Re-Envisioning Language, Literacy, and the Immigrant Subject in New Mediascapes

This article explores how networked electronic communications have given rise to new social spaces, linguistic and semiotic practices, and ways of fashioning the self beyond the national context for immigrant youths in the United States. This article presents 2 case studies of immigrant students' communicative practices on the Internet: 1 involving a diasporic chat space and another related to the creation of global anime multimedia. Analysis of discourse, interviews, and observational data show that, within these transnational social spaces, the young immigrants created new learning experiences, competences, and representations of linguistic and cultural identities in the use of language and literacy. This evidence of changing language and literacy practices in the context of globalised communications call for a re-evaluation of the predominantly monolingual, monocultural, and nation-centric views of the adaptation and educational trajectory of immigrant students.

[1]  Kevin Leander,et al.  Tracing the Everyday 'Sitings' of Adolescents on the Internet: a strategic adaptation of ethnography across online and offline spaces , 2003 .

[2]  J. Cummins,et al.  Minority education : from shame to struggle , 1988 .

[3]  A. Fuligni.  A Comparative Longitudinal Approach to Acculturation among Children from Immigrant Families , 2001 .

[4]  A. Luke.  Literacy and the Other: A sociological approach to literacy research and policy in multilingual societies , 2003 .

[5]  A. Nikapota.  Children of Immigration. , 2004, Child and adolescent mental health.

[6]  A. Portes,et al.  Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation , 2004 .

[7]  S. Michaels,et al.  A pedagogy of Multiliteracies Designing Social Futures , 1996 .

[8]  A. Appadurai.  Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization , 1996 .

[9]  Mark A. Fox.  Technological and Social Drivers of Change in the Online Music Industry , 2002, First Monday.

[10]  P. Atkinson,et al.  Making sense of qualitative data , 1996 .

[11]  Richard J. Walter,et al.  Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (review) , 2012 .

[12]  Wan Shun Eva Lam,et al.  The Ecology of An Sla Community in a Computer-Mediated Environment , 2002 .

[13]  Fabienne Darling-Wolf,et al.  Virtually Multicultural: Trans-Asian Identity and Gender in an International Fan Community of a Japanese Star , 2004, New Media Soc..

[14]  G. Marcus.  Ethnography through Thick and Thin , 2021 .

[15]  B. Cope,et al.  Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures , 2001 .

[16]  A. Portes,et al.  Immigrant America: A Portrait. , 1992 .

[17]  E. Ignacio.  Building Diaspora: Filipino Cultural Community Formation on the Internet , 2004 .

[18]  U. Hannerz.  Transnational Connections: Culture, People, Places , 1996 .

[19]  Rebecca W. Black.  Access and Affiliation: The Literacy and Composition Practices of English‐Language Learners in an Online Fanfiction Community , 2005 .

[20]  A. Portes,et al.  Immigrant America: A Portrait. , 1991 .

[21]  Kelly Chandler-Olcott,et al.  "Tech-Savviness" Meets Multiliteracies: Exploring Adolescent Girls' Technology-Mediated Literacy Practices , 2003 .

[22]  Patricia Baquedano-López,et al.  “English for the Children”: The New Literacy of the Old World Order, Language Policy and Educational Reform , 2000 .

[23]  Helen Lee,et al.  Tongans Overseas: Between Two Shores , 2003 .

[24]  Robert T. Jiménez,et al.  Freedom and form: The language and literacy practices of two Mexican schools , 2003 .

[25]  Helene Ijaz.  Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education , 1995 .

[26]  Bob Godwin-Jones,et al.  Messaging, Gaming, Peer-to-Peer Sharing: Language Learning Strategies & Tools for the Millennial Generation , 2005 .

[27]  W. Diebold,et al.  The Second Industrial Divide , 1985 .

[28]  James Paul Gee,et al.  What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy , 2007, CIE.

[29]  Carol L. Kennett.  Made in America: Immigrant Students in Our Public Schools , 1999 .

[30]  Laurie Olsen.  Made in America: Immigrant Students in Our Public Schools , 1997 .

[31]  A. Dyson.  Children Out of Bounds: The Power of Case Studies in Expanding Visions of Literacy Development , 1995 .

[32]  Allan Luke,et al.  Teaching after the market : from commodity to cosmopolitan , 2004 .

[33]  Carlos J. Ovando.  Bilingual Education in the United States: Historical Development and Current Issues , 2003 .

[34]  Danny Miller,et al.  The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach , 2000 .

[35]  B. Anderson,et al.  Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism , 1986 .

[36]  M. Suárez-Orozco.  Globalization, Immigration, and Education: The Research Agenda. , 2001 .

[37]  G. Smart.  The new work order: behind the language of the new capitalism , 2000 .

[38]  M. Evans.  : Tongans Overseas: Between Two Shores , 2005 .

[39]  Julian Sefton-Green,et al.  Digital Diversions: Youth Culture in the Age of Multimedia , 1998 .

[40]  Rodney H. Jones,et al.  Discourse in Action: Introducing Mediated Discourse Analysis , 2005 .

[41]  Ananda Mitra,et al.  Marginal Voices in Cyberspace , 2001, New Media Soc..

[42]  Mela Sarkar,et al.  At War with Diversity: US Language Policy in an Age of Anxiety. , 2002 .

[43]  C. Lewis,et al.  Instant Messaging, Literacies, and Social Identities , 2005 .

[44]  J. Gee,et al.  The New Work Order , 1996 .

[45]  P. Levitt,et al.  Conceptualizing Simultaneity: A Transnational Social Field Perspective on Society 1 , 2004 .

[46]  P. Atkinson,et al.  Making Sense of Qualitative Data: Complementary Research Strategies , 1996 .

[47]  Cameron R. McCarthy,et al.  Contesting Culture: Identity and curriculum dilemmas in the age of globalization, postcolonialism, and multiplicity , 2003 .

[48]  R. Reich.  The Work of Nations , 2006 .

[49]  Michele Knobel,et al.  New Literacies: changing knowledge and classroom learning , 2003 .

[50]  Wan Shun Eva Lam.  Second Language Socialization in a Bilingual Chat Room: Global and Local Considerations , 2004 .

[51]  Robert T. Jiménez.  Literacy and Latino Students in the United States: Some Considerations, Questions, and New Directions. , 2003 .

[52]  D. Alvermann.  Adolescents and Literacies in a Digital World , 2002 .

[53]  L. Delpit,et al.  The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom , 2003 .

[54]  Melissa D. Hargrove.  Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World , 2001, Transforming Anthropology.

[55]  J. Moreno.  The Elusive Quest for Equality: 150 Years of Chicano/Chicana Education. Harvard Educational Review Reprint Series No. 32. , 1999 .