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Based on participant observation in a California English as a Second Language family literacy program, this ethnographic study examines how the complexly gendered life histories of immigrant adults shaped their participation in both the English language classroom and the education of their children, within the contemporary sociohistorical context of increasing Latin American immigration to the United States. Through outlining the connections between (gendered) identity work and language learning, this study builds theoretical and empirical justification for teachers to negotiate classroom practice with each community of learners, responding to students’ individual goals, histories, and lives outside the classroom.
Humorous and irreverent, embarrassed and frustrated, angry and grateful, the participants in Menard-Warwick’s study emerge as real people on the pages of this engaging and compassionate book that privileges immigrants’ voices and experiences. Investigating the complex interplay between gender, class, ethnicity, and immigration status, Menard-Warwick revitalizes the inquiry into the relationship between gender, power, and second language and literacy learning and makes important connections between sociolinguistic theory and adult ESL teaching practice.
Julia Menard-Warwick is an Associate Professor in the Linguistics department at University of California Davis, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in areas such as language pedagogy, second language literacy and technology, and language and gender. Before beginning doctoral studies in 1999, she taught ESL for ten years at a community college in Washington state (USA), and for one year at a university in Nicaragua. Her on-going research focuses on language pedagogies, bilingual development, cultural identities, and language ideologies in both US and Latin American contexts.
Chapter One: The Social Context of Immigrant Language Learning
Chapter Two: Second Language Learning as Gendered Practice
Chapter Three: Gendered Narratives of Immigrant Language Learners
Chapter Four: The Sociohistorical Construction of Parental Involvement in Education
Chapter Five: Gendered Positioning in ESL Classroom Activities
Chapter Six: Changing Gender Ideologies in Local Communities
Chapter Seven: Gendered Identities and Language Learning: Continuing the Dialogue
References
Appendix A: Discourse transcription conventions
Appendix B: Focal participants’ demographics
Appendix C: Data collected on participants