Learning Belonging in the Classroom: The Experience of Mexican-Heritage Students in California's Central Valley
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This paper is the result of a research project that explores how a sample of Mexican-heritage students situated themselves in the dual language program at a California public elementary school, in which students received roughly half their daily instruction in English and the other half in Spanish. These 48 students were part of a student body in which more than 95% of students were Latino and 100% of students were considered “socioeconomically disadvantaged” by the state. Close ethnographic study through classroom observation, interaction with students, and staff interviews illuminate how students experienced finding a sense of belonging (or not) at school, with emphasis on two areas of their background: beliefs regarding the role of parents in the education experience and language use. Spanish-speaking students generally formed relationships with peers who shared the same primary language. Although the school as an institution and the staff as representatives of the school vocalized support of family involvement and Spanish as an academic or public language, day-to-day interactions did not necessarily guarantee that this message or standard of belonging was upheld. Rather, it was in connections with peers of similar backgrounds that students found acceptance. This belonging is situated in the context of a broader cultural citizenship, and implications for the individual extend to future negative social or economic effects of students not having their "right to belong" upheld by a public institution that represents the dominant national community.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 2015 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Moore, Sarah |
|---|---|
| Advisor | Tambar, Kabir |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Anthropology |
Subjects
| Subject | Anthropology |
|---|---|
| Subject | education |
| Subject | language |
| Subject | Spanish |
| Subject | cultural citizenship |
| Subject | belonging |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-ND).
Collection
Undergraduate Research Papers, Department of Anthropology, Stanford University.
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- Contact
- sarah.monet@gmail.com
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