Looking beyond Language: An Examination of College Literacy Readiness of Students from Refugee Backgrounds

ABSTRACT

For people who have experienced forced migration, postsecondary education provides a way to look forward instead of backward. Despite a high prevalence of college aspirations, refugee-background students are often considered not college-ready. The goal of this study was to understand the literacy practices that refugee-background students used to navigate the literacy expectations of a college program. This article reports findings from a case study with six focal students enrolled in a connected learning program. I uncovered strategies that were indicative of highly proficient readers including posing guiding questions, building schemata, intertextuality, and metacognitive awareness. However, I found little indication that participants evaluated online resources. I discuss these findings in relation to current understandings of college readiness and offer recommendations for institutions of higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic literacies
• academic readiness and success
• linguistic diversity
• multiculturalism and diversity
• refugee

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Meagan A. Hoff

Meagan A. Hoff, Ph.D., is a Professor of English at Collin College. She recently graduated from the Developmental Education Program at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. Her research focuses on the academic literacy development of students from refugee backgrounds.