Acquiring Academic Language Practices in Prison in Aztlán: Fake It Until You Make It

Abstract

This study explores schooling in prison for young Chicano bilingual men as they work toward their GED. Using Gee's notion of “mushfaking,” the study focuses on the experiences of two young men, Benny and Flaco, who partially acquire, use, value, and believe in the power of academic register Discourses for “sounding smart” in a social context that call for mushfaking those Discourses. Mushfaking was defined as the temporary use of social practices that provided access to academic vocabulary and language practices of others and participation in an imagined community of high school subjects associated with “sounding smart.” Mushfaking allowed Benny and Flaco to keep their identity affinities as bilingual Chicano young men while they developed the knowledge and practices to get by in school and eventually to take the GED exam. Both Benny and Flaco passed the exam and earned their GEDs in prison by mushfaking academic language practices.

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