Contemporary Young Adult (Im)migration Fiction in the EFL Classroom

Introduction

And none of it mattered. None of it mattered because she was, as she had always known, one of the kids stuck in between. (Marquardt, Dream Things 241)

I just feel like it’s unfair, that my whole life is unfair, like I was born into the wrong place and family. I never belong anywhere. (Sanchez, Mexican Daughter 236)

A strange mix of sadness and pride overtook him, and for the first time in his entire life, he finally felt connected to his Mexican side. Everywhere he’d been, Efrén had witnessed signs of courage, people not different from himself refusing to give up. He shook his head, remembering all the times he’d corrected Max and Mía for speaking Spanish, insisting that they learn the only language that mattered. Now, he understood why Amá and Apá continued to speak Spanish to them, even when they themselves needed every opportunity to practice their English. He’d been born Mexican American. Only he’d forgotten about his Mexican part. (Cisneros, Efrén 208)

His future will be fairly simple: stay here until he turns eighteen and then work the streets back in México, begging for food and scrounging through dumpsters for anything he can find. Returning to work for Don José would only remind him of everything he wants to forget. There’s no future for him. He’ll do nothing, be no one. (Diaz, Santiago’s Road 253)

These young Mexican-Americans face the problems of hopelessness, a sense of not belonging anywhere, a feeling of in-betweenness, of cultural separateness and of doubleness. As both Mexicans and Americans, they are “positioned between the culture of the parents and the dominant American culture that surrounds them” (Padilla 478). YA (im)migration literature depicts these challenges. It focuses on the protagonists’ transcultural identity formation. Readers are familiarised with culturally relevant themes, such as cultural differences and diversity in terms of norms, values, behaviour and language. They also gain insight into the diversity and heterogeneity of American society, and they can adopt different perspectives and re-examine their beliefs; this makes the genre ideally suited for use in the EFL classroom because of its “special didactic potential” (Freitag-Hild, Theorie 4), even though it is not explicitly written for classroom purposes. The protagonists’ (transcultural) identity formation and their encounters with alienation and discrimination mirror the teenage readers’ movement toward adulthood and the corresponding awakening to an understanding of his or her self and the world around them. Consequently, these texts offer opportunities for identification and afford educational benefits like the “promot[ion of] intercultural learning and transcultural understanding” (Freitag-Hild, “Teaching Culture” 170).

What sparked my interest in YA (im)migration literature, in particular, was the so-called refugee crisis in 2015, when a million migrants and refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, crossed into Europe. Pictures of mass migration dominated the media and the school rooms, which strongly influenced how people perceived the issue: xenophobia and exclusion, on the one hand, and support and inclusion, on the other hand, were the contrasting reactions that the refugees encountered. As the discussion of current affairs is central to the EFL classroom, especially in senior school, I tried to find authentic texts, apart from newspaper articles and TV reports, that would foster personal involvement, support the learners’ “awareness and understanding of the global issues of emigration, immigration, and trafficking” (Parsons and Rietschlin 130) and promote empathy and perspective-taking. YA (im)migration literature seemed an appropriate genre because it mirrors universal themes like belonging and being excluded, growing up in adverse conditions, and coming of age. It also provides a window through which students can perceive and understand what it means to leave one’s country and settle in another. As Mexicans are the largest group of immigrants in the United States of America, depictions of their migratory experience, of their attempts to become part of American society and of their in-betweenness appeared suitable for my purpose.

Even though many texts dealing with young adult (im)migration experiences have been published in the past twenty years, only very few attempts to define and categorise these texts have been made. David Cowart and Heike Paul, whose research exclusively focuses on adult texts, and Amy Cummings and Joanne Brown, who explore young adult literature (YAL), cover different characteristic aspects of (im)migration literature, but they do not provide an exhaustive definition of this genre of YAL. In my definition, I combine aspects identified by these four critics and add characteristics of YAL, such as the intended readership, the narrative perspective and the reader’s role as a generator of meanings. The constituents identified are applied to selected novels to prove their validity.

The theme of identity construction is a common occurrence in YAL, especially in YA (im)migration literature, where transcultural identities take centre stage. Wolfgang Welsch’s theory of transculturality is an appropriate starting point for the concept of transculturality because it is characterised by internal diversity, open borders, interconnectedness and cultural blending as a consequence of globalisation (195–197). He, however, does not acknowledge the predominance of certain groups in society who exert more or less influence on culture formation to a greater or lesser degree. Moreover, he does not expand on the context of transculturality. Gloria Anzaldúa, my second source, focuses on the borderlands as the location of transculturality, thus providing the context of this concept. Additionally, she presents the new mestiza, who can tolerate contradictions and ambiguity, as the personification of transculturality.

Applying the idealistic concept of transculturality and what it encompasses to teaching literature is of utmost importance. Nordin et al., for example, postulate the exploration of the “transcultural experience […] and the challenges it poses to individuals and society alike” (x) as a central concern of contemporary literature. What is true for literature, in general, is also applicable to YA (im)migration literature. Nordin et al. do not expand on factors that influence the transcultural experience; I, however, identify several contextual factors on identity construction, such as migration laws and government measures, the journey to the United States and the border experience, belonging and exclusion, language and coming of age. Examples from selected novels illustrate how these challenges manifest themselves in various combinations and impact upon the protagonists’ identity construction. Supporting the theoretical underpinnings with examples from YA (im)migration novels contributes to this field of inquiry.

My approach to teaching YA (im)migration literature in the EFL classroom is mainly based on Werner Delanoy’s idea of the redefinition of the role of the reader (“Literature Teaching” 20), the modification of the “concept of the canon” (20) and the “shift towards theory mixing” (20). Freitag-Hild’s approach (Theorie) to transcultural learning is another influence, as is the critical literacy approach (Janks “Critical Literacy in Teaching and Research”). The guiding principles in my teaching sequence are the focus on a text ensemble, the four stages of teaching as suggested by the New London Group (Bobkina and Stefanova 686–691; Cazden et al. 85–88), and the literary competences as proposed by Grit Alter and Ulla Ratheiser (“A New Model of Literary Competences and the Revised CEFR Descriptors”). What sets my sequence apart from Freitag-Hild’s is my focus on a text ensemble, the combination of reader-response criticism with the critical literacy approach and the division into four stages instead of Freitag-Hild’s pre-, while- and post-reading stages. I also provide focus questions¹ and assessment criteria based on the CEFR, the Companion Volume and The Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture for the tasks included in the unit planners. Task design is informed by Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (Anderson et al. 66–91) to guarantee differentiation for mixed-ability groups and to promote learner autonomy.

My corpus encompasses eleven YA novels, one short story, several poems, factual texts, TED talks and YouTube clips. Apart from considerations such as the year of publication, the focus on migration from Mexico to the United States, and the protagonists’ age, I use Freitag-Hild’s criteria for reading material aimed at transcultural awareness (Theorie 77–80) because, like her, I have in mind transcultural awareness, empathy and an understanding of global issues as the aim of my teaching sequence. For me, it is essential that the texts were published in the past fifteen years, between 2006 and the present, because I think reading more recently published books in the classroom is more appropriate and motivating, especially with a topic like (im)migration. Another reason for choosing 2006 is that two outstanding novels focusing on immigration from Mexico to the United States were published this year: Ann Jaramillo’s La Línea and Reyna Grande’s Across a Hundred Mountains, which I consider classics in the genre and which I wanted to include. The stories of both documented and undocumented teenagers (boys and girls) who entered the country as minors and teenage identity formation (hybrid and transcultural) as the central topic should be presented. The selected texts must be culturally relevant representations of literary themes. They should promote an experience of difference, allow a change of perspective, and offer multiperspectivity and intertextuality. The selected texts should be relevant to the learners, cater to their interests, and be connected to their lives. Last but not least, they should be appropriate in terms of language and length of texts for B1+/B2 approaching C1 level learners aged between 16 and 19.

In the first chapter, I provide a viable literary definition of YA (im)migration literature. Defining YAL is problematic for three reasons: for one, some critics² ignore YAL because they think it only serves the purpose of teaching its readers a lesson, guiding them towards moral behaviour and conveying messages. They claim that YAL does not have any literary value. Secondly, other critics³ think that YAL and children’s literature are alike and share the same characteristics. Thirdly, many of the definitions originate from scholars who conduct research in the field of teaching literature.⁴ In addition, YAL, focusing on (im)migration, is a relatively new field of research. The comprehensive definition of (im)migration literature in this thesis combines and questions definitions provided by both literary critics and educational scientists. Additionally, key features and recurring themes of YA (im)migration literature are identified and illustrated with extracts from selected young adult novels.

In the first part, I also discuss the important issue of “authenticity”, both with a consideration of the origin of the authors and a focus on the readers in general and the EFL classroom in particular. Authorial, textual, and reader authenticity⁵ are the three aspects considered in this section. Authorial authenticity refers to the cultural background and language use of the authors. Textual authenticity is guaranteed when particular settings and the characters in the novel are portrayed authentically and when “representatives of the said context” (Mettler 163) consider these depictions as culturally authentic. Reader authenticity mainly concerns the question of who is entitled to criticise and evaluate the authenticity of a work of fiction.

The second chapter discusses transculturality and its theoretical basis of cultural hybridity. As contemporary literature offers insight into the “transcultural experience [and the] challenges it poses to individuals” (Nordin et al. x), selected young adult migration narratives that depict the situation of undocumented and documented teenagers are analysed. Factors that contribute to their identity formation are examined critically: The impact of migration laws and government measures on the protagonists’ transcultural identity construction is illustrated with the help of Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt and Joyride by Anna Banks. La Línea by Ann Jaramillo and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez show the influence of the migratory experience on the main characters’ identity formation. Belonging and exclusion are central issues in Illegal by Francisco X. Stork and in Veronica Chambers’s The Go-Between. The significance of language for the protagonists’ identity formation is of paramount importance in Illegal by Bettina Restrepo and in What Can(t) Wait by Ashley Hope Pérez. Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero and “First Crossing” by Pam Muñoz Ryan mainly focus on the protagonists’ coming of age.

In the third chapter, the focus shifts to the teaching of YA (im)migration literature. As a first step, I explore the reader’s role as a generator of meaning. The active reader implies that the teacher’s role has to be redefined: instead of being imparters of knowledge, they are reconceptualised as facilitators of the reading process. Secondly, the changes to the concept of the canon are addressed, and new selection criteria for YAL used in the EFL classroom are presented. Thirdly, the idea of theory mixing⁶ is presented, focusing on essential key concepts, such as reader-response criticism, a critical literacy approach, stylistics, cultural studies and narratology. These theories correspond to the four stages proposed by the New London Group: situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice (Cazden et al. 85–88), and to the six levels of abstractedness of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (Anderson at el. 66–91): remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. Finally, the impact of standardisation and the Common European Framework of Reference on teaching and assessing literature are explored.

The final subchapter presents a framework for teaching YAL focusing on migration from Mexico to the United States and a teaching sequence, which is informed by my forty-year experience as a secondary school teacher. My teaching sequence focuses on a text ensemble⁷ consisting of four YA novels (Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros, Santiago’s Road Home by Alexandra Diaz, Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt, and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez), a short story (“First Crossing” by Pam Muñoz Ryan), selected poems by José Olivarez (“(Citizen) (Illegal)”, “My Parents Fold Like Luggage” and “Mexican American Disambiguation”), passages from non-fiction texts, published between 2010 and 2020 (Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America by Roberto G. Gonzales, Latinos in the United States: What Everyone Needs to Know by Ilan Stavans and Divided by Borders: Mexican Migrants and Their Children by Joanna Dreby) as well as TED talks and YouTube clips. The unit planners provided offer teaching ideas for the four novels for each of the four stages, including learning objectives and suggestions for assessing the literary competences promoted by the different tasks.

Finally, I would like to make a few comments on terminology, formatting and spelling. I use the term YA (im)migration literature throughout my thesis because it points to the fact that “a linear, one-directional movement of immigration is no longer at the core of many literary texts” (Paul 3), as protagonists in the novels selected sometimes move back and forth, from Mexico to the USA and the other way around. I use British English spelling and punctuation conventions throughout my thesis, even though quotes from the primary sources use American English spelling. I created my works-cited list and in-text citations using the MLA template of core elements as suggested in the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

1 In Differentiation in Action, Judith Dodge suggests using “focus questions” to formulate the learning objectives. They cover the key concepts and essential ideas a teacher has in mind when planning a lesson/a sequence of lessons (p. 32).

2 For example, Ruth Graham openly criticises YAL in her article “Against YA: Adults Should Be Embarrassed to Read Children’s Books” or Deborah Stevenson, who assigns YAL to a “canon of sentiment” (112).