A Sequential Engagement Theory for Disadvantaged Students: An Analysis Based on Longitudinal Institutional Research Data

• In Event: Educational Responsibility for Students of Diverse Backgrounds and Social Identities in the United States, Japan, China, and Malaysia

Abstract

Why do some disadvantaged students adapt successfully at elite universities yet others do not? Student engagement theory (Astin, 1993; Kuh, 2001; Tinto, 1987) has proven to be highly instrumental in facilitating our understanding. The theory states that the more engaged academically and socially, the better the educational outcomes will be for college students. However, the theory implicitly assumes that students engage academically and socially in a parallel fashion, and thus leads scholars to interpret low levels of social engagement of disadvantaged students as self-isolation (Hu, 2015; Keane, 2011; Li, 2013; Yee, 2016). These interpretations, coupled with the facts that these students are endowed with limited cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1997) and therefore have difficulties in social engagement at elite universities (Jin & Ball, 2019; Li, 2013; Xie, 2016; Yee, 2016; Zheng, 2018), result in either a hopeless class reproduction conclusion or ineffective policy implications to promote cultural capital of disadvantaged students.
Utilizing longitudinal institutional research data, this study re-defines successful adaptation and further explores how disadvantaged students adapt at elite universities, therefore contributing both empirically and theoretically to student engagement research. Based on administrative records of students from a Chinese elite university and using K-mean cluster analysis technique, this study classifies students into five strata – persistently top, catching up from upper-middle, falling behind from upper-middle, catching-up from lower-middle, persistently bottom in academic performance. Importantly, rural students who caught up academically demonstrate positive attitudes towards adversity, future prospects and commitment to change the world near college graduation. Tracking these students’ social engagement, such as student club participation, over their college career using a longitudinal survey data, this study illustrates that rural students who catch-up academically seem to employ an “academics-first, social-second” strategy to cope with the challenges at both academic and social realms. Longitudinal interview data further confirm that, for these rural students, their academic progress was a prerequisite and psychological establishment for them to engage socially in college. The results highlight a sequential fashion, rather than a parallel fashion, for disadvantaged students to engage academically and socially, in order to successfully adapt at elite universities and develop to be well-rounded individuals.

Authors

• Sunny Xinchun Niu, Fudan University

• Grace Y. Zheng

• Yu Xiao, Fudan University

• Weiping Wang, Fudan University