“They enjoyed little political power:” Representations of immigrant experience in an 11th-grade U.S. history textbook

Abstract

Although the United States is largely a nation of immigrants, xenophobic ideologies and values about immigrants are continuously broadcast across various media outlets. This study uses Systemic Functional Linguistics and transitivity analysis to examine how textbook publishers’ language choices frame migration, immigrants, and immigrant identity for immigrants from two different geographical backgrounds in a currently adopted 11th-grade U.S. history textbook. Findings demonstrate textbook language was organized around three overarching themes: contribution, reception, and integration. Across the textbook, European immigrants are provided with more opportunities through verb processes to act, feel, sense, and be, as compared to Latinx immigrants. Furthermore, language choices reveal how authors create and perpetuate a hierarchical view that some immigrants are desired over others depending on their region of origin and proximity to Whiteness. This study concludes by providing implications for students and teachers to critically engage with analysis of texts.