This presentation aims to address the importance of learning the host country’s language for the social and economic inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees, as well as the barriers to this learning process, which emerge from the very first moment of reception by the welfare state, one increasingly absorbed by liberalization and the transfer of responsibilities to the private sphere. This presentation is part of a broader investigation into the (in)ability of the welfare state to welcome asylum seekers and refugees in Portugal and Spain, within the broader context of the European Union. It is structured into three parts. The first provides a theoretical framework, outlining the main contemporary approaches to the topic. The second characterizes the reception systems in both countries, focusing on the responses related to language learning. The third presents findings from a set of interviews conducted with support networks for Afghan refugees - networks that closely accompany the integration processes of these individuals into Portuguese and Spanish societies - as well as from participant observation carried out in a reception centre for asylum seekers and refugees in Portugal. Findings from the analysis of the reception systems reveal a clear gap between what is formally planned and what is actually implemented in practice regarding language learning for asylum seekers and refugees. This gap is reflected in the limited success of many integration programs. Moreover, insights drawn from interviews and participant observation indicate that: language learning opportunities within reception structures are unstable, scarce, and short-term, often dependent on volunteer efforts, which hampers their effectiveness; and that language acquisition is crucial for inclusion, namely, for accessing services, for entering the formal labour market, and for navigating the system, building agency and fighting for the recognition of their rights to access services, healthcare, adequate housing, and a regulated labour market. The lack of language proficiency thus emerges as one of the main barriers to effective inclusion. In conclusion, we observe a welfare state that has increasingly adopted liberalization trends, shifting its responsibility for delivering social responses onto civil society organizations that often lack adequate funding and operate through volunteerism or the financial capacity of private actors. This model proves fragile and incapable of providing a form of reception that leads to genuine inclusion. As a result, what should be a policy of socio-economic integration ends up reinforcing vulnerability and exclusion, ultimately undermining goals of inclusion and the reconstruction of citizenship. This contribution is highly relevant to the themes of the workshop, as it focuses on adult asylum seekers and refugees, highlighting how access to language learning directly impacts social inclusion and citizenship, or, conversely, reinforces exclusion. It also demonstrates how adult asylum seekers and refugees construct agency and resistance through language learning, since acquiring the host country’s language allows them to understand the system more effectively and, consequently, to act upon it in an informed and emancipatory way, and to claim their rights more effectively.

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