From Deficit to Asset: Locating Discursive Resistance in a Refugee-Background Student’s Written and Oral Narrative

The United States is the biggest resettlement country of refugees referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; however, educational resettlement efforts have been unsuccessful in responding to the needs of refugee students, and educational research has thus far presented a deficit‐oriented narrative that ignores the skills and agency of these students. This study challenges such deficit‐oriented presentations by examining how Zein, an adolescent refugee English learner, uses language to construct his identity and position himself as a digital bricoleur (someone creatively using different materials to produce new artifacts). We learn from Zein that classroom tasks with multimodal dimensions can provide spaces for refugee students to negotiate their engagement with classroom tasks to better align them to their interests and identities, make connections between their school‐based and out‐of‐school literacy practices, and practice their agency to produce counternarratives that challenge deficit perspectives of refugee students.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Refugee Els In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Refugee Els In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Language and Identity Construction: The Case of a Refugee Digital Bricoleur

Karam¹

2017

“…Johnson () argued for a shift in how the field views success to encompass the complex ways in which African American youths in particular experience education. The growing number of studies that have demonstrated how urban youths use and reappropriate technology to create meaningful work represents such a counternarrative (e.g., Crampton, Scharber, Lewis, & Majors, ; Lewis Ellison, ; Shapiro & MacDonald, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“My Thoughts on Gun Violence”: An Urban Adolescent's Display of Agency and Multimodal Literacies

Lee¹,

Meloche²,

Grant³

et al. 2019

Offering students the opportunity to use digital tools to research critical issues in their lives can support their agency.I lost a lotta family members to gun violence, and that was my topic, so it gave me a chance to really realize it's real. (Quincy, a 13-year-old African American student; all names are pseudonyms) Q uincy stated this about an inquiry project about a problem, gun violence, that he wanted to investigate. In this article, we present a case study of his development of a research project that focused on this issue, which impacts his community. We analyzed his project as part of a larger exploratory qualitative study of the growth of students' digital and information skills. The research question that we address here is, How did one urban youth demonstrate agency in the creation of a multimodal project and in his use of technology to address and present solutions to a specific problem in his community?Multimodal texts are "composed of combinations of words, images, and other modalities" (Gee, 2011, p. 194). A critical discourse analysis of Quincy's multimodal PowerPoint project gave us an in-depth look at what he learned about gun violence, the information he chose to present, and how he used technology to convey a compelling message about stopping gun violence in his community. A primary finding from this case study is how the teacher fostered agency for Quincy by balancing teacher guidance and student choice over specific aspects of the project.Research comparing students of color in underserved communities against white middle class students has often used a deficit lens to examine disparities (e.g., achievement gap; Johnson, 2017;Nasir & Hand, 2006). Howard (2013) stated that much of the literature from social science fields, the media, the press, and other academic work "has fallen short in providing a more holistic and affirming account of Black males in schools" (p. 57), and he called for a disruption in educational research by presenting counternarratives that highlight the achievements and successes of students of color. Johnson (2017) argued for a shift in how the field views success to encompass the complex ways in which African American youths in particular experience education. The growing number of studies that have demonstrated how urban youths use and reappropriate technology to create meaningful work represents such a counternarrative

Investigating the efficacy of the AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide for adult EAL settings

Tour,

Creely,

Waterhouse

et al. 2023

The importance of digital literacies for adult language learners from migrant and refugee backgrounds has been widely recognized. However, there is relatively limited conceptual and practical guidance for practitioners. To address this concern, we developed a pedagogical framework and a practical guide for teachers in the Adult Migrant English Program in Australia. The conceptual framework brought together four well‐established bodies of scholarly work and formed the four principles for teaching digital literacies: (1) authentic learning contexts, (2) problem‐based learning, (2) strengths‐based approaches, and (4) multidimensional practices. To unpack the framework for practical use, we then developed a guide, which reflected these principles and offered teaching ideas. This paper describes the conceptualization of the pedagogical framework and reports on a multiple case study which sought to gain insight from five English as an Additional Language (EAL) teachers on the efficacy of the framework and guide. The findings suggest that while there was a reasonable level of understanding of the framework and guide and many rich learning experiences were created , in practice some teachers experienced challenges in actuating some principles of the framework. The article concludes with implications for teachers' self‐directed learning with the help of this resource and future research.