English Children Literature for Exploring Immigrant Identity in a Language Classroom

The purpose of this article is to propose a possible way to integrate cultural knowledge into English teaching by using children literature. It also presents an alternative method for researchers to investigate personal identity by using a character from literature as a case study. The article also offers an example of an exploration of the main characters’ identity in Jasmin Warga’s Other Words for Home. The story represented a life of a twelve-year-old girl from Syria who left behind the war torn city order to live in United States. Her identity formation process was analyzed through the theory of Symbolic Interactionism. Themes found from her journey of moving into new culture included “self as an English language learner” prior to moving to the United States and “self as an immigrant” was presented when she entered American society. her This teaching method might be useful in promoting English learners to become integratively motivated which can be achieved by understanding the cultural and ideological aspects and by developing a cross-cultural awareness of the how to become part of community that speak the target language.


Introduction
From the beginning of May, 2021, Thailand has experienced the social movement phenomenon emerged from new Facebook group "Let's Move Abroad" with more than 650,000 members who share tips on moving, studying and working abroad as they want to migrate overseas to get a higher standard of living due to the frustration of how Thai government managed COVID-19 pandemic. The "Let's Move Abroad" page has caught the attention as this hashtag among top Twitter trends, has sparked much discussion, debate and backlash about the state of Thailand as members have voiced their anger about the country' political and medical management situation (Bangkok Post, 2021).
This social phenomenon arouses interests of the Thai people, as well as global citizen, in many ways such as immigrant resettlement, identity shifts when moving to new territory or threats for international movement in present global situation. Accordingly, migration has been a topic of inquiry in the Social Sciences for decades and continues to be an interesting topic for further exploration because a major impact on the population can be found, and how difficult it is for migrants to assimilate into the host society (Hollifield, 2020). Moreover, moving and staying in new places can be linked to English language teaching as the notion of 'integrativeness'a desire to learn a language in order to "come closer to the other language community" (Gardner, 2001,pp. 5) has been one of the focus in English language education for decades.
This type of global issue can be linked to English classroom because teachers can lead students to the current news topic so they might see importance of raising cultural awareness where false model of racial myths can be eliminated. Then, sustainable way of preventing hate crime can be promoted by introducing cultural diversity awareness for global citizen to learn and to respect all cultures around the world. Brakas & Pittman-Smith (2005) saw culturally diverse children's literature as a possible way for youth to link themselves to an outside world, so they can learn to have a broader view of the world beyond their personal experiences.
For this reason, this article is aimed at presenting one possible way to allow exploration of self-identity while learning about cultural diversity by using a story of a young adolescent moving to live in the United States. This article also shows a practical way to investigate the main character' identity by identifying different factors in life according to Symbolic Interaction theory, so readers and researchers may see an alternative method of exploring personal identity change.
Reading and identifying how a character has shifted and changed her identity through encountering events in life is deemed to promote cultural knowledge.

The chosen book
The book entitled "Other Words for Home" (Warga, 2019) was launched in 2019. It recounted how a young refugee girl-Jude tried to make sense of herself as an immigrant in a new world. At the age of 12, the protagonist came to live with her relatives in Ohio because of the severity of Syrian civil war. That was where her identity trajectory began. This book was chosen because it contains the plot about immigrant experiences which is one of the topics in intercultural communication course. Moreover, the length is appropriate for students whose language proficiency are at pre-intermediate level to finish reading without language barrier. The authors aimed at using this book to allow the university freshman to read in one of the compulsory course; therefore, the language simplicity and engaging content were the key criteria.
In the first place, her longing for family togetherness was tremendous. For example, she managed to reach out to her father via Skype, but it would never be enough; Also, it concerned her greatly that her elder brother was not in contact for a long while since he went to help in Aleppo, one of the most dangerous spots in Syria. In the meantime, she had to reconnect with her uncle's family after years of separation, as there seemed to be a tension between Jude and her unfeeling cousin. On a socio-cultural level, Jude encounters challenges as well. For one thing, she attempted to figure out why she was not simply treated as a girl, but instead labelled as: Middle Eastern Muslim. For another, exposed to danger, destruction and death in the war-torn area, Jude is prone to suffer from displacement behaviour. This behaviour, according to Bucholtz & Hall (2005), might arise when a person is surrounded by those whose belief, language and action are different. Inevitably, upon her arrival, Jude had to reconcile such war-torn identity in the course of interacting with others.
Throughout the book, Jude has showcased her inner struggles manifested in many different episodes. Evidently, it is not an easy task to navigate herself in an unfamiliar environment when it comes to formulating both her personal identity as an adolescent and cultural identity as Muslim. However, the reality has taught her that it is imperative to learn how to balance her own cultural identity and how to seek social acceptance in a new society. Therefore, it is intriguing to investigate Jude's learning trajectory of how she constructed and negotiated her identity after migrating to the land of freedom, United States, as well as what it means to an immigrant.

Literature review Cultural knowledge in Thai context
In Thai educational context, having cultural knowledge become an essential part of educational initiatives as La Bianco & Slaughter, 2016, p. 204 pointed out that UNICEF has highlighted activities to "ensure a much more engaged education system in the urgent task of fostering social cohesion, overcoming conflict in a durable way and in forging a stronger sense of both personal and communal resilience" (). This implies that learning about other culture is as important as knowing about Thai way of life because the students tend to become global citizens in the near future. However, integrating cultural knowledge in Thai educational system seems to be limited since Thai teachers of English are also more concerned about making their students passing national test or the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET)the national examination in Thailandwhich focus heavily on vocabulary and grammar knowledge (Imsa-ard, 2020). Accordingly, some studies have revealed that foreign English teachers are in better position to integrate intercultural lessons into the English language classroom (Lin, Trakulkasemsuk, Jimarkon, 2020;Loo, Trakulkasemsuk, Jimarkon, 2017). This is the reason why introducing thought-provoking stories might dispel the fears and misunderstandings students may have about another culture and can bring an added measure of harmony to their future encounter with foreigners. Apart from that, having knowledge about cculture can also be defined as a feature of a person's identity, because culture can affect how each person sees themselves and those around them. A person's understanding of their own and other's identities can be shaped by the values and attitudes prevalent at home, schools and in the surrounding community.

Personal identity
For many decades, identity formation has been a focus of research because it is counted as a key developmental task for humans (Erikson, 1968). It is believed that different stages in life embody how humans create a coherent sense of self over time. Therefore, the study of humans in the transitional stage has attracted increasing attention among researchers.
As individuals reach adolescence, they typically begin to reflect on their beliefs, values and life goals. This transitional stage may be a period of change and challenge and is often governed by feelings of anxiety and instability introduced by cognitive, social, and physical changes (Brinthaupt and Lipka, 2002;Erikson, 1968). According to Erikson (1968), the stage of "identity achievement vs role confusion" occurs in adolescence and constitutes a milestone in development. He argued that identity is formed when individuals revise their childhood identifications. It is a process that leads inevitably to crisis. Adolescents who develop an integrated and coherent set of ideals in harmony with their current sense of self and the world achieve a well-defined identity. Conversely, failure to achieve ego synthesis and continuity of a personal character leads to identity confusion. In teaching field, identity has also long been a focus for educators since personals in educational context become more aware of whom they are as teachers by reflecting upon how they position themselves (Aktekin, & Celebi, 2020).
In order to know about how each individual is engaged in the process of self-interpretation via their interaction with different factors, a comprehensive understanding of how people experience the world is crucial. To do this, qualitative method can be a powerful approach to delving into one's experiences when the person has to deal with circumstances surrounding the individual (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000;Norton, 2010). Since the study aims to explore the protagonist's identity formation during adolescence, this approach is deemed suitable.

Factors affecting identity change
When exploring how one forms his/her identity, it seems unavoidable to consider factors influencing each individual. Previous studies have revealed that factors not only contribute to one's decision-making process in dealing with particular situations, but also affects how one views oneself. According to Blumer (1969), there are three factors in light of the formation of one's identity: abstract objects (beliefs), social objects (people associated with the individuals) and physical objects (environment). These categorized factors are in line with the theory of symbolic interactionism, which proposes that human actions are the outcomes of individual interpretations of objects and events (Blumer, 1969). In other words, people are active agents adjusting their behaviour and identity in response to what they encounter. Individuals are premised on a shared understanding of meaning within their social context. Consequently, behaviour is reflected via the shared meaning that objects and concepts have attached to them (Blumer, 1969). Therefore, investigating one identity through these factors within a specific setting makes it possible to look at the identity construction of becoming and being adolescent.

War and identity
Identity development in youth becomes extremely complicated for those who used to live in the war zone. It seems common that forming identity consists of phases for adolescence to prove their own uniqueness. Young individuals in war-ravaged places have to cope with political divisions, religious confusion, and complicated cultural situations. According to Sarouphim (2011), the repetitive wars in the country have left on the people all sources of aggressive dispositions including physical, mental, psychological, and social adverse effects. These kinds of trauma can lead to instability in forming identity as the adolescents seem to grapple with the emotional and physical growth. The disturbances in one's homeland can severely affect the process of self-interpretation of "who they are". If one is in the transitional stage, "a stranger to themselves" might occur (Erikson, 1968).
In case of the chosen book, "Other Word for Home" mainly demonstrates the Syrain revolution where anti-government calls for the president to step down. After decades of autocratic rule by President Bashar Al-Assad, there was an incident concerning torturing those who expressed their political ideas through graffiti paintings in March 2011.This can be seen in the book, "We live in a town where most people do not speak ill of our president. But my brother does. So do his friends who attend the local university". Occupying public space and asserting the power of the individual by spraying tags, statement is a true representation of individual expression, which has been accepted in many countries across the world. However, the security forces in Syria did not allow that to happen. The military attacked protesters and the whole country ended up in a civil war (Kahf, 2013). As the violence got intensified, a great many people were evacuated from their homes. When war-affected people relocate to a new country, the need to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and uncertainty in a new culture. In the process of adaptation, the youth have an extra demanding task, which is acculturation or the process that people acquire the prevailing culture of the society.
The United States, where this story takes place, is known to be a melting pot where many different people with their own cultures all come together and begin to mix. However, it seems that immigrants today are not blended well with the natives, especially when observing from the encouragement to "Take Back America" political campaign. Many American citizens are concerned that immigrants may alter the country's identity or change American' values, customs and ideologies (Mangum, 2019). Some are even reluctant to tolerate people who hold different religious views, speak a different language, speak English with a different accent, or have different skin colour. All this negativity may pose even more challenges for newcomers such as the main character of this novel who came from Muslim culture.
There exists a plethora of literatures related to immigration themes. For example, Liang, Brendler, & Galda (2009) examined nine books for adolescents regarding how characters adapt themselves after heading to the United States. Three main aspects are highlighted: First, the theme is concerned about the main character's home country (i.e., what happened in the home country, providing background why each character has to relocate); Secondly, it is about the journey (i.e., the journey to the United States including critical incidents that make them change the way of thinking or seeing the world), including the transition to the United States (i.e., what happened upon arrival). Additionally, Liang, Brendler, & Galda (2009) noted themes of "expressions of loss, homesickness, and loneliness" (pp. 60) as part of common occurrence that young immigrants tend to go through. In view of the above-mentioned studies, identity formation during adolescence becomes increasingly salient and remarkably triggered by cultural changes, physical development, and societal opportunities and expectations. It is the process that should be closely investigated in order to understand how individuals build the sense of themselves at a certain period of life. In Thai context, moreover, the narrative of migrant workers have also presented in the literature as Jinapant (2019) have concluded that the narrative of immigrants to Thailand during 2002-2012 presented in contemporary Thai literature shows both ethic prejudice they have experienced and the gratitude towards Thailand as a country of hope for marginal people. To learn about these experiences, opening classrooms to texts about the diversity of immigrants will allow critically exploration of migration, equity, and ways of being human as an important global issue (A.Ward, & N.Warren,2020).

Research design
The research approach used was a case study. This is qualitative research approach that can focus on individual involving in certain activity that becomes a research focus. Accordingly, the focus of this research is to describe in detail about what and how is going on an individual in the story who is the research subject (Creswell, 2012). The uniqueness of this study was that the story was coming from the fictional character rather than a real human. To use this character as an example, identity can be seen as a strong premise in many literary texts that teachers can choose to integrate in their classes. Additionally, identities in literature tend to be easily notice since writers always construct several identities in order to achieve interesting characters.

Data collection
The main character' story from the chosen book was used as the data. First, the story was read several times to analyze on the basis of the content and topics of the writer' discourse about self and immigrant identity. Secondly, specific content mentioning about factors affecting the main character 'identity was investigated by using Blumer ' (1969) as a guideline to investigate. Lastly, the linguistic means by investigating themes in the story relating to abstract objects, social objects and physical objects were used to frame conclusions about the hybrid nature of narrated immigrant identity.

Data analysis
From the above mentioned form existing literature, content analysis from the book can be used to group factors affecting Jude's life as a migrant. Blumer's (1969)

Findings
Two themes emerged from the story and the content can be linked to present a journey of identity that Jude has gone through from the beginning to the end of her story as follow; Getting to know the West: self as an English language learner Jude started learning English before moving to the United States. At that time, she mainly used Hollywood movies to absorb English. For her, that is the way to connect to the western world. Different from her peers, Jude showed her willingness to communicate in English. For example, she practiced her conversational skills with her friends and her brother with accurate American accent; she had opportunities to speak English with foreigners since her father owned a shop near tourist attractions; she chatted with a girl from London over entertainment; she was able to catch up with the storyline from subtitles while watching American movies with her new foreign friends as stated "I spent most of the time trying to keep up with the subtitles that rolled across the bottom of screen" (pp.23). Due to her early exposure to English language, Jude considers herself as "a good language user" and has confidence in using general English. This matches the attainment of positive self-concept that represents a desirable goal. Having such positive attitude towards herself, to some degree, leads to her essentialist ideal-self representation that she will be able to use English fluently and understand how western people live their lives. Her interaction with "abstract object" or self-confidence in using a foreign language greatly affects her pre-adolescence stage.
However, Jude's confidence in using English was shattered when she got stuck in the immigration desk upon her arrival in the United States. She knew she had to speak up and clarified the reason why she and her mother came to the country, but the only word passing her mouth was "Yes" when the immigration officer asked if she came here to visit her uncle. Those critical incidents make her realize that learning the local language should be her priority. As Hayes & Endale (2018) have stated, transitioning to a new context unavoidably poses many challenges to immigrants, but we can't pay no attention to the opportunities that are given to immigrants for acculturation. As a result, schools have become a primary place for immigrants to learn languages. This is also true for Jude's case. Later on, she joined an ESL class at a local school, which is valuable for her academic and socio-cultural development.
Jude is highly motivated to learn English because she is eager to mingle with local people in her new home. This thought is aligned with the concept of "integrative motivation" proposed by Gardner and Lambert (1972). Jude is also interested in the culture associated with that language because she typically has a particularly strong integrative motivation for language learning. She slowly absorbs the way Americans think by observing things around her life. For example, she learns that Americans love to label their food and assign names to each type of food. Jude assumes that this way can make them know what to expect. What's more, The United states has a concept of sequential perception of time where things happens as expected in certain time frame and this reflects through the use of language where past, present and future tenses are clearly marked. Therefore, Jude learns to adapt herself and practice using English. In this way, she could make herself understood, as she stated joyfully "I am finally speaking a language they understand" (pp.93).

Moving to the unknown world: self as an immigrant
The importance of "social objects" or people around Jude is reflected in different episodes of her life in America. Her uncle's family are those who mostly comfort her while she was adjusting herself to the new culture. Although her cousin seemed cold to her at first, both of them learnt to get along with each other. However, the initial cold reaction from her cousin made Jude realize her own status as an immigrant, especially if she did not speak English well. Here is a scene that Jude overhears the conversation between Sarah, Jude's cousin, and her mother that "She can't go to my school, she doesn't even speak English" (pp.78). This incident made Jude feel like an outsider of American society for the first time.
Having the negative feeling of not being able to communicate well makes Jude position herself as an immigrant, not a newcomer. For this reason, she feels more comfortable to stay with the same group of adolescents who recently move from other countries in her ESL English class. They have shared the same belief that English plays an important part in cultural assimilation. if they can speak English well, they can be more socially accepted. For them, English is seen as a channel to be more successful in educational attainment, future career opportunities, social assimilation, and mental wellbeing. With this "abstract objects" (beliefs) in mind, Jude started forming her identity as an immigrant by thinking critically about others' views and trying to learn English language well. Jude also got to make many new friends and adapt herself to the American lifestyle. She has a strong belief that she and her fellow immigrant friends are more likely to have higher self-esteem and feel more confident in who they are.
In the classroom setting, Jude found that there was a big gap among immigrant students in terms of academic performance. Although she was good at mathematics in her home country, she was reluctant to be a volunteer because of her language limitation. As she said, "I almost raise my hand, but then I realize I would have to explain my answer not only in numbers but in words". This episode indicates that the effect of physical objects or classroom environment contributes to the way Jude sees herself as an immigrant. In other words, the education system where students are allowed voice their opinions becomes the great barrier to a person like Jude who struggles to produce comprehensible utterances in a foreign language.
Being an outsider at her new school, she learnt to familiarize with the American classroom culture such as practicing her language, learning the currency and taking extracurricular activities. It is worth noting that she immersed herself in the new environment by take part in a school play. The support and encouragement she received from the school drama club made it easier for her to adapt, especially when she was selected to be part of the show. It is also the moment that she has the sense of acceptance. While it is important to offer immigrant students the assistance they need, particularly language support, involving immigrant children into the school system is certainly the most effective way of integrating themlinguistically and culturallyinto their new communities.
Another important incident making Jude feel her identity as an immigrant happens when terrorist attack occurred in the area where Jude lived and this occurrence posed a realistic threat to the American public. Being a Muslim in the area, Jude was verbally attacked by a stranger chasing her to go home. Moreover, she has learnt that " Europe and America no longer want to allow people who come from my country to move to their shores for safety" (pp.167) This affected Jude tremendously in seeing her status as an immigrant as she has heightened levels of racialization, surveillance, and discrimination for the first time. This effect of "social objects" or a person around her makes her consider concealing her identity as a Muslim by removing her headscarf.

Discussion
This study reported the linguistic and cultural learning trajectory of a young refugee girl who immigrated to the USA from Syria. Her experiences uncover and depict a complex process of constructing multiple socially-situated identities that the immigrant learner engaged in during her stay in the U.S, including the identities of an English language learner, a Muslim and an immigrant student. The findings of the study imply the desirable yet emotional nature of the cultural experience for immigrant learners, unveiling the fluidity and complexity of socially situated identities. Corresponding to the results of previous studies (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000;Norton, 2010), this research accentuates the contextual nature of identity and redefines language learning as an ongoing process of self-discovery, self-positioning and identity negotiation.
Previous studies indicate that those who tend to resist changes are more likely to undergo identity confusion (Bucholtz & Hall,2005 ). In their day practice, they firmly hold on to their ethnic heritage and follow cultural customs and traditions. While clinging to what people familiarise with does not raise a big question, it is essential to develop the necessary commitment to the host society. Through participating in community activities, not only does it accelerate one's socialization, but it also leads to formation of a positive self-image such as higher self-esteem, self-acceptance, and self-confidence. As seen in Jude's stories, there have been more than a dozen changes to her life, ranging from her personal development to her own cultural repositioning. According to Sarouphim (2011), many immigrants in the U.S. are faced with tremendous changes such as postponing immigration hearings, pausing deportation flights to certain countries to swiftly removing migrants arrested at the border and suspending refugee admissions. The adjustments to system are being made incrementally, though rapidly, as the pandemic continues to spread across the country.
It can be clearly seen that immigrant seems to go through different stages of adapting, adjusting and suffering when dealing with new culture. The most important factors, according to Symbolic Interactionism theory, contributing to Jude's journey of life seems to be social objects or people around her. Since the beginning of the story, her family members has tremendously shaped the way she is and the way Jude has viewed herself as a good Muslim girls. Abstract objects or belief she has held about being Muslim and being Asian has affected her life in that she had to adjust her behavior when moving to the United States where individualism is the core value. She constantly showed the needs to learn to survive by herself via practicing English as she had to become part of the new society. She regularly presented her desire to become fluent in using the language since she wanted to be part of the target culture which in line with the idea of integrative motivation to learn language. Lastly, physical objects or environment had influenced her in a way that it was a push factor to make her moving out from Syria since the internal war and violent could be harmful to her life. However, after moving out, Jude sometimes found herself an insecure moment when thinking about situation at home. New environment in the United State has shaped Jude to become stronger in a way that she had experienced prejudice of being Asian Muslim.
One of the salient and recurring topics in Jude's narratives is English language, which serves as an integral part of her identity learning. As Gardner & Lambert's (1972) claim, language learners who are integratively motivated are more successful than those who have to learn the language for other reasons. When language learners sense that they need to identify themselves with others in a foreign land, their motivation becomes stronger in terms of adjusting themselves to the new environment. This is aligned with the "social objects" in Blumer's (1969) term. In the case of Jude, the people or "social objects" strongly influence her way of learning English. In order to be socially accepted to the new culture, she has a whole set of expectations, dispositions and preference. Therefore, it is important for individuals to communicate and learn to embark on a cultural integration journey.
For Thai classroom, it might be true as Lin, Trakulkasemsuk, Jimarkon, 2020 and Loo, Trakulkasemsuk, Jimarkon, 2017 pointed out that cultural knowledge in Thai language classrooms tend to be mentioned by foreign teachers. However, integrating English literature into the class can be other alternatives for every school with or without foreign teachers to provoke thinking about cultural knowledge. This happens due to allowing exposure to new ways of thinking and as we absorb whatever resonates for students into both personal and cultural identity.

Conclusion
From investigating Jude's life, English teachers can provoke discussion about advantages and disadvantages of migrating to the new country, together with the needs to use target language effectively to survive in new land. Migrating to other counties in which people were not born is common practice as people tend to seek better opportunities in life. Sometimes, they want to escape economic disparities, poverty or absence of peace and human rights violations. For this reason, moving to new places is believed as a way to improve the quality of life. On the other hand, adapting oneself into the new culture and living condition is hard for everyone since a person might be confused about how to define oneself in a new setting.
Presenting cultural-related topic in English class is helpful in making students learn about the outside world as well as raising awareness of issue such as racism, prejudice or stereotype. Teachers might consider linking Jude's story to the current racist danger as one' nationality might be resulted in hate crime of the target country the person moving in as people know as "hate crime" or violence motivated by prejudice, stereotype or racism. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidents of negative bias and macroaggressions against Asians have also increased and it increases the gap in American society since Asian have historically been viewed as perpetually foreign no matter how long they have lived in the United States (Tessler, Choi & Kao, 2020). The worrisome incident of hate crime has consistently occurred in America since the beginning of the pandemic. The BBC has documented 120 distinct news articles covering alleged incidents of discrimination since the onset of the COVID-19 (Cheung, Feng, & Deng, 2020).The violence occurred because haters do not have adequate awareness and understanding of cultures, recognize common humanity, and foster development of social values (Roulstone & Mason-Bish, 2013). Introducing an interesting phenomenon that had never been recognized by students before can become a good start for promoting students critical thinking where they learn how to express their opinions for increasing their roles in learning process (Syafryadin, Harahap, Haryani, & Astrid, 2021).
In a nutshell, this novel will make the readers realize that having a basic understanding of a certain culture increases one's culture sensitivity. To a great extent, it helps avoid misunderstandings and embarrassment. This valuable skill can be applied to any workplace and daily life. Furthermore, learning other cultures broadens your horizons, which is a good way to absorb new information and view things from different perspectives. Last but not least, you probably will become more open-minded. When you make an effort to understand others, you will find it easier to respect and accept their differences.
Recommendation for future research is that researchers with diverse cultural backgrounds should be included so they can provide multiple viewpoints on a single data set. For instance, someone with more experience in migrating to other country might interpret data through a different lens than a researcher with expertise in classroom teaching. This may lead to richer, more rounded analyses that may reduce subjectivity in qualitative research.

Declaration of conflicting interest
The author state that there is no conflict of interest concerning the publication of this paper.

Funding acknowledgement
The author received no specific funding for this work.