Date of Award

2025-08-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Teaching, Learning and Culture

Advisor(s)

Char Ullman

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how adult English language learners living along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas experience language learning, identity formation, and social positioning within a bilingual community. Drawing on Norton's (1995, 2013) theoretical frameworks of identity, investment, and imagined communities, the research investigates three central questions: (1) How does the relationship between English learners and the social world of a bilingual community on the U.S.-Mexico border impact their ideas about their possibilities for the future? (2) How does the use of English construct worlds that are different from those constructed in their first languages, and do learners wish to become part of these new worlds? (3) What are the diverse conditions under which learners speak, read, or write in English, and how might they be influenced by power relations? Data were collected from six Spanish-speaking participants, through life history interviews, a focus group, and participant-generated photographs. Findings reveal that learning English on the U.S.-Mexico border presents both opportunities and constraints. While participants frequently experienced disruptions to their linguistic autonomy, such as being spoken to in Spanish when they attempted to practice English, they also used English to construct empowered identities. The participants negotiated greater agency in professional, academic, and social domains, and their imagined futures where they are respected, professionally engaged, and socially integrated. These dynamics illustrate how English served not only as a tool of communication but also as a resource for identity transformation and resistance to marginalization.

Keywords: identity, investment, agency, English language learners, U.S.-Mexico border, bilingualism, power relations

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

213 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Jennifer Lyn Mansour

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