Navigating Cultural Capital: Its Impact on Belonging and Learning Immersion

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 9:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Cultural Communication Strategies in College Contexts (Table 13)

Abstract

The motivation factors and learning engagement of underrepresented-graduate-students, particularly international-students, are crucial yet understudied areas. Further, engaging international students is a relevant challenge given their high enrolment and frequently inequitable experiences. This study examines the influence of cultural capital on the sense of belonging and learning immersion among international-students in the U.S. Using structural-equation-modeling (SEM) with pilot data from 121 students, we found that cultural capital did not significantly enhance their sense of belonging or learning immersion. The results suggest that integration, belonging, and engagement in learning for international-students are influenced by context-specific cultural factors, and that translating these students’ cultural capital into host campuses, might be affected by cultural-mismatch, stereotype-threats, and acculturation-stress. Implications for further research are discussed.

Authors

• Emmanuel Tetteh Teye, Montana State University

• Samuel Kweku Basoah Boateng, Montana State University

• Bryce Edward Hughes, Montana State University