“But how could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?” An ESL/ESP class for Catholic immigrants

<p>The U.S. Catholic population has a larger proportion of immigrants than the U.S. population at large. The majority of Catholic immigrants come from Latin America and are not native speakers of English. In this qualitative study, I interviewed nine Catholic immigrants from Latin America to better understand their experiences of navigating their Catholic faith in the United States and the role an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) class could play in helping them successfully adjust to United States Catholicism. Findings suggest that, beyond a general ESL class, an English-for-specific-purposes class, capitalizing on the universality of Catholicism and specialized for Catholic prayer, liturgy, sacraments, and community life, could equip immigrant Catholics to live their faith in English. English Language Teaching (ELT) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) professionals are encouraged to be more attentive to their students’ spiritual needs, and Catholics conducting outreach efforts, including ESL classes, are encouraged to specialize their ESL classes to assist students in ways other ESL programs cannot.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

World Languages

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Tillotson, Mary C.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ildiko Porter-Szucs, Ph.D.
• Francis Feingold, Ph.D.
• Elisabeth Morgan, Ph.D.

• Catholicism
• culture
• ESL
• immigrants
• Latin America
• religion
• Religious Education
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/973

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2366