THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ANTI-REFUGEE RHETORIC, MONOLINGUAL LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES, AND REFUGEE LITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES AND AUSTRALIA: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY
Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
For this study, I sought to answer the following questions: 1) Historically, what is the interaction between policies designed to help refugee students learn English and reading and anti-refugee rhetoric in the United States and Australia? 2) What is the interaction between anti-refugee rhetoric and the implementation of language policy in reading classrooms in the United States and Australia? I used Critical Discourse Analysis to examine newspapers and policy documents to understand the climate in which reading instruction for refugee students takes place in American and Australian public schools. Using a critical approach, I analyzed how the language used to characterize and position refugee students conveys status and power (Gee, 2011). I examined three time periods: World War II, the Vietnam War era, and the present. I analyzed the ways in which policy-makers contribute and build a discourse used by the schools refugee students attend. I also analyzed two major newspapers from the U.S. and Australia from the same time periods. To answer the second research question, I interviewed two educators in the United States and three educators in Australia and conducted classroom observations. Previous studies conducted on refugee literacy do not directly address issues of anti-refugee rhetoric which may impact what happens in the classroom. This study allows for an examination of the usage of terms evaluating refugee students and their educational experience, issues of power and opportunity, and the portrayals of refugee students in the media. Themes derived from this study include white flight, the portrayal of refugees as illiterate, changing stereotypes of refugees based on race, and fluctuating understanding of who is and is not a refugee.