Postsecondary education provides unique opportunities for student development, and universities need to provide an inclusive space for student learning. With an increasingly diverse student population, Canada has seen an increase in the number of immigrants, reaching 21.9% of Canadians in 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017). Although there is a higher participation rate of postsecondary education institutions among first and second generation immigrants than non-immigrants (Finnie & Muller, 2008), not all immigrant students achieve “above-average educational outcomes” (Berger, 2009, p. 61). However, there are very few studies concerning the challenges and learning needs of immigrant students during their postsecondary education in Canada. Quinn …show more content…
Moreover, this assignment will be utilized as a preliminary research for my thesis. This paper will consider a close connection between language and culture, as presented by Hayhoe (1998), in conjunction with Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory as the main theoretical framework. As it considers unique sociocultural contexts to influence student development, each culture mediates distinctive capacity building, in addition to adjustment with social environments that students encounter (Lantolf, 2000). Thus, the paper will explore the sociocultural influences of different institutions on immigrant students’ development of language proficiency and cultural identities, contributing to the development of diversity on …show more content…
Conversely, the authors discovered that many immigrant students do not commit to one or both cultures with a lack of resources to engage in both cultures. Therefore, institutions need to create inclusive environments that consider Canadian culture as a valuable addition to, rather than a replacement of their old identity (Gibson, 1998). Reason (2009) attributed interactions with faculty and peers and the organizational contexts of the institution to be important factors in affecting student persistence in postsecondary education. Although students’ identity development may not be directly influenced, it is crucial for immigrant students to feel a sense of belonging at their institutions to develop their both cultural values. Therefore, institutions need to be responsible in providing equitable opportunities for immigrant students, accordingly to their needs in developing their bicultural identities, along with their academic success. However, previous studies reported a lack of proper accommodations for the learning needs of immigrant students (Sinacore, 2013; Quinn,
The findings and recommendations point to the conclusion that social and structural support for immigrant students should be embedded in curricula where appropriate and systematically included in school and university processes starting before the school experience, continuing through the university and extending up to higher level of education from it.
For more than 300 years, immigrants from every corner of the globe have settled in America, creating the most diverse and heterogeneous nation on Earth. Though immigrants have given much to the country, their process of changing from their homeland to the new land has never been easy. To immigrate does not only mean to come and live in a country after leaving your own country, but it also means to deal with many new and unfamiliar situations, social backgrounds, cultures, and mainly with the acquisition and master of a new language. This often causes mixed emotions, frustration, awkward feelings, and other conflicts. In Richard Rodriguez’s essay “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, the author describes the social, cultural and linguistic difficulties encountered in America as he attempts to assimilate to the American culture. Richard Rodriguez by committing himself to speaking English, he lost his cultural ties, family background and ethnic heritage.
This essay will tackle and explore the effect of language barrier towards new immigrant students in Canada. This paper will look for both positive and negative effect in different aspects. The information obtained in this paper was based on researched articles, Government of Canada website, opinion and views of Immigration and Refugee Citizenship Commission Minister through his speeches, social media posts, and readings about migration.
Stern, G. M. (2009). Why Latino students are failing to attend college. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 75(1), 46-49.
(93) Many immigrant students have to work part-time and face demanding work at school. The most important thing is they only have limited knowledge of English. My friend, as an immigrant student, she always found difficulty in her academic field in the first two years of school in the United States. She worked very hard and checked every word that she didn’t know, but she was still not getting a B or higher. Her sadness and hopelessness covered all her pleasure, and she thought that she would never get a better grade next time.
---. "Immigrant Students and Public Schools: A Fluent Fit - Public School Review." Public School Review - Profiles of USA Public Schools. 15 Apr. 2010. Web. 01 Feb. 2011.
The theme of education and undocumented students has been a key issue for many decades. Undocumented students are often deprived from higher education because of their migratory status. They not only have to face discrimination and fear of deportation, but also after high school, they have to face the crude reality that their dreams of success and educational achievement are far from becoming a reality due to their lack of opportunities. Many personal stories shared in William Perez and Douglas Richard’s book “Undocumented Latino College Students: Their Socioemotional and Academic Experiences.” Relate to their fears, difficult conditions, emotional challenges, limitations, and other circumstances that multiple undocumented students live daily
Diversity among students including differences in culture, language and socioeconomic stance is not a new trend. The difference, however, is that today, the school system realizes that all students, including those who differ in some way from the "average" student, or those “at-risk” must be provided with an equal, opportune education (Morris, 1991).
For example, In The Impact of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), emerging HCIs, and Non-HSIs on Latina/o Academic Self-Concept, Marcela Cuellar found that “racial stigmas can affect Latina/os’ persistence in certain majors despite a firm commitment to an area of study (2014, p.503.)”. The article clearly demonstrated the fact that when students experience racism on campus, especially pertaining to their academics, students often begin to question their place on campus, and resort to focusing on passing their courses as opposed to mastering the material being taught. According to a PEW research article by Richard Pry, “the number of Latino students who reach graduation are reduced by part-time enrollment, a concentration in two-year institutions and a predilection to prolong undergraduate education beyond the traditional age” (00). In a similar article by so and so, as the first in their families to pursue higher education, students lack the invaluable support systems at home that most American college students take for granted. As so and so states that because Latino students are seen as their family’s role model in higher education this produces a “performance driven mentally that creates a mindset for failure when the student does not perform well on an exam” (00).
In 2010, Maclean’s magazine released an article originally titled ‘Too Asian’. However, the article resulted in a great amount of backlash and as a result, had a title change, ‘The enrollment controversy’. The article suggests, as revealed by the original title, that certain universities within Canada have are admitting too many Asian students, and that it is unfair to the so called white Canadian students as it creates more competition for them, as well as higher standards to get into university and have higher expectations set for them once in university because Asians are purely academically focussed, (Dale, 2010). Therefore, ‘Canadian’ students, white students, do not have an opportunity to not be academically focussed at university. The
Tong, V.M., Huang, C.W. & Mclyntyre, T. (2006). Promoting a positive cross-cultural identity: Reaching immigrant students. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 14(4), 203-208.
In the article called The Education of Immigrant Children, Mary Tamer says,“Even though one out of every four children in the United States is an immigrant or the U.S.-born child of immigrants, many schools are ill-equipped to meet their needs. Immigrant youth frequently are learning two languages, an incredible asset, but one that many schools have yet to learn to support
Attending public schools as a child, I remember learning the basic skills on how to add and subtract, read, and write. These basic skills are necessary in order to function in our society and work force in the United States. As we all know each child learns differently, some learn faster than others and some slower than others. Our public schools have become overcrowded and we do not have enough teachers to fit the needs of each student. Some students get left behind and are not learning the skills needed to move on to the next level. What these students are not learning they can learn in higher education such as a college or university. In this report, I would like to express the importance of a higher education. I will use the works of John Henry Newman, Jon Spayde and Mike Rose, all three writers believe in having an educated society. Our students’ needs are changing, there are a growing number of immigrants with children coming to the United States from all over the world. They bring with them the language and culture of their country. The age in which they arrive to the United States determines how well they learn English and what skills they will need to acquire to become productive in our society. The task of teaching our children the basic skills is becoming harder and harder each day, making it harder for our education system to achieve their goals. There are a high number of students graduating from high school who does not have the skills needed to meet the needs of the work force in our society. A higher level of learning is needed to make our society literate.
Garcia, E. (2002). Student cultural diversity: Understanding and meeting the challenge (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.
In conducting her research, the author understood that she needed to describe key issues of culturally diverse students, recommend a curriculum approach to address the issues, and discuss the challenges and benefits expected. In reading Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: Issues in Education (2010), s...