Liv Thorstensson Dávila

Language and Opportunity in the “Land of Opportunity”: Latina Immigrants’ Reflections on Language Learning and Professional Mobility

This study analyzes the goals and realities of four educated, working, adult Latina, English as a Second language (ESL) students living in North Carolina, a region seeing particularly intense migration of Latino immigrants. The study conceptually frames adjustment issues confronted by these Latina immigrants in terms of gender, language, geography, their educational and professional backgrounds, and current experiences and expectations. It concludes by offering social justice—oriented approaches to teaching English to Latina adults.

Representing Refugee Youth in Qualitative Research: Questions of Ethics, Language and Authenticity

This article speaks conceptually and methodologically about the ethics and politics of doing research with newcomer refugee youth and issues of representation. Feminist poststructuralist paradigms across a variety of fields have critically examined notions of experience, agency, and identity to in order to encompass more fluid understandings of how individuals and events are represented in text (Butler & Scott, 1992; Canning, 1994;Scott, 1986;Wolf, 1996). Starting from this theoretical framework, I draw from experiences of conducting research with a group of high school refugee students from the Vietnamese Central Highlands to reflect on how positionality and reflexivity can influence the portraits researchers render of their study participants. I consider the importance of examining the interplay between language and authenticity of representation in qualitative research with refugee English Language Learner (ELL) youth.This article speaks conceptually and methodologically about the ethics and politics of doing research with newcomer refugee youth and issues of representation. Feminist poststructuralist paradigms across a variety of fields have critically examined notions of experience, agency, and identity to in order to encompass more fluid understandings of how individuals and events are represented in text (Butler & Scott, 1992; Canning, 1994;Scott, 1986;Wolf, 1996). Starting from this theoretical framework, I draw from experiences of conducting research with a group of high school refugee students from the Vietnamese Central Highlands to reflect on how positionality and reflexivity can influence the portraits researchers render of their study participants. I consider the importance of examining the interplay between language and authenticity of representation in qualitative research with refugee English Language Learner (ELL) youth.

Performing Allegiance: An Adolescent Refugee's Construction of Patriotism in JROCT

Drawing on a year-long qualitative study, this article examines how one refugee student from the Vietnamese Central Highlands negotiated social and cultural constructions of patriotism and citizenship in a Junior Reserves Officer Training Corps (JROTC) class at an urban high school. Data are analyzed using Butlers (1990) the theory of performativity, and illustrate how this student appropriated and transformed language and ritualized action to assert individuality in an otherwise rule- and routine-driven classroom context. I conclude by theorizing cultural practices of citizenship as they relate to the education of refugee and immigrant youth, and argue that researchers and practitioners must acknowledge the pedagogical and social impact of peripheral spaces in school, such as the JROTC classroom, in shaping many students’ trajectories in and beyond school.

Multilingualism and identity: articulating ‘African-ness’ in an American high school

Abstract This paper draws on qualitative research that examines the language practices and learning experiences of ten adolescent multilingual immigrant and refugee English Learners (ELs) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Specific questions addressed include: How do these students capitalize on home languages as they engage in linguistic practices in English? How do these students take up their identities within the context of a US high school? The project emphasizes a shift away from learning discrete language skills in one language toward a focus on supporting complex language and content learning fluidly across languages and content areas in ways that affirm students’ identities and new learning. Implications for theory and practice will be discussed.

Ecologies of Heritage Language Learning in a Multilingual Swedish School.

ABSTRACT The field of heritage language (HL) education is a rapidly growing area of educational linguistics research and pedagogy. While considerable research has looked at identity in relation to HL learning in adolescents and adults, this article focuses on the identities and language attitudes of young HL learners of Arabic and Somali at an elementary school in Sweden. Analyzed through an ecology of language framework, data reveal that students regard HL as a tool to foster belonging within their multilingual communities, and resist pressures to assimilate within the context of immigration. Findings also suggest that learners’ agency and language use influenced classroom pedagogies, and indicate the promise of a dynamic conception of HL education that affirms the creative use of language to support students’ linguistic and cognitive growth. This article fills a gap in theory and pedagogy, addressing the role of HL learning for the learner, the family, and the local and global community.

The pivotal and peripheral roles of bilingual classroom assistants at a Swedish elementary school

ABSTRACT This article presents a qualitative study of how the individual roles and ideologies of four Arabic and Somali bilingual classroom assistants at an elementary school in Sweden both mirror and challenge larger discourses about language, education and social integration. Data were analyzed using the theoretical constructs of positioningand reveal that the classroom assistants were left out of curricular planning and pedagogical decision-making while at the same timetaking on three pivotal roles as disciplinarians, parent-teacher liaisons, and role models to students. As schools seek solutions to instructional dilemmas inherent in the simultaneous inclusion of newcomer immigrant and refugee students in Swedish-medium classrooms and the promotion of bilingualism, this research sheds light on how bilingual classroom assistants take up their roles as mediators of language and culture within this dynamic.This article presents a qualitative study of how the individual roles and ideologies of four Arabic and Somali bilingual classroom assistants at an elementary school in Sweden both mirror and challenge larger discourses about language, education and social integration. Data were analyzed using the theoretical constructs of positioningand reveal that the classroom assistants were left out of curricular planning and pedagogical decision-making while at the same timetaking on three pivotal roles as disciplinarians, parent-teacher liaisons, and role models to students. As schools seek solutions to instructional dilemmas inherent in the simultaneous inclusion of newcomer immigrant and refugee students in Swedish-medium classrooms and the promotion of bilingualism, this research sheds light on how bilingual classroom assistants take up their roles as mediators of language and culture within this dynamic.