XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Immigration and the Frontiers of Language

• In Event: Entre-Between Book: Six Brazilian Immigrant Women Tell their Stories

Abstract

My presentation discusses how emotions and feelings affect immigrants in the processes of language acquisition and adaptation to their new environment. Lack of motivation, self-confidence and anxiety may result in significant barriers in the acquisition of the new language. As an ESL student in the United States, I have found that a considerable number of people, mainly women, struggle to effectively learn the language, even though they have lived in the country for many years. My memoir essay, “The Secret Language of Angels”, published in the book “Entre-Between” (Kotter Editorial, 2023), recounts my own trajectory and illustrates how impediments in communication might generate significant uneasiness, as well as a sense of cultural abyss. I will use Stephen Krashen’s “Affective Filter Hypothesis” (1985) to support my ideas.

Author

• Luciana Fins, rio salado college