Cultivating Voice: First-Generation Students Seek Full Academic Citizenship in Multicultural Learning Communities

Abstract

Research has shown that first-generation, low-income college students experience both isolation and marginalization, especially during their first-year of college, which impacts their long-term persistence in higher education. In this article, I argue that learning community pedagogy designed with attention to multicultural curricula is one vehicle to address the challenges faced by these college students. Organized around the themes of identity, community, and agency, an interdisciplinary Multicultural Learning Voices Community (MLVC) was created at a large, public midwestern research university to provide TRiO students with challenging academic coursework that would connect with their lived experience and help them build bridges of social and academic integration during their critical first-year of college. This article presents qualitative data from a multiple case study of seven cohorts of the MLVC, which captures students' perceptions of their experience.

Understanding Immigrant College Students: Applying a Developmental Ecology Framework to the Practice of Academic Advising

“…The other two courses integrated fundamentals of public speaking and a one-credit career planning course. Multicultural learning communities, including the Inver Hills Community College initiative, demonstrate effectiveness in engaging and retaining diverse college student populations (Jehangir, 2009(Jehangir, , 2010.…”

Stories as Knowledge: Bringing the Lived Experience of First-Generation College Students Into the Academy

“…Yet, despite this noticeable change in demographics, academic institutions and particularly large research institutions are unprepared for creating environments of success for these students. Students who are first in their families to attend college experience heightened isolation on campus (Rendon, 1992(Rendon, , 1994Richardson & Skinner, 1992, Rodriguez, 1982 and can feel marginalized in classrooms when there is little connection to their lived experience (Jehangir, 2008(Jehangir, , 2009. Given that students spend the most consistent amount of time in the college classroom, how can our learning spaces invite first-generation students to gain full citizenship in the academy?…”

Campus Adaptations among First Generation and Non FirstGeneration Students

“…However off the beat, there is a social capital deficit of first generation college students in engineering (Martin, Miller, & Simmons, 2014). Hence first generation students need to cultivate a voice to seek full academic citizenship in multicultural learning communities (Jehangir, 2009). Further its noted that first generation students are significantly less likely to pursue an advanced degree in higher education and advance in pipeline (Carlton, 2015) with first generation female college students facing severe problems of transition and adjustment at college after transition in first year (A.…”