This study was an ethnographic case study of a
Vietnamese unaccompanied minor in a post secondary setting.
There were two guiding questions for the study: (1) How
does the subject perceive language as it relates to
educational experience? (2) What kinds of observable
personality, cognitive, or affective factors have
contributed to his language and educational experience, and
in what way have they contributed?
The subject for this study was selected because he had
declared himself an unaccompanied minor and immigrated to
the United States as a young adult. He was an ESL student
who graduated from an American high school within two years
of arrival. He was deemed successful by the academic
community based on hours of completed course work and grade
point average. The subject was extremely motivated to
receive a four year degree, but was hampered by college
requirements in classes which required high levels of
English proficiency and competence.
The theoretical base for this research was
phenomenology. The subject, purposefully selected, was
observed for six months in three different classroom
settings: philosophy, physics, and English composition.
Validity/replicability was obtained through triangulation
of personal interviews and written questionnaires,
interviews with faculty and other college personnel, and
examination of artifacts such as school records, diaries,
and journals. With the exception of school records,
portions of artifacts are included in this thesis.
The subject exhibited unusual abilities to comprehend
complex written and oral material, relate information
across disciplines, and adapt to instructional requirements
and methodologies. Based on the results of this case
study, three hypotheses were generated:
1) Listening skills and memory/recall, or auditory
memory, appear to be essential to the subject's
academic success.
2) General information about learning styles and
strategies may be less useful than specific
strategy application in academic situations for
this subject.
3) Explicit, structured writing instruction may be
more useful than process writing for this subject. / Graduation date: 1996
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34590 |
| Date | 24 May 1995 |
| Creators | Davis, Kay Mathews |
| Contributors | Ahrendt, Kenneth M. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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