Becoming a Citizen

"Becoming a Citizen makes a unique contribution to the existing scholarship on citizenship processes by empirically investigating how the naturalisation process is experienced with an explicit focus on language practices. This ethnographically informed investigation focuses on W., a Yemeni immigrant in the United Kingdom during the last eleven months of the citizenship process. In this time, he encounters linguistic trials 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 data allows for a nuanced portrayal of the complexities becoming a citizen, a particularly significant contribution since the UK's move towards an assimilationist form of citizenship, reflected in the introduction of a citizenship test within a broader socio-political climate which promotes the use of English. Drawing upon a wide range of theorists, from philosophy, psychology and linguistics, this book offers a detailed analysis of the process of becoming a citizen and makes an original contribution to the area of citizenship in language testing, sociolinguistics, sociology and ethnic relations."--Bloomsbury Publishing.