Making Sense of Resistance: How Adult Immigrant Students Pursue Agency through Identity Work in Higher Educational Contexts

Autor/inn/en	Suh, Emily K.; Shapiro, Shawna
Titel	Making Sense of Resistance: How Adult Immigrant Students Pursue Agency through Identity Work in Higher Educational Contexts
Quelle	In: TESL Canada Journal, 37 (2020) 3, S.27-46 (20 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0826-435X
Schlagwörter	Adult Students; Immigrants; Student Behavior; Personal Autonomy; Self Concept; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; English (Second Language); Literacy Education; Case Studies; Ethnography; Community Colleges; Disadvantaged; College Faculty; Cultural Background; Academic Persistence; Educational Background; Teacher Student Relationship; Student Adjustment; Student Characteristics + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Adult; Adults; Student; Students; Erwachsenenalter; Studentin; Schüler; Schülerin; Immigrant; Immigrantin; Immigranten; Student behaviour; Schülerverhalten; Individuelle Autonomie; Selbstkonzept; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Ethnografie; Community college; Community College; Fakultät; Vorbildung; Teacher student relationships; Lehrer-Schüler-Beziehung; Adjustment; Adaptation
Abstract	Student resistance in the language/literacy classroom has been an important focus of research in TESOL and applied linguistics. This article examines resistance by two adult-arrival immigrant students in a developmental literacy classroom, drawing from a larger ethnographic case study focused on students' transition into community college. The students' behaviours seemed puzzling or self-defeating to some college personnel, but when viewed through the theoretical framework of identity work, they can be read as attempts to counteract institutional marginalization. Findings from this analysis illustrate how an understanding of the histories, identities, and investments of adult immigrant learners can help educators respond to "difficult" moments in the classroom and beyond. This study has several implications for higher education practitioners: First, we must question our initial assumptions about student behaviours, so that we interpret those behaviours accurately. Second, we must be explicit about the norms of the academic culture, so that students can more effectively enact their desired identities and display symbolic capital in college courses. Finally, we must build curricula, policies, and pedagogies that are more inclusive and relevant for adult immigrant learners. These findings add to scholarly conversations about immigrant students' funds of knowledge and agency enactment within postsecondary education. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01