Matching Items (9)
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- All Subjects: sociolinguistics
- Creators: James, Mark
- Creators: Warriner, Doris
- Resource Type: Text
Description
South Sudanese refugees are among the most vulnerable immigrants to the U.S.. Many have spent years in refugee camps, experienced trauma, lost members of their families and have had minimal or no schooling or literacy prior to their arrival in the U.S. Although most South Sudanese aspire to become U.S. citizens, finally giving them a sense of belonging and participation in a land they can call their own, they constitute a group that faces great challenges in terms of their educational adaptation and English-language learning skills that would lead them to success on the U.S. citizenship examination. This dissertation reports findings from a qualitative research project involving case studies of South Sudanese students in a citizenship preparation program at a South Sudanese refugee community center in Phoenix, Arizona. It focuses on the links between the motivations of students seeking citizenship and the barriers they face in gaining it. Though the South Sudanese refugee students aspiring to become U.S. citizens face many of the same challenges as other immigrant groups, there are some factors that in combination make the participants in this study different from other groups. These include: long periods spent in refugee camps, advanced ages, war trauma, absence of intact families, no schooling or severe disruption from schooling, no first language literacy, and hybridized forms of second languages (e.g. Juba Arabic). This study reports on the motivations students have for seeking citizenship and the challenges they face in attaining it from the perspective of teachers working with those students, community leaders of the South Sudanese community, and particularly the students enrolled in the citizenship program.
ContributorsJohnson, Erik (Author) / Adams, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Renaud, Claire (Committee member) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
A bilingual, bicultural interpreter and researcher navigates blurry boundaries and intersectionality
Description
A researcher reflects using a close reading of interview transcripts and description to share what happened while participating in multiple roles in a larger ethnographic study of the acculturation process of deaf students in kindergarten classrooms in three countries. The course of this paper will focus on three instances that took place in Japan and America. The analysis of these examples will bring to light the concept of taking on multiple roles, including graduate research assistant, interpreter, cultural mediator, and sociolinguistic consultant within a research project serving to uncover challenging personal and professional dilemmas and crossing boundaries; the dual roles, interpreter and researcher being the primary focus. This analysis results in a brief look at a thought provoking, yet evolving task of the researcher/interpreter. Maintaining multiple roles in the study the researcher is able to potentially identify and contribute "hidden" knowledge that may have been overlooked by other members of the research team. Balancing these different roles become key implications when interpreting practice, ethical boundaries, and participant research at times the lines of separation are blurred.
ContributorsHensley, Jennifer Scarboro (Author) / Tobin, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Artiles, Alfredo (Committee member) / Horejes, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The largest scholarship program of its kind worldwide, the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which began in 2005, allowed any Saudi Arabian citizen admitted into an approved higher education institution worldwide to receive a full scholarship, allowing more than 200,000 students to study abroad. A large portion of the Saudi scholarship students commonly study abroad with their families; either they have young children or are newly married and have children while they are in the United States. Since these children are primarily exposed to English environments in their communities, daycare centers and schools during their time in the United States, they often face challenges to learn Arabic other than at home with their parents. This dynamic can pose many challenges for the children and their families when returning to and adapting back to life in Saudi Arabia, linguistically, educationally and culturally. This research aims at: 1) investigating the language context of the Saudi mothers and children abroad, 2) understanding Saudi mothers' attitudes towards their children’s bilingualism in the United States and, 3) highlighting Saudi mothers’ roles in supporting language skill and the development of their children while living outside of Saudi Arabia. To achieve this, data was collected using three qualitative methods: interviews and brief surveys with Saudi mothers, and observation of their children in their playrooms. The findings suggest that educators in Saudi Arabia should be aware that those returning may sometimes need assistance to be able to fit linguistically in the community.
ContributorsAlzubaidi, Noor (Author) / Adams, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Prior, Matthew T. (Thesis advisor) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The steady influx of Venezuelan immigrants to the United States has resulted in the creation of a close-knit community of these immigrants in the city of Doral, Florida, now nicknamed Doralzuela given the strong imprint Venezuelan have left in this city. This study aimed at gaining understanding on how the process of immigration and settlement in the context has affected Venezuelan immigrants’ identity, their perception and use of English and Spanish in daily interactions, and how, or if, their bonds with the home country has affected their incorporation to the host society. The study followed a qualitative design. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed following Riessman’s (2008) notion of dialogic narrative analysis. Six themes emerged from the data; (re)configuration of the self, the role of social networks, negotiating identity through language, issues of assimilation, transnational identity, and Doralzuela, the new Venezuela. These themes were discussed, and multiple and distinct views on each theme were identified.
ContributorsRomero Pino, Blanca Esther (Author) / Adams, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Warriner, Doris (Committee member) / Prior, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This study examined how second-generation Mexican American students talked about negotiating bilingualism in Arizona, where Spanish is associated with a social group considered to be problematic in the local anti-immigrant context. Using tools and approaches from narrative analysis, I analyzed testimonies collected through interviewing, a method within the field of sociolinguistics to elicit qualitative data, to understand how the narratives reveal insight into the social processes and ideological structures that are present in any given context. I modeled my study after Anna de Fina (2003) and her analysis of immigrant discourse. Anna de Fina (2003) along with Koven (2001), and Bamberg (2011) all devise frameworks in which narratives emerge through interactional contexts during interviews where the interviewee engages in constructing not only a narrative along with the interview but also the representation of his/her identity. Contributing to this literature, my analysis demonstrates the role of language ideologies in narrative constructions of identity, the fluid nature of identity performances, and the power of autobiographical storytelling to challenge or contest dominant discourses about a language and its speakers. Findings show that participants began to value their own bilingualism more after entering into dominant culture, where their negotiation of identity stood on intermediary ground and was conceived as a process, belonging was found with other bilinguals, and bilingualism was viewed as a resource capable of providing innovative ways of conceiving of belonging and identity.
ContributorsGarcia, Jorge Jesus (Author) / Warriner, Doris (Thesis director) / Adams, Karen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This qualitative study investigates the experiences of ten focal youth who came to the United States as refugees and were placed in Structured English Immersion (SEI) programs in Arizona high schools. The educational language policy for Arizona’s public schools (during the 2014-2015 school year) mandates SEI include four 60-minute classroom periods devoted to reading, writing, grammar, oral English exclusively. Students in SEI thus have restricted access to the full-range of general education courses required for graduation, as well as limited opportunities for social interaction with peers enrolled in the “mainstream” curriculum.
The study investigates how youth understand and navigate the school language policy, practices and discourses that position them, and specifically seeks to learn how being identified as an “English Language Learner” interacts with youth’s construction of academic and social identities. Adopting a critical sociocultural theory of language policy (following McCarty, 2011), employing ethnographically-informed research methods, and using social-positioning as an analytic lens, I aim to learn from an emic youth perspective and to amplify their voices. Eight Somali and two Iraqi students took part in two individual in-depth interviews; five students participated in a focus group; and all engaged in numerous informal conversations during 22 researcher site visits to an ethnic community-based organization (ECBO) and a family apartment.
Narratives recounting the participants’ lived experiences in the socio-cultural context of high school provide powerful examples of youth asserting personal agency and engaging in small acts of resistance to contest disagreeable positioning. The findings thus support the conceptualization of youth as creative producers of hybridity in response to their environments. This work also confirms the perennial significance of social categories and “othering” in high school. Though the institutional structure of separate classrooms and concomitant limited access to required courses hinder the study participants’ academic progress, the youth speak positively about the comfort of comradery and friendship in the shared safe space of the separate SEI classroom. The dissertation concludes with participants’ recommendations for educators, and the people refugee youth interact with in the context of high school, to improve refugee youth’s experience.
The study investigates how youth understand and navigate the school language policy, practices and discourses that position them, and specifically seeks to learn how being identified as an “English Language Learner” interacts with youth’s construction of academic and social identities. Adopting a critical sociocultural theory of language policy (following McCarty, 2011), employing ethnographically-informed research methods, and using social-positioning as an analytic lens, I aim to learn from an emic youth perspective and to amplify their voices. Eight Somali and two Iraqi students took part in two individual in-depth interviews; five students participated in a focus group; and all engaged in numerous informal conversations during 22 researcher site visits to an ethnic community-based organization (ECBO) and a family apartment.
Narratives recounting the participants’ lived experiences in the socio-cultural context of high school provide powerful examples of youth asserting personal agency and engaging in small acts of resistance to contest disagreeable positioning. The findings thus support the conceptualization of youth as creative producers of hybridity in response to their environments. This work also confirms the perennial significance of social categories and “othering” in high school. Though the institutional structure of separate classrooms and concomitant limited access to required courses hinder the study participants’ academic progress, the youth speak positively about the comfort of comradery and friendship in the shared safe space of the separate SEI classroom. The dissertation concludes with participants’ recommendations for educators, and the people refugee youth interact with in the context of high school, to improve refugee youth’s experience.
ContributorsCorley, Kathleen M (Author) / Mccarty, Teresa L. (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Warriner, Doris (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The aim in this sociopragmatic study was to identify the linguistic and nonlinguistic types of responses used by Saudi Facebook users in the comments of congratulations on the events of happy news status updates on Facebook. People usually express their feelings and emotions positively to others when they have happy occasions. However, the ways of expressing congratulation may vary because the expressive speech act “congratulations” is not the only way to express happiness and share others their happy news, especially on the new social media such as Facebook. The ways of expressing congratulation have been investigated widely in face-to-face communication in many languages. However, this has not yet been studied on Facebook, which lacks prosodic strategies and facial expressions that help to convey feelings, despite a few contributions on studying various expressive speech acts such as compliment, condolences, and wishing, among others. Therefore, a total of 1,721 comments of congratulation were collected from 61 different occasions and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by using the frame-based approach to understand the construction of politeness of congratulation on Facebook. The results showed 23 verbal types of responses used by the users; however, the use of “congratulations,” “offer of good wishes,” “praise,” and “statements indicating the situation was warranted” were the most frequently used strategies. The results also showed 100 patterns of verbal compound strategies, but the use of “congratulations” with “offer of good wishes” was the most frequently used compound strategy. In addition, 42 types of emojis were found in the comments and categorized into seven different functions. However, the function of expressing endearment was the most frequently used one. Finally, the results showed that the posts received 31 sharings and 3 types of emoji reactions, such as “like” (Thumbs up), “love” (Beating heart), and “wow” (Surprised face), but the use of “like” was the most frequent emoji reaction to the posts. The explored different ways of expressing congratulation and sharing with others their happy news indicated that the linguistic strategies are not the only way to express happiness on Facebook. Therefore, users employed nonlinguistic strategies to express happiness and intensify their congratulations.
ContributorsMahzari, Mohammad (Author) / Adams, Karen (Thesis advisor) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Prior, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation study examined the language ideologies about the different languages used in Sri Lanka to understand how they may reflect and align with ideologies about ethnicity and national belonging and structures of power operating in Sri Lankan society. It was a qualitative study which gathered data by interviewing twelve participants from the four main ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. Through the analysis of data comprising observations about language evaluations and practices, three main themes were generated. First, the study showed that Sri Lanka is a complex multilingual context in which the status of different languages changes according to context, audience as well as the participants of an interaction and that therefore it is difficult to describe languages by static labels such as “first”, “second” or “link” language. Secondly, the study found the situation of English in Sri Lanka is still largely influenced by cultural practices introduced during colonial rule which has caused it to function as a basis for social division. The study also found that the situation of Sinhala and Tamil in Sri Lanka is shaped by ideologies about ethnicity and the social power that the two ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and Tamils, who speak the two languages, hold in society. Taken together these three main findings of the study showed that language ideologies in circulation in Sri Lanka as observed by the study participants were closely linked to and align with and sometimes even reinforce ideologies about ethnicity, national belonging and power in Sri Lankan society.
ContributorsRajapakse, Agra (Author) / Warriner, Doris (Thesis advisor) / Matsuda, Aya (Thesis advisor) / Prior, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Transitioning into civilian life after military service is a challenging prospect. It can be difficult to find employment and maintain good mental health, and up to 70 percent of veterans experience homelessness or alcoholism. Upon discharge, many veterans pursue higher education as a way to reintegrate into civilian society. However, many studies have shown that veterans encounter multiple challenges during their attempt to reintegrate into civilian life, including anxiety, a lack of relevant skills, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other issues that may lead to communication and interaction challenges in the higher education environment. Student veterans also face challenges in the lack of common language and culture clashes due to differences between military and college culture. This study used a mixed-methods approach to examine the challenges military veterans face related to language use in civilian life. The data was collected from 149 student veterans who completed a questionnaire and 11 student veterans who participated in interviews. Detailed analysis of collected data showed that student veterans experienced some challenges in language use, especially when they initially enrolled in their courses, but they seemed to have overcome challenges after spending time in the university setting. The veterans who had prior college education before joining the military seemed to have a slight advantage, having had experience using the academic language. The study also explored how student veterans chose to share their veteran status with other people in their university community. The findings showed that they strongly identified with their veteran identity and was comfortable sharing their status with others, but they also sometimes were reluctant to share their military experience in details because they were afraid that their peers would not understand.
ContributorsObaid, Naji (Author) / Matsuda, Aya (Thesis advisor) / Smith, David (Committee member) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022