Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

The Latino Cultural Center: Higher Education And The Importance Of Community, Kamilah Mercedes Valentín Díaz

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The Latino Cultural Center (LCC) at Purdue University is 1 of 2 in the state of Indiana, with the other housed at Indiana University. Choosing to pursue higher education has its challenges, but not everyone has access to the same resources or community support that helps make the process easier. The LCC, like the other cultural centers on campus, is vital in distributing resources that aid in student success. They work to create an inclusive environment for the entire campus community by fostering meaningful dialogue and cultural understanding of the Latino/e/x community. They aim to support Latino/e/x faculty and staff …

Resistencia Indocumentada: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Higher Education Undocumented Students In The San Diego-Tijuana Border Region, Adan Escobedo Sanchez

Dissertations

Undocumented students face myriad obstacles while attending higher education institutions that would deter them from completing their academic journeys. Furthermore, they are placed with a dual narrative that labels them as either dangerous or exceptional. This study explored the lived experiences of undocumented students in college in the San Diego-Tijuana border region to consider what factors have led to resilience and resistance in their academic journey. By understanding these factors, the research aimed to tackle the dual narrative that burdens undocumented students from the illegality as a master status they possess.

This study used narrative inquiry and a literature review …

Afterschool Programs: Participation And Belonging In Latinx Students, John Corbolotti

Education | Master's Theses

It is important for students to feel like they belong and that the offering of afterschool programs welcomes them. Afterschool programs develop confidence, engagement, and belonging for students (Fuller et al., 2013). Unfortunately, afterschool sports and extracurricular participation is diminishing and by even greater numbers for students from minority groups (Borden et al., 2006). The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how educators and school communities might increase and promote participation in extracurricular activities, specifically for Latinx students, by hearing from underrepresented Latinx students about their experiences in afterschool programs. There is limited research regarding how mentors and …

Bridging The Gap Between Teacher Efficacy And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy In The Private School World Language Classrooms, Cyrielle Maerten Anthony

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The world language curriculum is not representative of the diversity of the world and therefore, not preparing students to face a culturally diverse work environment. There is a need to build an intentional curriculum about diversity and inclusivity in the world language curriculum and the sense of belonging and the impact on students’ outcomes. Considering that the majority of teachers in Independent private schools are not Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) faculty members, there is a need to increase the number of BIPOC students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate level world language courses and decrease the underrepresentation by …

Cultivating Identities In A Place Called Home: Intersectional, Ever Changing Identities Of Vietnamese American Youth In Culturally Sustaining Spaces, Thuy Vi Nguyen

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Educators and scholars have been advocating for culturally sustaining pedagogies in the classroom that extends, honors, and sustains the cultures and backgrounds of our growing Students of Color population. Moving beyond pedagogies in classrooms, I examine culturally sustaining spaces in culture clubs and community-based organizations and how they cultivate the identity development and sense of belonging of Vietnamese American high school students. I find that these students have complex identities that are intersectional and ever changing, existing outside the Black-White binary. Vietnamese culture clubs provide a space that allows students to belong and express their identity in a positive way, …

Journeying “Home”: Negotiating Belonging As Vietnamese American Việt Kiều, Mary Yee

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

For Southeast Asian young people who left as adolescents from their home countries, their connections to those places are often fraught with ambiguity. As for almost all first-generation immigrant youth, issues of belonging in America have touched multiple aspects of their lives, including issues of identity. Not belonging is the diasporic experience of the immigrant (Christou, 2011; Skrbis, 2008). This qualitative study examined the lived experience of three Vietnamese American young people returning home as Việt Kiều, or diasporic Vietnamese. For these emerging adults, it was an important developmental task to figure out one’s place in the world: one’s belief …

Voices Of Mixed-Race Asian Students On College Campuses, Amy Sara Lim

Honors Papers and Posters

Research suggests that there are a growing number of people who identify as mixed-race Asian Americans, and thus there is a growing need to understand and document their experiences (Literte,2009; Sims 2010; Tamai, Nakashima, Williams, 2017). The central question of this study is: how do mixed-race Asian students’ racial identities affect their identities as learners within social, emotional, academic and physical contexts? The goal of this research project is to explore the educational experiences of mixed-race Asian students at a Southern California university with the intention of developing a critical mixed-race pedagogy for educators and scholars. Through mixed methodologies involving …

The Digital Literacy Practices Of Transfronterizx Esol College Students: Los De Esol, Laura E. Mendoza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims to contribute knowledge to the literature about ESOL students' digital literacy practices related to educational purposes. I studied the varied digital literacy practices the students used as mediating tools to perform their university activities (e.g., crossing to come to school, communicate with classmates/instructors about assignments, completing assignments). This study takes place on the U.S. side of the borderland area of El Paso, Texas-Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The participants were 43 transfronterizx ESOL college students, who were young adults between 18-25 years of age enrolled in the ESOL program at Sun University. I draw on ethnographic and netnographic …

Creating Grace And Space: The Foundation On Which Progressive Educators Build A Sense Of Belonging And Safety For Marginalized Gender And Sexual Diverse High School Students, Lisa M. Ortiz

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This descriptive case study focused on a single high school community which is intentional in its efforts to craft a school culture, fostering belonging and safety in students who are Gender and Sexual Diverse (GSD). The researcher examined the perspectives of classroom-based and non-classroom-based educators, as they strove to articulate how they address the needs of this student-population without negatively impacting academic and other school priorities, and how they incorporate understandings regarding this population into their practice. Through a multi-phase process including interviews, observations, focus group, and document analysis, the researcher explored how seven educator-participants navigate changing demographics both personally …

Universal Design For Belonging: Living And Working With Diverse Personal Names, Karen E. Pennesi

Anthropology Publications

There is great diversity in the names and naming practices of Canada’s population due to the multiple languages and cultures from which names and name-givers originate. While this diversity means that everyone encounters unfamiliar names, institutional agents who work with the public are continually challenged when attempting to determine a name’s correct pronunciation, spelling, structure and gender. Drawing from over a hundred interviews in London (Ontario) and Montréal (Québec), as well as other published accounts, I outline strategies used by institutional agents to manage name diversity within the constraints of their work tasks. I explain how concern with saving face …

Remaking Selves, Repositioning Selves, Or Remaking Space: An Examination Of Asian American College Students' Processes Of "Belonging", Michelle Samura

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Only a few studies have examined Asian American students’ sense of belonging (Hsia, 1988; Lee & Davis, 2000; Museus & Maramba, 2010). Scholars who study Asian American college students have suggested that Asian Americans are awkwardly positioned as separate from other students of color vis-à-vis the model minority stereotype (Hsia, 1988; Lee & Davis, 2000). Furthermore, Asian Americans often are viewed as overrepresented on college campuses, yet they remain under-served by campus support programs and resources and overlooked by researchers. Many Asian Americans have gained access to higher education, but the ways in which they belong on campuses is unclear. …

Uneven Experiences: The Impact Of Student-Faculty Interactions On International Students' Sense Of Belonging, Chris R. Glass, Elizabeth Kociolek, Rachawan Wongtrirat, R. Jason Lynch, Summer Cong

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examines student-faculty interactions in which U.S. professors signal social inclusion or exclusion, facilitating–or inhibiting–international students’ academic goal pursuits. It compares narratives of 40 international students from four purposefully sampled subgroups – academic preparedness (low, high) and financial resources (low, high). Overall, international students’ interactions with professors were marked by joy, trust, anticipation, and surprise. Nonetheless, the narratives exhibit two significant sources of variation: narratives from the low financial resources, high academic preparedness subgroup reflected widely-varied experiences interacting with professors, and narratives from the low financial, low academic preparedness subgroup lacked any descriptions of positive student-faculty interactions.

‘‘Where I’M From’’ And Belonging: A Multimodal, Cosmopolitan Perspective On Arts And Inquiry, Tiffany A. Dejaynes

Publications and Research

The paper draws upon a year-long practitioner inquiry with adolescents who conducted auto-ethnographies as part of a research course in their urban public high school. Through ethnographic data collection, youth researched their own lives, cultures, and beliefs with the end goal of producing multimodal films that represented their embodied senses of ‘‘Where I’m From’’, broadly defined. As youth collected and interpreted culturally and personally meaningful artifacts, stories, memories, and family discourses, the cosmopolitan habits of mind and heart that it is argued are important for nurturing reflective citizens of the world. In the process of video production or self-curation, youth …

Pedagogy Of Post 9/11 United States: Muslim American Students' Experiences, Teachers' Pedagogies, And Textbooks' Analysis, Randa Nabil Elbih

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The events and aftermath of 9/11 continue to cause life changes for many Americans, particularly Muslim American students who have experienced socio-cultural and pedagogic exclusion, harassment and discrimination due to ignorance and misunderstandings. Teachers must inform their students about 9/11 and the War on Terror to eliminate misunderstandings and intolerance towards a vulnerable population. In spite of its importance, many schools have not implemented the topic as part of their curricula. It is not even included as part of social studies state standards. Recent editions of US history textbooks include some information about 9/11 and the War on Terror that …

Student-Faculty And Peer Interactions Among Immigrant College Students Attending 4-Year Research Universities In The United States, Michael J. Stebleton, Krista M. Soria, Marina B. Aleixo, Ron L. Huesman

Michael J. Stebleton

The purpose of this study was to examine student-faculty and peer interactions among immigrant college students attending 4-year research universities in the United States. Using the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) completed by 58,000 students from six research universities, the researchers used analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis to explore differences between immigrant populations. The results suggest that there are significant differences between immigrant and non-immigrant college students in terms of sense of belonging, faculty interactions, and peer interactions. There are also differences within immigrant waves and generational status. Implications and recommendations for educators in multicultural …

Do I Belong Here? Exploring Immigrant College Student Responses On The Seru Survey Sense Of Belonging/Satisfaction Factor, Michael J. Stebleton, Ron Huesman, A. Kuzhabekova

Michael J. Stebleton

The immigrant college student population will likely continue to increase. This exploratory study addresses the questions: To what extent does sense of belonging/satisfaction of recent immigrant college students differ from non-immigrant college students? Do perceived self-ratings of belonging vary by immigrant generations? This research draws on a new extensive data source, the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey. Survey data from the 2009 SERU is based on the responses from 55,433 undergraduate students from six-large research institutions from across the United States. Findings suggest that immigrant students’ perception of their sense of belonging and satisfaction is significantly lower …