Understanding Marginalized Students' Identities Work and Their Learning
Experiences in English Language Arts Classrooms
Abstract
Students are affected by their social background, ethnic, geographic and
cultural origin, languages spoken, gender, sexuality, religion, etc.
Also affecting students are the more general social-political
transformations (globalization, migration, changing labor markets, etc.)
Whereas a lot of the social science literature in education has viewed
these aspects of student identity and diversity as separate from
each other, I aim to understand how these factors impact on student
identities-work intersectionally, especially in English Language
Arts (ELA) classrooms. In the referenced pilot study, I use Positioning
Theory to analyze the discursive incidents around literacy learning in
Texas. By analyzing students’ interactions, I begin to gain an
understanding of student agentic movements and the marginalizing forces
that strengthen or diminish a student’s response to learning.