Post on 16-Dec-2015
Social Networking, Workplace, and Entertainment Literacies: The Out-of-School Literate Lives of Newcomer Latina/o Adolescents
Mary Amanda Stewart, Texas Woman’s University
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK• Studies illustrate adolescent immigrants’ advanced
linguistic repertoires (de la Piedra, 2010; Godina, 2004; Orellana, 2009)
• Global perspectives (Lam, 2004; McGinnis, Goodstein-Stolzenberg, & Saliani, 2007) through online platforms (Lam & Rosario-Ramos, 2009; Yi, 2007)
• But ELs have lower graduation rates and academic achievement scores than their peers (Garcia, 2012)
• No Child Left Behind policies do not adhere to research on effective educational reform, second language acquisition, and culturally relevant teaching that needs to be considered for immigrant students (Hopkins, Thompson, Linquanti, Hakuta, & August, 2013; Menken, 2008; O'Brien & Roberson, 2012)
literacies• Brian Street's (1995) ideological model of reading influences
the construct of literacies used in the present study.
Literacy becomes literacies
• Embracing the political nature of the term, the working concept of literacy is based on Gee’s (2008) definition of Discourses which he defines as "saying(writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing combinations" (p. 154).
An out-of-school literacy is any way of sending and receiving meaning that is NOT part of the academic classroom.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS1. What are the out-of-school literacies of four newcomer
Latina/o adolescents?
2. What meanings do these literacies have for the individuals?
3. How do these literacies demonstrate the adolescents’ linguistic, cultural, and social resources that could be leveraged for academic achievement?
Assumption: Students possess literacy skills they use outside of school that are valuable for academic learning.
PARTICIPANTSName TELPAS
Score(English Acquisition)
Age Country Time in U.S.
Grade Level
Level of Education in Home Country
Workplace
Celia Beginner 17 Mexico 18 mo. 11th Finished Secundaria =10th
El Taco Loco
Valeria Beginner 19 El Salvador 20 mo. 10th In Bachillerato =10th
Sandwich Shop
Alejandra Intermediate 17 El Salvador 20 mo. 11th In Bachillerato =11th
Sandwich Shop
Miguel Beginner 20 Guatemala 9 mo. 11th In Universificado =12th
Gutiérrez Tires
*All names and workplaces are pseudonyms.*Information as of January 2012
SCHOOL/DATA
• Suburban high school• 2000 middle class students• Only 14 in ESL classes
• Facebook data• Everything on wall• About section• Conversations• Pictures
• Observations• In ESL class• At lunch• Before/after school• Workplace
• Interviews• 5-8 interviews with each
student• Primarily in Spanish
• Analysis• On-going• Nvivo 10
Facebook Mj
Workplace Mj
Entertainment Mj
English MjAcquisition Mj
Connect to Home Mj
Maintain Latina/o MjIdentity Mj
Support MjThemselves Mj Place to Mj
Succeed Mj
Remittances Mj
More MjOpportunities Mj
in the U.S. MjWhat They MjLeft Behind Mj
To Be MjSomeone Mj
SOCIAL NETWORKING: Facebook
Connect To Home
Maintain Latina/o Identity
Acquire English
SOCIAL NETWORKING
"Ella está aquí, pero era mi vecina en México.” [She is here, but she was my neighbor en Mexico.]
Connect To Home
• Family and Friends
• Diaspora Community
Maintain Latina/o Identity
Acquire English
SOCIAL NETWORKINGcuantos likes a nuestra bandera?
Connect To Home
Maintain Latina/o Identity
• Visuals• Language
Acquire English
Soy puro chaplin
SOCIAL NETWORKING
omg: "Hola mi amiga? No?“[Hello my friend? Right?]
“omg tomorrow i have test”
• Reading & Writing Posts
• Codes
Connect To Home
Maintain Latina
Identity
Acquire English
WORKPLACE: Fast Food, Tire Shop
Acquire English
Place to Succeed
Support Themselve
s
WORKPLACE
Acquire English
• Communicate with “americanos”
• Headset• Learn codes• Practice with customers
and co-workers
Place to Succeed
Support Herself
WORKPLACE
Acquire English
• Translating• Raises• Advancement
Place to Succeed
Support Themselve
s
“Cada vez me preguntan más, como a veces las señoras de la cocina le preguntan algo a Bob y Bob no entiende, y Bob ‘Celia! Celia!!! Necesito tu ayuda!’” [Every time they ask me, like when the ladies in the kitchen ask Bob something and Bob (shouts) "Celia! Celia!!! I need your help!"]
WORKPLACE
Acquire English
Place to Succeed
Support Themselve
s
"Porque pues así cuando trabajo más horas, gano más dinero, y pues guardo más.”
[Because this way, when I work more hours, I make more money, and then I save more.]
• Make Money
• Save
ENTERTAINMENT: Music and TV
Connect To Home
Maintain Latina/o Identity
ENTERTAINMENTSpanish music:
"Me recuerda de México. Allá los escuchaba y luego aquí, pues pienso que estoy en México.”
[It reminds me of Mexico. I listened to it there and then here, well, I think that I am in Mexico.]
Connect To Home
• Listen to Same Music
• Watch Same TV
Maintain Latina/o Identity
“Yo soy mexicana….porque como nací en México, y viví toda mi vida en México sin conocer aquí nada. Ya me vine cuando ya estaba grande. Ya conocí todo como es México y nunca voy a olvidar como es.” [I am Mexican….because like I was born in Mexico and I lived all of my life in Mexico without coming here or anything. I came when I was already big. I already knew everything about Mexico and I will never forget how it is.]
ENTERTAINMENT
Connect To Home
Maintain Latina/o Identity
• Spanish Music and TV
• Transnational
Facebook Mj
Workplace Mj
Entertainment Mj
English MjAcquisition Mj
Connect to Home Mj
Maintain Latina/o MjIdentity Mj
Support MjThemselves Mj Place to Mj
Succeed Mj
Remittances Mj
More MjOpportunities Mj
in the U.S. MjWhat They MjLeft Behind Mj
To Be MjSomeone Mj
MORE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE U.S.
English acquisition through Facebook and workplace litercies
“No hay oportunidades [en mi país.]”
[There are no opportunities (in my country.)]
WHAT THEY LEFT BEHIND
Connect to home through Facebook and entertainment literacies
“Todos mis recuerdos están en México.”
[All of my memories are in Mexico.]
REMITTANCES
Support themselves through workplace literacies
“[Teníamos] más que algunas. Sí, porque mi papá nos llevaba ropa o también como zapatos.”
[(We had) more than others. Yes, because my father sent us clothes or like shoes too.]
TO BE SOMEONE
Maintain identity and find a place to succeed through workplace, entertainment, and Facebook literacies
“para ser alguien” [to be someone]
Out-of-School
Literacies
MultilingualMultiliterate
TransnationalMultimodal
IN-SCHOOL LITERACIES
MonolingualMonoliterateMonoculturalMonomodal
WHOSE LITERACIES
COUNT?
Bring the outside in:Language SkillsSocial NetworkingTransnational Perspectives through
Media
Seal of Biliteracy on Diplomas
National Associationof Bilingual Education’s goal for all states
What literacies are needed in the 21st Century?
Who already possesses these literacies?
Do we actively value all literacies? Or do we passively privilege monolingualism?
Everyone benefits if we recognize, validate, and use immigrant students’ full repertoire
of literacies.
The students are emergentmultilingual and multiliterate transnationals who communicate in multimodal ways.
They cannot be viewed through a narrow monolingual, monoliterate, monocultural, and monomodal lens.
PUBLICATIONS FROM THIS STUDYStewart, M. A. (2013). "What up" and "TQM": Latina/o English learners writing on Facebook to acquire English and maintain their Latina/o identities. In K. E. Pytash & R. E. Ferdig (Eds.), Exploring Technology for Writing and Writing Instruction. IGI Global, Hershey, PA, 328-344.
Stewart, M. A. (2014). Living here, yet being there: Facebook as a transnational space for newcomer Latina/o adolescents. Tapestry Journal, 5(1), 28-43.
Stewart, M. A. (2013). Giving voice to Valeria's story: Support, value, and agency for immigrant adolescents. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 57(1), 42-50.
Stewart, M. A. (2013). What is "educated" in the 21st century? Phi Delta Kappan, 94(7), 57-60.
Maryamandastewart.com MStewart7@twu.edu @DrMandyStewart