Afghan Refugee Women’s Agency in Learning to Read in English

This article reports a descriptive case study conducted at a community-based adult English language program over 7 weeks. The participants were three Afghan refugee women, who were at beginning-level proficiency in English without prior education and native language literacy. Although phonics is a recommended approach for beginning-level literacy instruction, its effectiveness depends on how actively learners engage with the instruction. This study investigated the benefits of contextualized phonics-based instruction, focusing also on learner agency (engagement and resistance) during the instruction. Based on analysis of class observation notes, teacher reflections, lesson materials, and pre- and post-test scores, the findings are presented as learner profiles, describing their gains in literacy skills and patterns of engagement and resistance. The patterns of resistance are discussed as the result of the value discrepancy between the teacher and the participants. The article recommends that resistance be viewed as valuable feedback from learners and be incorporated when making instructional decisions.