Becoming a Citizen: Linguistic Trials and Negotiations in the UK

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Description

This book explores the process of acquiring UK citizenship and investigates how the naturalisation process is experienced, with an explicit focus on language practices. This ethnographically-informed study focuses on W, a Yemeni immigrant in the UK, during the final phase of the citizenship process. In this time, he encounters linguistic trials and tests involving the Life in the UK citizenship test, community life, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), adult education and the citizenship ceremony. The richness of linguistic data featured in this book allows for a nuanced portrayal of the complexities of becoming a citizen. This is especially so in the context of the UKs assimilationist form of citizenship which is reflected in the introduction of a citizenship test within a broader socio-political climate. Becoming a Citizen offers a detailed analysis of the linguistic process of naturalisation in the the UK and is relevant to scholars working in sociolinguistics, language policy, migration studies and ethnographic research.

Reviews

This is a book that inspires reflection. It is thoughtful, accessibly written and scholarly, with rich theoretical insights emerging out of careful ethnography ... The book has much to offer a wide readership, from sociolinguistic ethnographers to those involved in policy and delivery. * Journal of Sociolinguistics *
The book provides a timely contribution to understanding how language testing policy related to citizenship is taken up, resisted and discursively reconstructed by recent migrants and refugees. * Language Problems and Language Planning *
A fine example of scholarship that is informed by contemporary developments in politics and policy ... It combines skilful storytelling with academic rigour. * MoneyControl.com *
What makes this book unique and a must-read for scholars in the fields of migration studies, language testing and related areas is the ethnographic approach that allows to foreground a subject perspective and to trace in detail how a journey to citizenship is experienced by an applicant, how he deals with the challenges and requirements of the procedure and how subject positions and aspirations are negotiated and reevaluated during this process. * Brigitta Busch, University of Vienna, Austria *

Author Bio

Kamran Khan is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain.