The purpose of this study is to understand how the process of educational assimilation differs between refugee and non-refugee immigrant students. More specifically, the study examines how well the segmented assimilation theory, which is the most-widely used theoretical framework in studying immigrant adaptation, can explain the difference in educational expectations between refugee and non-refugee immigrant students. The themes and patterns that emerged from the experiences shared by students offer a starting point for a larger study in the future. Student interviews revealed that life-historical contexts were especially key to understanding educational assimilation for refugee students, because their past traumatic events such as war, loss of a family member, poverty, and life at refugee camps in their country of origin had a profound impact on their and their families¡¯ original decisions to come to the United States. In sum, this research serves as a pilot study for the purpose of testing the appropriateness and adequacy of the conceptual framework and interview protocol, which were mainly developed from the theory of segmented assimilation. The interview protocol was refined by deleting questions, adding new questions, and rephrasing questions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07182011-140816 |
| Date | 12 August 2011 |
| Creators | Lee, Jie-Eun Grace |
| Contributors | Thomas M. Smith, Claire E. Smrekar |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07182011-140816/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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