ABSTRACT
English-language learners, including students relocated under a refugee status, are the largest growing demographic in US secondary schools. It is likely the US will continue to support relocation of refugee populations in the future, including school-age youth with limited and interrupted formal education. In 2001, approximately 3,000 Sudanese male refugees were provided political refuge in the US, and then family members have relocated to be with them. Recent research with adult Sudanese refugee experiences acknowledges the importance of storytelling and language brokering, but few studies have looked at literacy practices of school-age refugee youth. The voices of Sudanese adolescents, a small sample of students with limited and interrupted formal education enrolled in US classrooms, deserve to be heard by teachers, scholars, and policymakers. Research has demonstrated that adolescents in secondary schools are not writing enough or performing proficiently on national writing assessments.
