Language Socialization and Identity on the Move: Refugee Youth's Experiences in the U.S. School Space

• In Event: Mentoring Multilingual Refugee-Background Learners in Virtual Spaces: Sustaining Opportunities for Mutualistic Learning During COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose

This paper investigates issues faced by refugee youths as they transition from their home country to the US school spaces by addressing two research questions: (a) How do recently immigrated refugee youths socialize in the school space in the US?; and (b) What are the issues related to language and identity faced by refugee youths during this transition?

Theoretical Framework

The steady growth in the number of students with immigrant backgrounds in US schools has drawn the attention of researchers. However, perspectives of the students with refugee backgrounds regarding their experience in the school spaces are largely missing from the literature. Moreover, the experiences of these students are generalized with all others from immigrant families resulting in several issues that remain unexamined. Most of these students come to the US with limited and/or interrupted formal schooling experience and need to develop English alongside learning content (Bigelow, 2010). Additionally, the teachers and support staff are underprepared to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee students (Ryu & Tuvila, 2018). Several of these factors need to be closely examined to understand how these youths navigate the complex linguistic and semiotic resources. This calls for an ecological approach to language socialization (d’Abreu, Castro-Olivo, & Ura, 2019), hence, the focus of this study. The paper reports the results of a partnership with such youth and illustrates one transnational immigrant youth's experiences of socialization in the US school space with a focus on the issues related to language and identity (re)construction.

Methods

This paper reports the findings of a collaborative partnership between Aarzu and myself in a midwestern US city using community-engaged approach (Doberneck, Glass, & Schweitzer 2010; Haddix, 2015). Aarzu was matched with me as my mentee to help her navigate life as a young adult through by a local community organization where I worked as a volunteer. The data for this paper consists of recordings of our conversations as we talked about various topics such as our lives as transnational youths, language, and culture in the US, college life and future goals. Besides Arzu’s narratives, the other data sources included written reflections, and artifacts from various stages in Aarzu’s life. A narrative inquiry and discourse analysis approach was employed to analyze the data and interpret the issues related to Aarzu's navigation of the US school space.

Conclusions and Scholarly Contribution

This paper provides insights into the issues faced by newly-arrived students with refugee backgrounds while negotiating the linguistic and semiotic resources within the US school spaces as they try to develop social and cultural sensibilities primarily mediated by language (Ochs & Schieffelin, 2011). The findings also revealed complexities surrounding the process of language socialization highlighting the need for putting students at the center of education through collaboration between schools and families. The paper indicates the need to consider the multitude of factors that play a crucial role in students’ engagement in and out of the classroom interactions thereby calling for an ecological approach to language socialization in school spaces.

Author

• Laxmi Prasad Ojha, Michigan State University