Language and Literacy in the Pentecostal Church and the Public High School: A Case Study of a Mexican ESL Student

Drawing from a multi-year ethnography of a Latino/a immigrant Pentecostal church and from high school observations and interviews of three focal students, this article compares the language and literacy experiences of an immigrant Mexican Pentecostal adolescent in church and school contexts. I document how the youth's Sunday school class fostered a collective, supportive, and caring environment while his high school was marked by isolation, alienation, and hostility. The church afforded him opportunities to engage in rich language and literacy practices, and through his participation he became a competent member of the church. In contrast, his language and literacy classes at school were characterized by a lack of effective instruction and a watered-down curriculum. Sociocultural theory and critical pedagogy serve as frameworks to shed light on how schooling is embedded in the social, cultural, and political context. Implications and recommendations for schools, teachers, and administrators are offered. Introduction Recent population demographic shifts are predicted to have a tremendous impact on the educational system in the United States. According to the US census (2000), one in five children in the United States comes from an immigrant family and about 20% of the school-age population speaks a language other than English at home, in the Southwest, the majority of English Language Learners (ELL's) are Spanish speaking Latinos/as. But, the historical failure of schools to meet the needs of Latino/a immigrant students does not bode well. (Garcia, 2005; Valdes, 2001; Valenzuela, 1999). Thus, as we enter into the second decade of the twenty-first century, researchers, educators, and policymakers will continue to grapple with the challenge of meeting the needs of Latino/a immigrant students. A promising body of research has centered on the importance of out-of-school learning experiences of Latino/a students (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005; Zentella, 2005). Such research often highlights the rich language and literacy learning that takes place in homes, churches, after-school programs, and community spaces (Hull & Schultz, 2001). In addition, some of this research illuminates the stark contrasts between students' out-of-school and in-school engagement (McMillon & Edwards, 2000). Building on this body of research, I examine the differing educational experiences of an immigrant Mexican youth, Edgar (pseudonym), in his Pentecostal church and his public high school. I found that the church created a nurturing and supportive environment for engagement in language and literacy practices while the school marginalized Edgar and failed to provide effective teaching and learning in either English or Spanish. I draw upon a larger ethnography of the Pentecostal church which was guided by sociocultural theories of learning and development in addition to critical pedagogy. Theoretical Framework and Literature Review The theories that inform this article include sociocultural theories of learning and development (Vygotsky, 1987) and critical educational theory or critical pedagogy (McLaren 2007). Sociocultural theories provide a productive framework from which to study questions of language and literacy for Latino/a immigrant students. According to sociocultural theory, learning is a socially mediated activity, and language is the preeminent meaning-making tool which links mind, language and society (Cole, 1996; Rogoff, 1990; Vygotsky, 1987). By using language as both a resource and a tool, children acquire knowledge in contexts that are culturally and socially organized. Educational researchers have drawn upon and extended sociocultural theory to study literacy and learning of culturally and linguistically diverse students across various settings, including, the traditional classroom (Gutierrez, Baquedano-Lopez & Tejeda, 1999; Luke, 1994; Rueda & Moll, 1994), after-school computer clubs (Gutierrez, Baquedano Lopez, Alvarez & Chiu, 1999; Vasquez, 2002), and homes (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005; Orellana, 2006). …