Language, Literacy, and Justice in the Education of Mexican-Origin University Students

• In Event: 46.085 - Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 46.085-12 - Toward Language Justice in the Classroom

Abstract

Academic literacy development by college freshmen has been a concern for several scholars particularly in the case of immigrant and language minority students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In 2011, Latinos became the largest ethnic minority group on four-year U.S. college campuses. However, the graduation rates of Latinos lag behind those of their white counterparts. In Texas, a state where the school-age population of Hispanic-origin children outnumbers that of all other ethnic groups combined, Latino college students have a graduation rate of 29.7% compared with 39.6% for white students. By closely documenting first-year students’ views of academic literacy, this qualitative study sought to add to knowledge of what Mexican-origin university students on the border believe about academic literacy.

Author

• Luz A. Murillo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign