When worlds collide: Academic adjustment of Somali Bantu students with limited formal education in a U.S. elementary school |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Loyola University Chicago, 820 N. Michigan Avenue, Lewis Towers, 11th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611, USA;2. New York University, 82 Washington Square East, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA;3. University of Connecticut, 249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 3064, Storrs, CT 06269, USA;1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States;2. Counter Tools, Carrboro, NC, United States;3. Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States;1. University of California, School of Medicine, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 366, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390, United States;2. Malaria Elimination Initiative, Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco, Mission Hall, 550 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94158, United States;3. Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, 530 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 366, San Francisco, CA 94143-1390, United States |
| |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on the findings of a two-year ethnographic study of newly arrived Somali Bantu refugee students in a U.S. elementary school (K-6) in Chicago. These data paint a detailed picture of students’ behavioral and academic adjustment to school, and the drivers behind “behavioral incidents” (instances when children’s behavior presented a problem for school staff) and their academic engagement or disengagement. Bantu students required a degree of flexibility and accommodation from their teachers, whose attitudes toward acculturation could generally be characterized as “assimilationist” (requiring students to conform to U.S. culture and school rules) or “multicultural” (respecting and accepting the students expressing their heritage culture at the school). This study illustrates the difficulties faced by refugee students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) when adjusting to U.S. schools, and the pressures placed on teachers and other school staff. Strategies used by teachers in working with SLIFE are described. These findings also extend the literature on the academic engagement of immigrants to this group of SLIFE. In this study, SLIFE were disengaged not because of disinterest or resisting adult expectations at school but because they were unfamiliar with the culture of schooling and did not have the academic background necessary to complete school tasks. The study also illustrates the need to provide schools with adequate support to accommodate the needs of SLIFE. |
| |
| Keywords: | Refugee Somali Bantu Assimilation Acculturation Multicultural education Academic adjustment Immigration Trauma Teacher expectations |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
