Immigrant Success Stories in ESL Textbooks

Immigrant Success Stories in ESL Textbooks TREVOR GULLIVER Bishop’s University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Immigrant success stories found in English as a second language (ESL) textbooks used in government-funded language instruction in Canada imagine Canada as a redeemer of immigrant newcomers Through a critical discourse analysis of ESL textbooks used in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada classes in Ontario, I identify two primary strategies of legitimation: positive self-representation/ negative other-representation (van Dijk, 2000) and the maintenance of a low orientation to difference (Fairclough, 2003), despite a feigning of dialogicality The stories of these immigrant newcomers follow a very similar narrative pattern that legitimates periods of economic hardship, social exclusion, and personal struggle However, they overwhelmingly represent hard-working immigrant newcomers as successful and appreciative of the opportunities provided to them by Canada I conclude by arguing that ESL teachers should recognize that the diverse experiences of newcomers may not align with these repetitive imaginings of Canada as a redeemer of immigrant others doi: 10.5054/tq.2010.235994 IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS He came to Canada with only $108 in his pocket His first Canadian home was a $10-a-week rooming house Today, he is a wealthy real estate and hotel entrepreneur He drives a Mercedes sedan and lives in a 16,500-square-foot mansion in Toronto’s exclusive Bridle Path neighbourhood (Zuern, 2005, p 23) tories of newcomers to Canada in adult English as a second language (ESL) textbooks are often immigrant success stories that imagine Canada as a place in which hard work and good character are rewarded with eventual financial or emotional success In these stories, the wide and varied experiences of newcomers to Canada are represented using the same—almost ritualized—narrative patterns Through this repeated patterning, most stories become evidence of Canada’s role as a redeemer, and support an imagining of Canadians as welcoming S TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 44, No 4, December 2010 725 This article emerges from doctoral research investigating how ESL textbooks used in government-funded language instruction construct Canadian identities that position students in relation to an imagined community of Canada (Gulliver, 2009) Analyzing 24 textbooks used in government-funded language instruction in Ontario, I found that ESL textbooks made representations of Canada and Canadianness that included and excluded student readers, participated in banal nationalism (Billig, 1995), and legitimated particular—sometimes gendered and racialized—understandings of Canada In the current study, I select texts from the textbooks identified in Gulliver (2009) that tell of the experience of particular immigrants, and I argue that they perform the mythopoetic function of legitimating Canada and Canadianness The article begins with a brief literature review of studies of nationalizing discourses in ESL textbooks, a discussion of forms of legitimation identified through critical discourse analysis, and an explanation of the method I used to identify texts for analysis I continue with an analysis of these stories of immigrant success, demonstrating that they subtly legitimate periods of economic difficulty and social exclusions that are experienced by some immigrants to Canada Furthermore, they imagine Canada positively as a place in which hard work and sacrifice are rewarded, while, often, implying or explicitly stating negative things about the quality of life and opportunities available in other nations ANALYZING DISCOURSES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS Textbooks matter Textbooks, often presented as authoritative, obligatory, and correct, are an influential discourse type through which powerful discourses enter the classroom (van Dijk, 2001) Textbooks in Canadian ESL classrooms both implicitly and explicitly present students with representations of ‘‘Canadian’’ culture, and both teachers and students ‘‘must react to them, thus positioning themselves and articulating their own sociocultural (dis)identification with the characters and themes’’ (Duff & Uchida, 1997, p 470) Univocal portrayals of immigrant experiences teach students understandings of a nation that are, by virtue of their being in the textbook, authoritative As obligatory parts of the curriculum, textbooks carry the status of official discourses, making any nationalizing, racializing, and gendered representations of these textbooks deserving of critical attention Textbooks draw upon a number of sources but often integrate them in such a way that they construct the appearance of seamlessness, suppressing the dialogic interaction between these voices, with the narratives that have achieved hegemony being the closest to the surface 726 TESOL QUARTERLY Textbooks, including first and second language textbooks, present students with discourses that may support national policies, globalization, or westernization According to van Dijk (2004), the influential discourses presented in textbooks, including racist prejudice and nationalist ideologies, are shaped by and involved in the reproduction of dominant ideologies Similarly, Suaysuwan and Kapitzke (2005) stated that ‘‘students learn not only subject matter from textbooks, they also acquire values, interests, and knowledge that form desires, habits, and identities’’ (p 79) Ndura (2004) proposed that in ESL classrooms ‘‘instructional materials play the role of cultural mediators as they transmit overt and covert societal values, assumptions and images’’ (p 143) It is, therefore, ‘‘very important to examine the content, activities, and ideologies represented in textbooks’’ (Duff & Uchida, 1997, pp 470–471) and the role they play in reproducing dominant ideologies (van Dijk, 2004) Textbooks intended for immigrants may position newcomers within gendered and racialized national communities Pavlenko (2005) described an Americanization campaign in which the classes and texts ‘‘aimed to socialise the women into middle-class values and femininities linked to domesticity and consumerism’’ (p 276) The texts in the classroom presented gendered realities in which men were more closely linked to the public domains of work and citizenship while women were linked to the domestic sphere According to Auerbach (1986), textbooks used in competency-based adult ESL education often teach ‘‘language functions of subservience, such as apologizing and following orders’’ (p 418) and offer a curriculum aimed at fostering the language capacity for only certain minimum wage jobs Textbooks reproduce discourses that often reinforce nationalizing or globalizing agendas Schneer (2007) found that Japanese English textbooks—caught between the powerful demands for schools in Japan to disseminate both nationalising and internationalising discourses—present national cultures as objective facts, misrepresenting them, and ‘‘often reinforcing stereotypes and an us-and-them mentality’’ (p 605) Canagarajah (1993) found that a U.S English as a foreign language textbook, used in one Sri Lankan university, assumed ‘‘an urbanized, technocratic, Western culture that is alien to the students’’ (p 609) and promoted consumerism, industry, and upward social mobility with traces of racism while presenting itself as value free Other researchers have found in ESL textbooks authoritative discourses related to areas of economics, the natural environment, religion, social control, gender roles, consumption, and everyday life (Chen, 2005; Lee, 2005; Liu, 2005; Ndura, 2004; Porreca, 1984; Suaysuwan & Kapitzke, 2005) IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 727 The research cited above originates in a variety of teaching contexts and connects with differing sociopolitical concerns The issues involved vary with the status of the learner in the country, the status of the language in the country, whether they involve first or second languages, and threats to the learners and language I mention them here to show that concerns about hegemonic discourses in textbooks are widespread and of importance to language teachers in a variety of contexts, including those teaching English to newcomers to Canada In this study, I examine a particular type of narrative—immigrant success stories—and the authoritative discourses that they reproduce, which position immigrant newcomers in relation to the imagined-community of Canada ANALYZING CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY IN IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES Stories of origins, discussions of values, and descriptions of culture foster the imagining of a nation as a just, sovereign, and limited community (Anderson, 2006), justifying its nationhood and the power that is exercised in its name Descriptions of a national culture offer points of inclusion and exclusion, through which one is invited to position oneself in relation to this society Stories of national heroes, national monuments, and national moments imagine into being a community—a people with a shared history and a culture Critical discourse analysis of these stories of nation enable us to draw attention to the strategic remembrance taking place, the places in which the stories have been edited to recall certain elements of the story over others, the suppression of counternarratives, and the strategies that lend weight to some ideological presumptions or downplay others In the immigrant success stories analyzed, I identify two significant forms of legitimation: positive self-presentations combined with negative otherpresentations and a feigning of dialogicality Canada is imagined positively throughout these texts, whereas other nations are more negatively presented Furthermore, these texts often legitimate this authoritative discourse of benign and banal nationalism by reducing or suppressing difference while maintaining the appearance of being open to dialogicality Feigned Dialogicality and Orientations to Difference Bakhtin (1981/2000) proposed that texts always contain a degree of dialogicality—a term used to characterize the ways in which texts are informed by other texts and other voices This dialogicality, however, can 728 TESOL QUARTERLY be displayed more or less explicitly The ways in which a text positions voices in relation to other voices and discourses in relation to other discourses is, according to Fairclough (2003), suggestive of the text’s orientation toward difference and can be seen as part of a power struggle within the text Fairclough (2003) wrote, ‘‘When the voice of another is incorporated into a text there are always choices about how to ‘frame’ it, how to contextualize it, in terms of other parts of the text—about relations between report and authorial account’’ (p 53) Voices may be introduced as those of the author or those of others more or less supported by the author The authorial voice of the text may respond to other voices that are presented more concretely and directly or more abstractly and indirectly The authorial voice could contain elements of differing or competing discourses (p 53) A text could even feign explicit dialogicality by introducing an imaginary interlocutor so that one might dramatically acknowledge difference but rescue sameness (p 48) The more dialogical options for framing other voices in a text include contradicting voices from differing discourses that challenge or problematize the assumptions of other voices in a text These voices would be directly quoted or summarized concretely Less dialogical options would be the indirect reporting of other voices, inclusion of other’s voices that support only the main contentions of the text, or the framing of opposing voices in a way that distances their claims from those of the authorial voice Fairclough (2003) proposed a number of ‘‘orientations to difference’’ (p 41) that can be identified in texts These are presented from the most open to difference—the most openly intertextual and explicitly dialogical—to the least open to difference—the most apparently monological and least openly intertextual Texts can demonstrate: (a) an openness to, acceptance of, recognition of difference; an exploration of difference, as in ‘‘dialogue’’ in the richest sense of the term; (b) an accentuation of difference, conflict, or polemic, a struggle over meaning, norms, or power; (c) an attempt to resolve or overcome difference; (d) a bracketing of difference, a focus on commonality, solidarity; and (e) consensus, a normalization and acceptance of differences of power which brackets or suppresses differences of meaning and norms (pp 41–42) Texts may combine these orientations to difference in various ways (Fairclough, 2003, p 42); therefore, any claims that a particular text displays a particular orientation to difference is a matter of interpretation The orientation to difference in texts is particularly interesting when examining how identities are constructed A low orientation to difference IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 729 in texts works toward the construction of identities as stable, coherent, and knowable, whereas an openness to difference can foreground some of the heterogeneity of social positions and the competing and contesting possible identity claims that could be performed In reading these immigrant success stories, I observe that the texts often appear to open themselves up to some degree of dialogicality by introducing different voices, but they so in such a way that these voices say little or are used to support the assumptions of the text Although the level of intertextuality—‘‘the presence of actual elements of other texts within a text’’ (Fairclough, 2003, p 39)—is apparently increased, the orientation to ideological differences remains low in these normalizing and consensus-oriented texts I refer to this strategy of introducing other voices that not result in a more open orientation to difference as feigned dialogicality, by which I mean texts may become, on the surface, more intertextual while simultaneously containing and limiting any counternarratives or competing understandings that these voices could introduce Positive Self-Presentation/Negative Other-Presentation In any construction of group identity, the overarching principle seems to be one of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation (selfdeprecating humor not withstanding) Van Dijk (2000), observing that ‘‘discourse on immigration and ethnic relations is largely organized by the binary US-THEM pair of ingroups and outgroups’’ (p 84), suggested that this principle can be expanded into four possibilities that can form an ‘‘ideological square’’ (see Figure and van Dijk, 2000, p 44) Van Dijk (2000) noted that, as language has various ways to emphasize or de-emphasize meanings, this strategy can be observed in a number of different features of language through various types of analyses FIGURE Ideological square 730 TESOL QUARTERLY Researchers can identify various features of texts that participate in the emphasizing or de-emphasizing of traits ascribed to particular social actors Generic Structures Some genres of texts can be characterized in terms of their ‘‘generic structures’’—their ‘‘organization into well-defined stages’’ (Fairclough, 2003, p 86) Although Fairclough (2003) noted that not all texts can be analyzed in terms of potentially ideological generic structures, such an analysis is of ‘‘more value to strategic, purpose-driven genres’’ (p 72) as such texts are more likely to be highly ritualized, with predictable elements occurring in specific sequences Some elements of a generic structure may not always occur, and others may occur in different places within the text However, through identification of the generic structures of texts, critical discourse analysts can tease out the strategic purposes and ideological relations of these texts In my analysis of immigrant success stories, I identify five elements that reoccur in the majority of texts and I discuss the strategic purpose of each element SELECTION OF TEXTBOOKS AND TEXTS Through a survey of Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) teachers in Ontario (Gulliver, 2009), I gathered the names of textbooks used in the LINC program in Ontario and selected 24 textbooks from this list The purpose of this survey was to verify that the textbooks analyzed were used in government-funded language education, but it was not intended to make claims as to the statistical representativeness of particular discourses Selection of the Texts From the textbooks identified through the survey as being used by LINC teachers in Ontario, I selected 24 textbooks Twelve books were selected due to widespread use (8 or more definite responses; Azar, 1999, 2003; Azar & Hagen, 2006; Berish & Thibaudeau, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, 1997d, 1998a, 1998b; Zuern, 2003, 2005, 2007) I also included 12 less commonly used textbooks in order to see what variety of discursive construction strategies might be identifiable Six books were selected randomly from those identified by more than one but fewer than eight respondents (Bates, 1991; Cameron & Derwing, 2004; Carver, Fotinos, & Cooper, 1993; Kingwell, Bonkowski, Stephenson, & Holmes, 2005; Molinsky & Bliss, 2001; White, 1997) Six books were selected randomly from those identified by only one respondent (Acosta, 1995; Berish & IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 731 Thibaudeau, 1999; Molinsky & Bliss, 1994; Olsen, 1984; Shapiro & Adelson-Goldstein, 1999; Swan & Walter, 2001) From these textbooks, I have identified as immigrant experience stories all stories in which the experiences of one individual immigrant or immigrant family were discussed I have not included stories that discuss immigration in general but without reference to individual immigrants I refer to immigrant experience stories as immigrant success stories if a positive outcome is presented within the text After excluding two stories that described immigration to countries other than Canada and focused on fictional characters (Molinsky & Bliss, 2001), I identified 40 immigrant experience stories in the identified textbooks Only of 24 identified textbooks contain immigrant experience stories narrating immigration to Canada Although the majority of these stories are drawn from three identified texts, Ontario Reader 2003, 2005, and 2007 (Zuern, 2003, 2005, 2007), other texts—Being Canadian (Cameron & Derwing, 2004), Canadian Concepts (Berish & Thibaudeau, 1997d), Canada Coast to Coast (Acosta, 1995), and Canadian Snapshots (Kingwell et al., 2005)—also contain immigrant experience stories Because Ontario Reader draws its texts from newspapers and other media, I suspect that immigrant success stories reflect larger social discourses on Canada and its role as a redeemer of immigrant others (Roman & Stanley, 1997) Of those 40 immigrant experience stories, 80% (32) presented a positive outcome, in which the newcomer adjusted or successfully adapted to their life in Canada; 15% (6) presented an ambivalent outcome of partial success, uncertainty about the future, or success despite some regrets; and only 5% (2) presented a negative outcome, in which the newcomer did not succeed in Canada IMAGINING CANADA IN IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES The clientele of the LINC program is adult permanent residents of Canada who have been in the country for less than years (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, 2006) Perhaps for this reason, many of the identified textbooks contain stories about new Canadians and the experiences of immigrants In this section, I examine some of those texts and the representations they make Immigrant success stories, as they appear in these identified textbooks, are stories of hope and determination—the overcoming of struggle and hardship They are stories of brave individuals who left behind much to build a better life and, who, through hard work, patience, and sacrifice, succeeded They are good stories with happy endings Such stories may offer hope to those who find themselves lost 732 TESOL QUARTERLY and lonely in a new country They may give courage to those who are struggling through poverty and economic abuse They also, however, present Canada as a land of opportunity in which the hard-working almost invariably succeed At times, they even imply that those who not succeed are lacking in the qualities and character required for success Immigrant Success Stories as Redemptive Narratives I analyzed these immigrant success stories to see if they shared any commonalities in narrative structure I found that the stories follow quite similar narrative patterns, through which the varied and individual experiences of these immigrants have been transformed into a shared story of Canada as a place where diligent immigrants of good character succeed and feel grateful A typical example of this pattern is the story of Frank Stronach, described as one of Canada’s great entrepreneurs (Zuern, 2003): Frank Stronach was born in Austria When he was 14, he became an apprentice tool and die maker Restless and ambitious, he emigrated to Canada at age 22 For three years, he washed dishes, worked as a machinist, and saved his money In 1957, he started a tool and die company in Toronto He worked long hours, and slept on a cot next to his machinery A year later, he had 10 employees In 1959, he got his first auto-parts contract with General Motors Stronach never looked back Today, his company has sales of $11 billion a year and 67,000 employees in 19 countries Part of Stronach’s success is due to his management philosophy From the start, he believed that employees should share in the company’s profits and ownership ‘‘I’m a great believer in luck,’’ Stronach says ‘‘The harder I work, the more luck I have.’’ (p 25) This text includes all the typical features of immigrant success stories: Mention of the immigrant’s departure from country of origin and/or residence and arrival in Canada; mention of a period of emotional and/or financial struggle; discussion of eventual financial, emotional, or personal success; attribution of the immigrant’s success to hard work or good character; and a direct or indirect quotation expressing the newcomer’s feeling of achievement and success Immigrant success stories recontextualize events, substituting, deleting, rearranging, and adding details in ways that present Canada as a redeemer of immigrant others (Roman & Stanley, 1997) IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 733 Departures and Arrivals These narratives often mention reasons for the choice to immigrate to Canada that emphasize positive things about Canada and negative things about the country of origin Newcomers come to Canada: ‘‘to build new lives’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 39); because ‘‘it was ‘one of the few countries where you could come as a professional independent immigrant’’’ (Zuern 2007, p 57); to ‘‘have a better life for their children’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 39); because ‘‘Canada is good for new immigrants’’ (Zuern, 2003, p 51); and because of ‘‘its history as a nation of immigrants and its reputation as an accepting society’’ (Zuern, 2003, p 51) Poverty or struggles in the country of origin or residence are often mentioned: ‘‘Kang, 67, grew up in poverty on a small farm near Seoul, Korea’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 25); the Ha family fled Vietnam because ‘‘they knew they had to escape Their lives were in danger.’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 39); Lai Nguyen’s ‘‘family convinced him to leave Viet Nam because they were sure he would be found and killed Lai left for Thailand on a crowded boat’’ (Cameron & Derwing, 2004, p 127) Some texts explicitly compare opportunities in the country of origin to opportunities in Canada: ‘‘‘Foreigners cannot own property there (Dubai) You cannot buy a house,’ says Jaura ‘It was so nice to be in Canada and to be able to buy a home—it is good to have a home of your own’’’ (Zuern 2003, p 35); and ‘‘Gretchen and her husband thought that Canada would be a better place to live; they were against the war [in Viet Nam] and wanted to leave the political situation in the United States’’ (Cameron & Derwing, 2004, p 127) Through these descriptions of reasons for immigration, the discourses of the text perform the ‘‘ideological square’’ (van Dijk, 2000, p 44), which emphasizes ‘‘positive things about us’’ and ‘‘negative things about them,’’ thus contributing to the portrayal of Canada and Canadian immigration policies as benevolent and redemptive A Period of Struggle Most immigrant success stories relate a period of economic difficulty either in Canada or prior to coming to Canada Articles quite commonly mention minimum wage jobs, underemployment, employment in jobs for which the immigrant was overqualified, difficulty finding any job, the need to volunteer in order to gain Canadian experience, or difficulty finding a job in the newcomer’s field They also mention less than desirable living conditions such as apartments that were too small for growing families: The family’s first Canadian home was a small one-bedroom apartment in Montreal Margie furnished it with old mattresses and furniture she found on 734 TESOL QUARTERLY the street For two years, Margie and John worked at different factory jobs They struggled with learning a new language and living in a new culture (Zuern, 2003, p 23) Loneliness or difficulties in adjusting are also discussed Some newcomers are said to have felt self-doubt and regret: ‘‘During the ‘darkest days’ of his life, Zombori wondered why he had given up a luxury lifestyle to become a nobody in Canada’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 21) Periods of struggle also include dissatisfaction in one’s job (Zuern, 2003, p 5), difficulty finding satisfying work in one’s field (Zuern, 2007, pp 61–62), life-threatening illnesses (Zuern, 2005, p 47), and the cold and changeable weather (Cameron & Derwing, 2004, p 127) These descriptions of periods of struggle, which appear in 90% of texts, could be interpreted as subtle critiques of Canada and its integration of newcomers However, Canada is rarely identified as a cause for these struggles Instead, these texts reaffirm that a period of struggle is to be expected and appreciated: ‘‘When I look back, I really appreciate those tough days,’’ he said ‘‘You learn so much during tough times It is really rewarding because it shows you how fragile life can be You learn not to take things in your life for granted.’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 21) The struggles are treated as inevitable, if unfortunate Immigrants are encouraged to prepare for and even expect that their qualifications may not be recognized and that they may have to accept jobs outside of their field: In Zuern (2005), Julius Zombori learned that he could be more successful if he did not mention ‘‘his doctoral degrees and memberships on the boards of some Hungarian companies’’ (p 21) on his resume when applying for jobs in Canada Eventual Success Although difficulties are acknowledged, they are overcome The majority of the immigrant experience stories identified (80%) were also immigrant success stories: Margie and John Vincent de Paul are refugees from Sri Lanka They arrived in Canada in 1986 with their five young sons and $36 Today, after a lot of hard work and sacrifice, the Vincent de Pauls are an immigrant success story (Zuern, 2003, p 23) Immigrant success stories, included in identified texts, discussed the immigration, struggles, and eventual success of many small-business people and professionals but also included the much more dramatic IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 735 successes of Jack Hoang, owner of ‘‘one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 47); Michaeălle Jean, Governor General of Canada (Zuern, 2007, p 65); Nina and Gurmant Grewal, ‘‘Canada’s first husband-and-wife team in Parliament’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 43); Tommy Douglas, Premier of Saskatchewan in 1944, who was ‘‘voted the greatest Canadian’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 47); and Frank Stronach ‘‘one of Canada’s great entrepreneurs’’ (Zuern, 2003, p 25) Success is usually financial or occupational (Zuern, 2003, 2005, 2007) and often in owner-operated businesses (Zuern, 2005, 2007) Success also comes, however, through public recognition and the opportunity to give something back to the community (Zuern, 2005) Reasons for Success The predominant pattern in these immigrant success stories is one in which immigration to Canada, followed by a period of struggle, results in appreciated success This success is almost always attributed to hard work and personal character: ‘‘‘I knocked on a lot of doors,’ Gupta says proudly’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 23); ‘‘‘I worked daytime at the factory and I went to night school to get my high-school diploma I was determined,’ she said’’ (Zuern, 2007, pp 39–40); and ‘‘When the recruiter asked about his Canadian experience, Jamil said, ‘Just give me a week to prove myself I won’t hold you back If I don’t the job well, I’ll step out of it and go.’ He was hired on the spot’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 57) These personal characteristics are sometimes given prominence and mentioned in the headlines and subheadings of the texts: ‘‘Positive attitude helps teen learn languages’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 57); ‘‘Sunflowers: Refugee couple’s success story is about hard work and sacrifice’’ (Zuern, 2003, p 23); and ‘‘Story of struggle and hard work’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 65) The articles attribute success to personal characteristics such as ‘‘determination’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 49) and a ‘‘positive attitude’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 57) Planning, preparation, a willingness to learn English, and a willingness to volunteer or work for less than expected are also mentioned as reasons for eventual success (Zuern, 2005, 2007) Reasons for Failure The failure of other immigrants, on the rare occasions that it is discussed at all, is usually attributed to their lack of the positive qualities discussed in the immigrant success stories Shirley Zeng (Zuern, 2005) is said to believe that ‘‘many newcomers are afraid to open themselves up They isolate themselves from English speakers’’ (p 57) She hopes to ‘‘focus her energy on the positive things in life and have a positive attitude’’ like her mother, who, despite having given up a job as a university professor in China to work low-paying jobs in Canada ‘‘never 736 TESOL QUARTERLY expresses any sadness or complains about it’’ (p 57) In a discussion of how five recent immigrants succeeded in finding satisfying work, the failure of other immigrants to the same is discussed: ‘‘What’s most important? All five said don’t associate with ‘whiners’—people with a negative outlook Stay positive and don’t give up your dream’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 49) Such criticisms of newcomers are often attributed in the articles to successful immigrants, a discursive strategy that deflects any criticism of racism and an example of feigned dialogicality Where negative opinions of immigration to Canada are expressed, they are vague, attributed to unidentified agents, whiners or many newcomers These attributions can be contrasted to the specific, named, and positive immigrants presented in the articles: Prior to immigrating, Jamil Ahmad ‘‘spoke to people who had been to Canada Some complained; others said it was worth the sacrifice’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 57) By presenting successful immigrants as specific social actors while unsuccessful immigrants remain the abstract and untopicalized ‘‘some’’ who complain, the texts emphasize ‘‘our good things’’ (van Dijk, 2000, p 44)—Canada as welcoming to immigrant newcomers—while deemphasizing ‘‘our bad things’’ (p 44)—Canada as a place in which newcomers may be unsuccessful By keeping references to social agents who may produce a counternarrative abstract and negative, the texts participate in the ‘‘ideological square’’ identified (p 44) When including the voices of others in the form of direct quotations, the texts increase their apparent intertextuality Having the named and topicalized newcomers of the article become responsible for critiques of immigrants who not succeed, however, supports the authoritative voice of the text in its positive depictions of Canada Affirmations of Success Half of the immigrant experience stories (20 of 40) end with a direct or indirect quote from the immigrant that suggests a positive outcome, gratitude to Canada, or a desire to give back Many successful immigrants are cited as feeling fortunate, happy, or grateful for the opportunity that a life in Canada has made possible: ‘‘At last, they were reunited They would build a new life together in Canada’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 35); ‘‘When asked what she likes the most about Canada, Farah said, ‘Canada is a wonderful country; I am very grateful for the chance to bring up my daughter in peace People can build their lives here’’’ (Cameron & Derwing, 2004, p 126); ‘‘When asked why he likes Canada, Lai said that freedom is very important to him He also likes the standard of living; it’s a good place to raise his children The only thing he doesn’t like is the changeable weather’’ (Cameron & Derwing, 2004, p 127); ‘‘Gretchen says that she is always happy to come back to Canada, her chosen home Gretchen thinks that Canada is strong because people are IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 737 proud of their heritage, and diversity is welcome’’ (Cameron & Derwing, 2004, p 127); and ‘‘Maybe life in Canada will be OK after all’’ (Berish & Thibaudeau, 1997d, p 4) These quotes often attribute success to good character, hard work, or the opportunities available in Canada Immigrant success stories often end ‘‘happily ever after’’ with reunited families (Zuern, 2007, p 35) Others are quoted as wanting to express their gratefulness by giving back The story of Fahima Osman, who succeeded in becoming a medical doctor despite great hardship, ends with an indirect quote expressing Osman’s ‘‘strong desire to use her medical knowledge to help people in developing countries’’ (Zuern, 2005, p 53) These declarations of gratefulness and success are attributed to immigrants in these articles and take the form of direct or indirect reports As such, they appear to increase dialogicality These short reports of others’ voices, however, reaffirm the central message of the texts—that Canada is a place in which hardworking newcomers who think positive succeed As the appearance of dialogicality is not supported by the concrete representation of the opinions of others, I consider these reports to be examples of feigned dialogicality Alternative Immigrant Experience Stories Some stories break from the usual patterning of immigrant success stories Of the two (5%) immigrant experience stories that presented a negative outcome, one is that of Joe and Elizabeth Ferreira (Zuern, 2007, pp 45–46) The Ferreira Family’s immigrant experience story appears in a longer article titled ‘‘Underground economy: Working in Canada illegally’’—one of the only articles in a series of 13 articles on ‘‘Canada’s Immigration System’’ (Zuern, 2007, pp 29–45) that contained both arguments for and against changes to current Canadian immigration law Beginning with a discussion on the ‘‘thousands of people [who] live and work in Canada illegally’’ (p 45), the text participates in a ‘‘numbers game’’—the use of quantification to enhance the sense of danger posed by refugees or immigrants (Baker & McEnery, 2005, van Dijk, 2000)—suggesting that the number of illegal immigrants in Canada may be 40,000 in ‘‘Toronto’s construction industry alone’’ or perhaps 200,000 in Canada (Zuern, 2007, p 45) An abstract and untrustworthy social agent—some people—argues the case for changes: ‘‘Some people believe illegal immigrants should receive an amnesty’’ (p 45) and ‘‘some people also say Canada’s immigration system is the problem’’ (p 45), making the argument that Canada’s economy would benefit from an amnesty The voice of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a much more specific social agent, is introduced to argue 738 TESOL QUARTERLY against an amnesty, claiming that if Canada does not uphold its immigration laws ‘‘people will continue to come here illegally’’ (p 45) The voices of two illegal immigrants to Canada are added to those of some people The Ferreira family whose refugee claim was rejected ‘‘wonders why Canada is deporting hard-working people’’ (Zuern, 2007, p 45), and Roberto ‘‘an undocumented construction worker from Honduras’’ (p 45) argues ‘‘We jobs that Canadians don’t want We contribute to your economy We pay for your health care, your pension systems But we can never use these services’’ (p 45) The topicalization of the illegal status of some immigrants at the beginning of the article positions the Ferreira family and Roberto, not as failed refugee claimants with few options, but as illegal immigrants and undocumented workers, thus further marginalizing them and reducing their credibility By constructing the Ferreira family and Roberto as untrustworthy social agents and attributing criticisms of Canadian immigration systems to the social agent some people (p 45), these texts participate in the ideological square (van Dijk, 2000, p 44), delegitimizing negative depictions of the in-group Although the article—one of the few texts that argues for immigrant reform in any of the identified textbooks— devotes much of its space to arguments supporting relaxation of restrictions on immigration, those arguments are not attributed to social agents with a high degree of public credibility Kingwell et al (2005) presented three immigrant experience stories that vary significantly from the pattern of immigrant success stories (pp 13–14) These three stories are among the five (15%) immigrant experience stories that present ambivalent outcomes Before reading, student readers are invited to think about the challenges young refugees might face as they attempt to ‘‘adjust to living in Canada’’ and to ask ‘‘What can we learn from these young people?’’ (p 12) The first story describes Mading, a refugee from Sudan now living in Surrey, British Columbia, who experienced racist violence after arriving in Canada but now works as a facilitator at an Immigrant Services Society Program Unlike the majority of texts, which treat struggles experienced by newcomers as inevitable, Mading, characterizing Canada as a mountain, implies that Canada is a cause of these struggles: ‘‘This is Mount Canada I was at the bottom of the mountain when I came here at 13 Racism and bullying were so overwhelming I couldn’t climb the mountain So I went back down’’ (p 13) The story of Francisco emphasized the higher socioeconomic status of his life in Guatemala that was given up for the relative safety of Canada Unlike the many immigrant experience stories that focused on material wealth, Francisco argues, ‘‘material things aren’t worth anything Not without peace’’ (p 13) Nathalie Lozano, a refugee from Columbia, speaks about the open drug use in Canada that ‘‘would never happen in my country’’ (p 14) She also describes IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 739 experiences of racial violence in Canada, the loss of social status associated with immigration, and the tighter financial constraints upon her family in Canada Nathalie also describes experiences of violence during her early days in Canada: ‘‘A group of Latin boys started asking me questions in English, but I didn’t know even how to say hello So I didn’t talk to them and they thought I was being rude After class they kicked me That day I cried so much’’ (p 14) In each of these articles, the decision to move to Canada is presented with some ambiguity and ambivalence The new Canadians’ voices are brought in through direct quotes that describe both positive and negative aspects of their life in Canada These three stories vary from the patterning of immigrant success stories in the following ways: They mention both positive and negative things about the immigrant’s departure from their country of origin and express ambivalence about coming to Canada; they explicitly discuss the ways in which racism, language loss, Canadian immigration policies, or other aspects of their Canadian experience made the integration into Canadian culture more difficult; finally, rather than unwavering gratefulness to Canada for a better life, they express ambivalent or negative outcomes The majority of the stories contain relatively few quotes from newcomers, with the quotes they contain reinforcing the authoritative discourse of the text With an increase in dialogicality, however, the texts begin to display a greater orientation to difference In stories that more extensively quote newcomers, the newcomers often display feelings of ambivalence, mentioning also positive aspects of their country of origin and negative things about Canada Explicit critiques of Canada are relatively rare in these texts and almost never occur in texts that not extensively quote the immigrants they discuss SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION In immigrant success stories, I find a number of discursive patternings that work toward a positive depiction of Canada as a redeemer of immigrant newcomers These redemptive stories, drawn from newspapers and other sources, become not stories about the newcomers’ experiences but an exercise of legitimation, through which Canada and Canadian immigration policies are legitimated The majority of immigrant experience stories emphasize positive qualities about Canada and about successful newcomers They discuss reasons that newcomers came to Canada and the better life that Canada was believed to offer They often emphasize negative things about the country of origin of these newcomers Accounts of unsuccessful 740 TESOL QUARTERLY immigrants, however, often emphasize negative qualities about the newcomers themselves Very few immigrant experience stories expressed a more ambivalent view and presented both positive and negative experiences in both Canada and the country of origin Immigrant success stories often present themselves as engaging with different voices, including the voice of the newcomer, the voices of other immigrants, and the expectations of Canadians They this, however, without straying from the repeated presentation of Canada as a redeemer of newcomers I have referred to this increase in dialogicality without a corresponding increased orientation to difference as feigned dialogicality In these texts, immigrant voices often reaffirm Canadian benevolence and the choice to immigrate They also critique those immigrants who not successfully integrate into Canadian society In very few of the immigrant experience texts examined, newcomers critique Canada or Canadian immigration policy explicitly Without consulting the newcomers presented in these stories in an attempt to trace out a more original and fuller account of their experiences, it is difficult to say precisely how these stories may have been recontextualized—what has been deleted, how rearrangements have altered the text, and what has been lost through substitutions That these stories follow remarkably similar patterns, however, suggests that recontextualization has taken place I argue that these stories of newcomers legitimate the pain that newcomers experience by representing these hardships as inevitable but transitional economic struggles and character-building experiences that will transform them into hardworking and successful members of the national community These hopeful stories may give courage to newcomers during difficult times, and that may very well be the intention of the authors of these texts Some newcomers may be able to imagine better futures for themselves in these tales of economic and personal success and may use their imaginings to shape their social worlds Teachers of English to newcomers, however, should be careful to acknowledge the diversity of newcomers’ experiences that may lead the students to not recognize themselves in these stories Newcomers may also be able to identify with Mading, Nathalie, and Francisco (Kingwell et al., 2005) and find in their more critical constructions support for a growing awareness of issues of social justice necessary for critical citizenship As teachers, it is our responsibility to become aware of the role that instructional materials play in the promotion of discourses that marginalize newcomers by subtly blaming them for economic hardships while depicting the our nation as a place where newcomers are predominantly successful ESL classes can be (and, no doubt, in many cases are) a place in which teachers and students disrupt the dominant IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 741 nationalizing discourses that imagine the immigrant-receiving nation as a redeemer of grateful newcomers ESL textbooks and teachers can nurture students’ sense of agency in a new and challenging environment by increasing their orientation to difference Providing more significant space in the textbook and the classroom to a wider variety of immigrant experiences and immigrant voices will increase the level of dialogicality and the orientation to difference in ESL textbooks The opportunity to encounter a diversity of discourses—a necessity of any education for critical citizenship— disrupts authoritative imaginings, making room for a wider variety of subject positionings The range of perspectives made available in the classroom should include those that critique as well as praise immigration policies and acknowledge immigrant failure as well as success Opening up our classrooms—and, more specifically, our instructional materials—to a wider range of discourses does nothing to diminish this hopefulness Acknowledging a diversity of perspectives adds to this hope a sense of trust that the learners will be better able to critically engage with multiple representations in these texts A diversity of perspectives disrupts the already-imagined communities and authoritative discourses so as to foster more inclusive imagining communities that critically engage in discussion about who we are and who we want to be Such a range of textual presentations continues to hope for better futures for our learners but adds to that hope an explicit recognition of the critical agency that those learners can bring toward their lives and learning and integration into their communities ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr Timothy J Stanley for extensive comments on earlier versions of this article I am also grateful to anonymous reviewers for careful reading and valuable comments THE AUTHOR Trevor Gulliver is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Que´bec, Canada, where he is involved in the growth of the new Bachelor of Arts double major in English Second Language Teaching and Secondary Education REFERENCES Acosta, J (1995) Canada coast to coast Scarborough, Canada: Nelson Canada Anderson, B (2006) Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Rev ed.) London, England: Verso 742 TESOL QUARTERLY Auerbach, E R (1986) Competency-based ESL: One step forward or two steps back? TESOL Quarterly, 20, 411–429 Azar, B S (1999) Understanding and using English grammar (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Azar, B S (2003) Fundamentals of English grammar (3rd ed.) White Plains, NY: Longman Azar, B S., & Hagen, S A (2006) Basic English grammar (3rd Ed.) White Plains, NY: Longman Baker, P., & McEnery, T (2005) A corpus-based approach to discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in UN and newspaper texts Journal of Language and Politics, 4, 197–226 Bakhtin, M (2000) Unitary language (C Emerson & M Holquist, Trans.) In L Burke, T Crowley, & A Girvin (Eds.), The Routledge language and cultural theory reader (pp 269–279) London, England: Routledge (Reprinted from The dialogic imagination: Four essays, pp 269–295, by M Holquist, Ed., 1981, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press) Bates, S (1991) Amazing! Canadian newspaper stories Scarborough, Canada: PrenticeHall Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1997a) Canadian concepts (2nd ed.) Scarborough, Canada: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1997b) Canadian concepts (2nd ed.) Scarborough, Canada: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1997c) Canadian concepts (2nd ed.) Scarborough, Canada: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1997d) Canadian concepts (2nd ed.) Scarborough, Canada: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1998a) Canadian concepts (2nd ed.) Scarborough, Canada: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1998b) Canadian concepts (2nd ed.) Scarborough, Canada: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada Berish, L., & Thibaudeau, S (1999) Amazing stories to tell and retell (Vol 1) Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company Billig, M (1995) Banal nationalism London, England: Sage Cameron, J., & Derwing, T (2004) Being Canadian (2nd ed.) Saint-Laurent, Canada: Pearson Longman ESL Canagarajah, S (1993) Critical ethnography of a Sri Lankan classroom: Ambiguities in student opposition to reproduction through ESOL TESOL Quarterly, 27, 601– 626 Carver, T K., Fotinos, S D., & Cooper, C (1993) A Canadian conversation book: Book one Scarborough, Canada: Prentice-Hall Canada Chen, J.-J (2005) Official knowledge and hegemony: The politics of the textbook deregulation policy in Taiwan In Y Nozaki, R Openshaw, & A Luke (Eds.) Struggles over difference: Curriculum, texts, and pedagogy in the Asia-Pacific (pp 59–77) Albany, NY: State University of New York Press Duff, P., & Uchida, Y (1997) The negotiation of teachers’ sociocultural identities and practices in postsecondary EFL classrooms TESOL Quarterly, 31, 451–486 Fairclough, N (2003) Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research London, England: Routledge Gulliver, T (2009) Imagining Canada, imagining Canadians: National identity in English as a second language textbooks (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ottawa, Canada) Dissertation Abstracts International, 70(10), AAT NR52332 Kingwell, G., Bonkowski, F J., Stephenson, L., & Holmes, T (2005) Canadian snapshots: Raising issues Saint-Laurent, Canada: Pearson Longman ESL IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 743 Lee, D B (2005) New ideologies of everyday life in South Korean language textbooks In Y Nozaki, R Openshaw, & A Luke (Eds.), Struggles over difference: Curriculum, texts, and pedagogy in the Asia-Pacific (pp 117–129) Albany, NY: State University of New York Press Liu, Y (2005) The construction of culture knowledge in Chinese language textbooks: A critical discourse analysis In Y Nozaki, R Openshaw, & A Luke (Eds.), Struggles over difference: Curriculum, texts, and pedagogy in the Asia-Pacific (pp 99–115) Albany, NY: State University of New York Press Molinsky, S., & Bliss, B (1994) Word by word: Picture dictionary Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Regents Molinsky, S J., & Bliss, B (2001) Side by side Student book (3rd ed., Vol 1) White Plains, NY: Prentice Hall Regents Ndura, E (2004) ESL and cultural bias: An analysis of elementary through high school textbooks in the Western United States of America Language, Culture and Curriculum, 17, 143–153 Olsen, J (1984) Look again pictures: For language development and life skills Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (2006) Learning English and French Retrieved from http://www.settlement.org/site/FIRSTDAYS/english_and_ french.asp Pavlenko, A (2005) ‘‘Ask each pupil about her methods of cleaning’’: Ideologies of language and gender in Americanisation instruction (1900–1924) The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8, 275–297 Porreca, K L (1984) Sexism in current ESL textbooks TESOL Quarterly, 18, 705– 724 Roman, L G., & Stanley, T (1997) Empires, emigre´s, and aliens: Young people’s negotiations of official and popular racism in Canada In L G Roman & L Eyre (Eds.), Dangerous territories: Struggles for difference and equality in education (pp 205– 231) New York, NY: Routledge Schneer, D (2007) (Inter)nationalism and English textbooks endorsed by the Ministry of Education in Japan TESOL Quarterly, 41, 600–607 Shapiro, N., & Adelson-Goldstein, J (1999) The Oxford picture dictionary (Canadian ed.) New York, NY: Oxford University Press Suaysuwan, N., & Kapitzke, C (2005) Thai English language textbooks, 1960–2000: Postwar industrial and global changes In Y Nozaki, R Openshaw, & A Luke (Eds.), Struggles over difference: Curriculum, texts, and pedagogy in the Asia-Pacific (pp 79–97) Albany, NY: State University of New York Press Swan, M., & Walter, C (2001) The good grammar book Oxford, England: Oxford University Press van Dijk, T A (2000) Ideology and discourse: A multidisciplinary introduction Retrieved from www.discourses.org/UnpublishedArticles/Ideology and discourse.pdf van Dijk, T A (2001) Critical discourse analysis In D Tannen, D Schiffrin, & H Hamilton (Eds.), Handbook of discourse analysis (pp 352–371) Oxford, England: Blackwell van Dijk, T A (2004) Racism, discourse and textbooks: The coverage of immigration in Spanish textbooks Paper presented at the Symposium on Human Rights in Textbooks, Istanbul, Turkey Retrieved from www.discourses.org/Unpublished articles Teun A van Dijk.html White, J (1997) Listen to the loon: An intermediate listening program Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press Zuern, G (2003) Ontario reader 2003 for English as a second language and literacy learners Toronto, Canada: Newcomer Communications 744 TESOL QUARTERLY Zuern, G (2005) Ontario reader 2005 for English as a second language and literacy learners Toronto, Canada: Newcomer Communications Zuern, G (2007) Ontario reader 2007 for English as a second language and literacy learners Toronto, Canada: Newcomer Communications IMMIGRANT SUCCESS STORIES IN ESL TEXTBOOKS 745 ... appearance of being open to dialogicality Feigned Dialogicality and Orientations to Difference Bakhtin (1981/ 2000) proposed that texts always contain a degree of dialogicality—a term used to characterize... Routledge (Reprinted from The dialogic imagination: Four essays, pp 269–295, by M Holquist, Ed., 1981, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press) Bates, S (1991) Amazing! Canadian newspaper stories