Faith-based languaculture: church as a place of language education and community-family connnecting

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dc.contributorMantero, Miguel
dc.contributorWilson, Elizabeth K.
dc.contributorKuntz, Aaron M.
dc.contributorScherff, Lisa
dc.contributorNichols, Sharon E.
dc.contributor.advisorMantero, Miguel
dc.contributor.authorChao, Xia
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2017-03-01T16:47:03Z
dc.date.available2017-03-01T16:47:03Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this study is to discover how church-based ESL programs affect immigrant adult learners' second language socialization. Also, this study is to examine the ways in which immigrant adult learners' second language socialization through the programs may, in turn, be associated with changes in cultural capital in their families. The findings indicate that newly arrived immigrant families in which English is not the primary language of parents encounter an increasing linguistic and cultural disjuncture and a communication gap between parents and children. The intergenerational disjuncture and community gap lead to family estrangement and parental dysfunction. This has become the main reason for immigrant adult learners' participation in the programs. The church-based ESL instructors act not merely as friends, facilitators, and mentors, but they also serve as community brokers and advocates for social justice. The programs have developed into places where immigrant adults are provided with legitimate speaking positions and their voices and linguistic and cultural identities are affirmed. Further, the programs provide immigrant adult learners with access to social integration and authentic language practice in real life contexts. The findings indicate that church-based ESL programs enhance immigrant adults' second language socialization and community engagement. Learners' increasing language socialization promotes cultural capital in their families and community-family connecting. The multiple effects of immigrant adults' increasing participation in the programs are discussed, such as immigrant adults' increasing school involvement, family-together language and literacy practices, reclaimed ownership of home language, and transformation into advocates for families and ethnic communities. This study argues that church-based ESL programs are figured worlds that are not natural but nurtured and naturalized. English education in the figured worlds is a process of being and empowerment of immigrant adults' self-authoring agency. Cultural and religious dispositions embedded in the church-based discourse seem to impose orders of power and Christianity on learners, which in turn cause some immigrant adults' resistance and non-participation in the programs.en_US
dc.format.extent208 p.
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0001214
dc.identifier.otherChao_alatus_0004D_11469
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/1687
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectBilingual education
dc.subjectEnglish as a second language
dc.subjectMulticultural education
dc.titleFaith-based languaculture: church as a place of language education and community-family connnectingen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Curriculum and Instruction
etdms.degree.disciplineSecondary Education
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.leveldoctoral
etdms.degree.namePh.D.

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