Exploring the Experiences of Late Age on Arrival Multilingual Learners in Postsecondary Education

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Two
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT036 (Thursday)

Abstract

Multilingual learners (MLs) are the fastest growing population in the United States public school system (Biondi et al., 2024; Kanno & Cromley, 2013; Perez & Morrison, 2016; Varghese & Fuentes, 2020). Students who arrived in the United States during high school face significant linguistic, cultural and social challenges in their pursuit of postsecondary success (Kanno, 2021; Kanno & Cromley, 2013; Perez & Morrison, 2016). This interpretative phenomenological analysis seeks to answer the research question: what are the lived experiences of late age on arrival MLs in their first semester of postsecondary education? The study’s two sub-questions are 1) What factors shape their postsecondary experience, both academic and social? 2) What barriers do late age on arrival MLs face in postsecondary education?

Author

• Dani Ecklund, University of Central Florida