“The ESL Kids are Over there”: Opportunities for Social Interactions between Immigrant Latino and White High School Students

Abstract

This ethnographic study was conducted at a high school on California's central coast during the 2000 to 2001 school year. The study focused on the social interactions between immigrant Latinos and their White peers and identified factors contributing to boundaries that existed between the two groups. During interviews, students were given a map of the school and asked to identify the different student groups on campus. Findings indicate that immigrant Latino students were virtually invisible to the White students at the school.

Linguistic Acculturation and Emotional Well-Being in U.S. Schools

“…At school, youths unable to speak the dominant language may not only feel excluded by virtue of cultural differences between them and other groups at school (Daoud, 2003), they may feel lost linguistically depending on the school's mode of incorporating outsiders. Immigrant youth in the United States are a very varied group, and schools differ in how they prepare immigrant students to learn English and understand the curriculum and required expectations (Boyson & Short, 2003).…”

Immigrant Children and Youth in the USA: Facilitating Equity of Opportunity at School

“…The stress of coping with a new language and a new culture, a less than welcoming reception, racism, discrimination, school and community violence are recipes for learning, behavior, and emotional problems [31][32][33][34]. In addition, many immigrant students report feeling that their teachers view them in unfavorable ways [35]; also analyses of informal social patterns at schools indicate an isolation from their English speaking peers [36,37].…”

Sociolinguistic Justice in the Schools: Student Researchers as Linguistic Experts

“…At the same time, because the program serves students of widely varied backgrounds, academic levels, and ages, it allows young people to learn a great deal from one another about linguistic and cultural practices as well as the pernicious effects of racism. This focus on common ground and communication further promotes trust and friendship in the classroom across traditional linguistic, social, and even physical boundaries (Daoud ), although tensions and conflicts are inevitable and even potentially beneficial as students explore difficult issues of identity, power, and inequality, often for the first time.…”