| Description |
Research in the field of adult ESL education puts much emphasis on print literacy and classroom contexts often with little attention paid to how adult immigrant women in different nation-states negotiate English language learning outside the classroom. Guided by a narrative analysis grounded in a critical sociocultural theory of literacy, this study fills this gap by focusing on the English learning experiences outside the classroom of six immigrant women enrolled in adult English as a second language (ESL) programs in the USA and Ghana. It offers an understanding of the power dynamics in two distinct language learning contexts. It highlights how learners are continually performing various identities and utilizing numerous literacy tools (language, texts, internet, computer) as they choose their level of investment in English literacy. Through in-depth interviews and document review of participants' literacy artifacts, a cross-case analysis of convergent and divergent themes of the narratives of these six immigrant women revealed the following findings: 1) Participants relied heavily on English popular media-based Discourse communities that were rich in multiliteracies (i.e., American movies and reality shows such as Keeping Up with The Kardashians) rather than those centered on traditional print texts, 2) Learners used their gendered and multilingual identities and resources to practice their English and barter for English literacy practices with native or fluent English language speakers, and 3) All learners had prior positive learning experiences with English (at home or in their host countries), held iv hegemonic ideologies about English, and strived for individual goals that encouraged their investment in using English in their Bilingual and English Discourse Communities. Although the research findings on the English learning experiences of participants across the USA and Ghana were similar, the type of English and bilingual Discourse communities each participant had access to and entered was significantly shaped by their educational status and gendered roles. These findings point to the importance of creating spaces in ESL classrooms that engage with the multilingual everyday literacy experiences of adult ESL learners outside the ESL classroom which include the use of multiliteracies. Further implications and recommendations for adult ESL programs and educators are offered. |
