Deliberating Immigration Policy: Locating Instructional Materials within Global and Multicultural Perspectives

Abstract

Numerous theorists have identified a need for students to learn to solve global concerns in an increasingly interconnected world. The issue of immigration policy is one such concern. This study analyzed the texts of two programs teaching deliberation and U.S. immigration policy. The purpose of the study was to analyze instructional materials that are deliberative in structure and identify the range of deliberative stances regarding global, nation-bound, multicultural, and mainstream perspectives in order to detect overarching ideological stances. A narrow range of deliberative stances or perspectives was indicative of an overarching ideological stance. Findings suggest that both sets of instructional materials studied are predominantly nation-bound in perspective; National Issues Forums contains mainstream perspectives of immigration policy, while Choices for the 21^st Century Education Program contains some “transformative” multicultural perspectives of immigration policy.