Forever FOB

Employing a conceptual framework informed by theories of cultural production (Lave & Wenger 1991; Levinson Holland 1996; O’Connor 2003; Willis 1977, 1981), and using notions linguicism (e.g., Skutnabb-Kangas 2000) identity “markedness” (Bucholtz Hal 2004), I examine how an ESL subject position is locally produced adolescents Asian Pacific Islander descent in one high school classroom. Arguing that “ESL” this context signifies exoticized linguistic Other – what some students refer to as “FOB” (“fresh off the boat”) analyse series classroom interactions which long-term “generation 1.5” resist being positioned FOB, first challenging their teacher’s positioning, second, positioning newcomer classmate instead. While they thereby relationally distinguish themselves “non-FOB,” these students’ actions reproduce same had ostensibly been resisting. conclude considering ways reproduction might somehow be interrupted.