English Literacy With the Kardashians: Adult Immigrant Women's Literacy Practices Outside the ESL Classroom in Ghana and the United States

• In Event: 28.089 - MTCC Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 28.089-6 - Global Multiliteracies: Adolescents' and Adults' Perspectives

Abstract

This study explored the English literacy experiences and practices outside the classroom of six immigrant women enrolled in English as a second language program (ESL) in the US and Ghana. After data interpretation through narrative analysis grounded in a critical sociocultural perspective of literacy, findings in this study highlighted these women’s preferred engagement with media sources such as movies and reality shows for learning English. Learners also used their multilingual identities and resources to barter for English instruction with native speakers. These findings point to the importance of creating spaces in ESL classrooms that engage with the “informal” everyday literacy experiences of adult ESL learners outside the classroom.

Authors

• Josephine Amoakoh, University of Utah

• Veronica E. Valdez, University of Utah