The Story of a Course, School, First Language and Home: A Qualitative Discourse Analysis of the Voices of Refugee Students and their Teacher

This study, seeks to understand the pedagogical and ethical dilemmas of the instructor when teaching an online undergraduate education course on multiculturalism and multilingualism in educational contexts to refugee students living in UNHCR refugee camps in Kenya. It asks questions about first-language loss, longing for home, and schooling experiences as expressed in the writings of students in that education course. The theoretical framework of the dissertation is informed by an ethical, social justice pedagogical perspective, refugee studies, postcolonial studies related to linguistic imperialism, and theories of bilingualism, multilingualism, and second-language acquisition. The dissertation intends to create a space for pedagogical inquiry through autoethnographic reflection, reflexive teaching, and discourse analysis of student and teacher voices. The study hopes to contribute new knowledge related to questions about first-language maintenance and second-language acquisition in the schooling of children in refugee camps.