UC Berkeley

Examining the ideological underpinnings of language, literacy, and citizenship within adult ESL citizenship classes has much to tell us about hegemonic structures and alternative possibilities. Adults enroll in this class to prepare for the naturalization process; a means of acquiring U.S. citizenship available to lawful permanent residents after meeting extensive federal requirements. To consider the expansive possibilities or (im)possibilities within these spaces, I investigate where ideologies about language, literacy, and citizenship come from, how they manifest in the classroom, and their limits for counter-hegemonic thought. I use a variety of data sources including archival methods, participant observation, and interviews to understand how neoliberal policies shaped ESL citizenship classes in California for immigrants and other marginalized populations. My project analyzes materials from the California Adult Education Archive, specifically the Oral History Project. Notably missing from the Oral History Project are interviews with students of adult education. To privilege the perspective of ESL citizenship students, I conducted participant observation and interviews at two ESL citizenship courses, one in southern California and the other in northern California. I bring these data sources together to show how students and teachers reinscribe, contradict, and contest the ideologies displayed in the Oral History Project. I show how ideologies about language, literacy, and citizenship influence the education and socialization of immigrants, and I reveal the practices and consequences of this ideological literacy project. ESL citizenship classrooms manifest xenophobic materiality rooted in white supremacy and anti-blackness, and yet, there are openings whereby students question their place within these institutions and concomitantly build toward new understandings of citizenship.