Views and Definitions of Literacy
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Literate in Many Tongues: An Exploration of the Textual Practices in the Lives of Yemeni Women. By Khadeegha Alzouebi A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy At The University of Sheffield School of Education July, 2008 ABSTRACT This life history study explores the textual practices of four Yemeni women from Northtown, a town in the North of England. The study takes a social and ideological view of literacy, one that regards literacy as a social practice occurring within 'webs of people and institutions' (Barton, Hamilton and Ivanic, 2000: 14). It explores the ways in which literacy and language practices are linked to the womens' lives, social worlds and to their narratives. I have used life history methods that draw from feminism, critical theory, post-modernism and post-colonialism to co-construct the informants' stories. This investigation models a research method that grows out of a feminist approach of reframing power relationships, knowledge construction and individual experiences. I have used narrative inquiry as the process for this research, to enable the distinctive voices of the women to emerge from the research data and for their individual stories to be crafted. The findings illustrate that Yemeni womens' engagement with literacy shapes not only their own identities, but also the characters of the social relationships and social institutions of which they are a part. The womens' use of reading and writing in everyday life are dynamic and constantly being reconfigured. Their literacy worlds are linked to the social and cultural ways in which they construct and reconstruct language and literacy. The study reveals a world of literacies outside the ESOL setting, a world where literacies are far from being power neutral, a world where literacies are diverse, fluid and hybrid. The womens' literacies are rooted in conceptions of identity, knowledge and being. Their practices proved to be historical, cultural, social and political, which are constantly being redefined by the women and by the social groups of which they are a part. Their textual practices are not static or discrete but embedded in dynamic, situated, multifaceted experiences. Such practices are also fundamentally constructed and shaped by institutions and informal relations of power. I have also presented an autobiographical analysis of the self, not as a separate entity but as an integrated part of the research process. I acknowledge the importance of my personal. professional and intellectual autobiography in the development of this study. This investigation has highlighted some important implications for policy, research and practice. One of the implications for practice is recognising the imbalance of power across sites of the home and the learning setting and considering issues of whose literacies count and in what context. A further implication is the importance of research examining the relationship between power-situated knowledge and the ideology that serves to maintain the relative power of multilingual learners. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Page Number Chapter One: Introduction 1 Views and Definitions of Literacy Background to the Study Researcher Stance Methods Evolutions of the Research Focus The Research aim and Resultant Guiding Questions Conclusion: Outline of Thesis Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework 14 Literacy Paradigms Literacy Practices and Literacy Events Literacy, Identity, Culture and Language Multilingual Literacy as a Social Practice Literacy Empowerment and Multilingual Women Concluding Thoughts Chapter Three: Negotiating Positionality 31 Defining the Self Researchers' Identity and the Decision-Making Process Where do I fit in? Personal Reflections Concluding Thoughts Chapter Four: A Historical Overview of the Yemeni Community 51 A Yemeni Journey Diaspora Identities: Yemeni Experiences The Myth of Return: Yemenis in Northtown Othered through migration: Yemeni Women Concluding Thoughts Chapter Five: Methodology 64 U sing a life history approach Empowering Methods: A Life History Approach Retrieving Marginalized Voices through Multilingual Stories Narratives as Reflective Methods Concluding Thoughts Chapter Six: Translation in Research 80 Interpreters and Translators as Intercultural Agents Translating Cultures Mission Impossible: Translation Making Translation visible Missing Texts: Translation Literature Translator Identity: Only a Translator! Language and Power in Translation Concepts of Otherness in Translation Concluding Thoughts Chapter Seven: Encountering and Experiencing the Field 95 Engaging with the Research Refining and Reworking the Data Getting Close from A Far: Classroom Ethnography Concluding Thoughts Chapter Eight: Informants' Storied Lives 111 (English and Arabic versions) Kalthum's Story 'From the Margins to the Centre' Noora's Story 'No Place Like Home' Aisha's Story 'Made Invisible by seeking asylum' Saba's Story 'In and Out of Class' Chapter Nine: Mapping Literacy Practices 158 Mapping Multilingual Literacy Practices across Fluid Domains Kalthum's Literacy World Noora's Literacy World Aisha's Literacy World Saba's Literacy World Concluding Thoughts Chapter Ten: Themes and Threads 169 Blurring the lines: Infused Hybrid Identities Literacy and Power: A Didactic Encounter Multilingual Practices: Discounted Literacies Religious Literacies: Words of Sacred Texts Digital Metaliteracies: A New Communicative Order Spaces of Authoring: Asylum Narratives Concluding Thoughts Chapter Eleven: Conclusions and Reflections 208 Introduction The Overall Findings of the Research Limitations of the Study Implications for Policy Implications for Research Implication for Practice Concluding Thoughts Reflections on Researcher Journey New Understandings: Literacy Native Researcher and Native Methods Where do I stand? Writing with all my Soul Final Thoughts REFERENCES 234 GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATED FORMS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the women who agreed to participate in this study, and for granting me the privilege in gaining their trust and friendship, whose generosity of time, patience and goodwill not only made the doing of this study possible but also an enjoyable experience. My sincere gratitude and heartfelt thanks go to my supervisors Professor Jackie Marsh and Dr. Kate Pahl for the inspiration, guidance and undaunted support and encouragement they have offered me throughout this research. This research would have never happened without your support and encouragement and for making me believe that I can do it despite the challenges of having young children. I would also like to extend my thanks to Dr. Julia Davis who in our various encounters in the department corridors unknowingly encouraged me with her enthusiasm and kind words. My children are probably too young to understand, but I dedicate this study to them, who had to bear with me on each of the many occasions that the study took precedence over family outings. This is for you. Finally and most importantly, this research would have not been possible without the support and encouragement of my family, who provided me with the invaluable gift of time and space in helping with the children to allow me to concentrate on completing this study. CHAPTER ONE Introduction Introduction When I look at my own experiences of reading, I look beyond the written words. I think that in every culture reading and writing have a different meaning and a different way of being used. I think that reading and writing are just as important as each other, but it's the way we are involved with them that's more important, because for women like me this relationship is so deep in culture, in experiences of multilingualism, of displacement, and ofmigration (Kalthum). I have chosen to begin this thesis with a quotation from one of the informants' stories, because I feel that this quotation offers a precise illustration of the social and ideological approach taken to studying language and literacy practices in the lives of Yemeni women in this investigation. I begin this chapter by setting the scene for the study through an explanation of its theoretical framework and core interests and by defining some basic parameters. I will then show how my personal background in several spheres oflife has led to the development of this research. I will next discuss the view of literacy that underpins the study, and then explain how the focus of the investigation gradually narrowed to produce the final research questions, which will be set out in this chapter. Finally I will describe the thesis structure in order to assist the reader in navigating the following chapters. Views and Definitions ofLiteracy It is important to start by giving a brief explanation of the focus of the study and my own perceptions and definitions of literacy. In this investigation I have taken an ideological and social approach to studying the literacy practices of multilingual women in the home and ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) setting. I have used life history interviews and classroom fieldwork to explore the ways in which literacy is linked to context, to the women's lives, social worlds, and to their narratives. The ESOL classroom in this particular study is presented through the eyes of the informants, and the classroom findings are refracted through the stories of the women. I have drawn from the New Literacy Studies, which I discuss in greater detail in Chapter Two, and in particular from Street's notion of literacy (Street