discourse Analysis of Syrian Refugee Learners' Reflective Accounts of Returning to Syria From Jordan

This paper is part of a larger study investigating the educational experiences of Syrian refugees in Jordan. It explores the reflective accounts of 129 Syrian refugee university learners in Jordan, collected during the third week following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, a period marked by significant political transition and the voluntary return of nearly 60 000 Syrians. Using a discursive analytical approach, the research investigates how language reflects the learners' decisions about returning to Syria or remaining in Jordan. The analysis identifies key language strategies, including the use of conditional framing to express hypothetical scenarios, modal verbs to convey future intentions, affective language that positions education as both a personal and collective responsibility, concessive structures to navigate the interplay of familial support, financial constraints, and educational aspirations, temporal framing that situates actions within a specific time context, a combination of agentive verbs, intensification, presupposition, and comparative evaluation. This study contributes to understanding the relationship between language, identity, and post-conflict reconstruction in refugee contexts by highlighting the language strategies employed by Syrian refugee learners at a pivotal historical moment. It thereby advances sociolinguistic understandings of how refugee learners use language to frame return as a morally situated decision shaped by displacement, education, and political change.