Learning English, Working Hard, and Challenging Risk Discourses

Autor/in	Koyama, Jill
Titel	Learning English, Working Hard, and Challenging Risk Discourses
Quelle	In: Policy Futures in Education, 13 (2015) 5, S.608-620 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1478-2103
DOI	10.1177/1478210315579547
Schlagwörter	Refugees; English Language Learners; At Risk Persons; Cultural Capital; Adjustment (to Environment); Ethnography; Public Policy; Social Services; National Security; English (Second Language); Economic Factors; Immigrants; Social Influences; Semi Structured Interviews; Agencies; Observation; Second Language Instruction; Coding; Career Development; Employment Qualifications; Employment Level; New York + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Flüchtling; Risikogruppe; Ethnografie; Öffentliche Ordnung; Social service; Soziale Dienstleistung; Soziale Dienste; National territory; Security; Staatsgebiet; Sicherheit; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Ökonomischer Faktor; Immigrant; Immigrantin; Immigranten; Sozialer Einfluss; Beobachtung; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Codierung; Programmierung; Berufsentwicklung; Employment qualification; Vocational qualification; Vocational qualifications; Berufliche Qualifikation; Beschäftigungsgrad
Abstract	Refugees in the US are often seen as risk-takers--those who engage in potentially harmful behaviors that simultaneously provide opportunity; with their perceived weaknesses in English language training, overall education, and US cultural capital, refugees are also frequently situated as being "at-risk" of not adapting to their new contexts. In this article, which draws on a two year ethnographic study in a Northeastern city, I trouble the simultaneous positioning of refugees as risk-takers and as being at risk. National policies governing the integration of refugees reduce social and educational adaptation to economic self-sufficiency, resulting in the emergence of three threads of risk: the risk of refugees being dependent on government resources, the risk of refugees "taking" jobs from Americans, and the risk of refugees threatening national security. Here, I focus on the first two threads, which represent a dichotomy of risk narratives, but which also poise refugees as risks to the mythical/idealized quality of American life and economic well-being. I document refugees participating in ESL and career-readiness classes offered by local resettlement agencies to reveal how educators in both ESL and career classes employ the narrative of positive risk-taking to challenge the more negative risk discourses. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01