Intergenerational Trajectories and Sociopolitical Context: Latina Immigrants in Adult ESL

In this ethnographic study, I contrast the educational experiences of two Central American immigrant women in an English as a second language (ESL) family literacy program in the San Francisco Bay area in 2002. Based on life-history interviews and classroom observations, I argue that these learners ’ second language and literacy development can only be understood within the larger sociopolitical context over time. To this end, I draw on participants ’ life-history narratives to situate their experiences of studying English within the larger social history of immigration in California and within the intergenerational trajectories of education in their families. Specifically, these narratives illustrate participants ’ perspectives on how their language learning opportunities have been mediated by such factors as their parents ’ messages about education, their previous experiences of schooling, U.S. immigration policies, the 2001 economic downturn, and the availability of bilingual education for their children. I conclude by arguing that to meet the diverse needs and goals of learners in their classrooms, ESL educators need to incorporate into the curriculum the specific sociocontextual issues that these learners confront in their daily lives. One August morning in 2002 at an ESL family literacy class inCalifornia, 24-year-old Brenda Ríos1 came in with her daughter Nathaly and told her teacher that she was feeling nervous. It turned out that Brenda had decided to start driving without a license because as an undocumented immigrant she was ineligible to apply for one. When her teacher commented that if she were Brenda’s mother, she would tell her not to, Brenda replied that she had already talked on the phone with her mother in Nicaragua, who had advised her to go ahead. ESL family literacy classes, focused on the educational needs of 1 Names of persons and places are pseudonyms. 166 TESOL QUARTERLY immigrant parents, have been promoted as one solution to educational