Second-language literacy, immigration, and globalization

Abstract

Second language literacy development is a significant factor influencing immigrants' opportunities to integrate with the host society. To examine the opportunities that different immigrant groups have had for obtaining both, we selected four published studies that had been originally analyzed through a sociocultural perspective, a prominent framework for understanding contexts of second-language literacy development. Using social boundary theory as an added lens, we could also examine how time, place, and sociopolitical contexts specifically influenced each immigrant group's second-language literacy development and their prospects for gaining social integration with their particular host society. We identified the cultural tools of the different immigrant groups and the degree to which they could use literacy to appropriate the legal materials and resources of the host society, essential for gaining social integration. Specific factors and events within each context functioned to support second-language literacy development, to gain social integration with the host society, or led to exclusion by the dominant majority. Our findings indicated that developing competency in second-language literacy depended on each group's cultural tools and ability to use literacy for self-presentation and social representation within the host society.