Finding Home: Developing a Sense of Belonging Through Service-Learning

• In Event: 63.078 - Analyzing Perceptions, Negotiating Identity, Eliciting Voice, Measuring Success When Participating in Experiential and Service-Learning

Abstract

This grounded theory study explores how 1.25 generation Asian immigrant ELL (English Language Learner) high school students in an afterschool service-learning program negotiate their identity, sense of belonging, and citizenship as they participate in service-learning projects and make sense of what they are experiencing. Having immigrated during their teenage years, the 1.25 generation (Rumbaut, 2004) may face more exacerbated isolation from the mainstream community due to language and cultural barriers compared to youth who immigrated at younger ages. Findings from the study show that communication, mediated through language, dialogue, and interaction, is an important variable for sense of belonging. Through service-learning projects, the students had to interact with community members in English, which increased their sense of inclusion and belonging.

Author

• Siqing He, Rutgers University