Emergent bilingual high school students' social and emotional experiences

Abstract

High school students labeled as English learners, referred to in this article as emergent bilinguals, participated in a mixed‐methods study of their social and emotional well‐being. Relationships with school personnel, peer relations, and involvement in support activities were connected to well‐being while experiences of microaggressions from teachers and peers, lack of access to advanced curricula, and poor integration with mainstream peers were related to negative well‐being. A variety of school, peer, and family themes both promoted and compromised well‐being. Students' sense of connection to mainstream students was positively related to school belonging and positive affect. A sense of connection to ethnic peers and a positive ethnic identity were related to positive affect but not school belonging. This pattern of findings suggests that connecting with members of both one's ethnic and the mainstream community may lead to greater well‐being but integrating into the mainstream community prompts greater school belonging. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.