Asian American Cram Schools: Linguistic and Ethnic Boundaries in Immigrant Educational Sites

Angela Rosario Reyes

Due to recent educational policies in the United States, the increased importance of standardized testing has left an overwhelming number of minority students struggling in schools. In response to this national crisis, this research study will examine the experiences of immigrant students who are preparing for exams in Asian American cram schools. With the goal of writing a substantial portion of a book on cram schools, this study will analyze ethnographic and discourse data collected over the course of a year at an Asian American cram school in New York City. Preliminary analysis suggests that central to the educational experiences of students at the cram school are the identities and relationships produced through a particular cross-racial classroom dynamic between the Asian American students and their non-Asian teachers. This research study will investigate how students and teachers establish, sustain, or dismantle various types of linguistic and ethnic boundaries between one another in the classroom. Drawing on the linguistic anthropology of education in the close analysis of classroom discourse, this research study will uniquely contribute to the study of language, identity, and education by examining a population, setting, and topic urgently in need of more scholarly attention.

About Angela Rosario Reyes

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