Despite high rates of distress in college student populations, many students do not seek help for mental health issues. The context in which mental health help-seeking occurs is not well understood. Cognitive models of depression provide a theoretical understanding of how depression symptoms may promote the internalization of stigma beliefs, thus…

Many Basic Writing students have stories which are informed by traumas, othering, and marginalization. Finding pedagogies which address students' stories, in addition to meeting academic goals, is crucial. Sometimes, students question how improving their reading and writing skills can help them navigate other areas of their education and…

Many of the variables that determine college admission are beyond a student's control, including the academic track they were assigned as early as primary school, a practice often referred to as "ability grouping" or constructing "skills-homogeneous" classes. Even in higher education, students feel the effects of unequal…

While investigation on family estrangement is growing within academic circles, research regarding the interconnection between experiences of estrangement and higher education (HE) is still limited. Sociological understandings of these issues are even scarcer, with policy interventions and practical guidance forming early interventions in HE. Set…

This dissertation uses sociocultural linguistics to investigate how Black undergraduates at a Historically White Institution (HWI) understand Blackness, and how their racial socialization experiences in their pre-college years inform that perspective. This project reveals that many Black undergraduates in the HWI context may not have the benefit…

Black doctoral students in engineering and computing fields experience racialized stress, as structural racism in STEM takes a toll on their sense of belonging and acceptance as intellectually competent in comparison to White and some Asian peers and faculty. Black doctoral students are often told by campus administrators that the source of this…

We place deficit-model labels on students who fall behind educational expectations and standards. Public discourses about underserved students pervade U.S-American politics and popular culture and tend to portray these students in a negative light. This study aims to uncover similarities between the dominant societal narratives about underserved…

Attending college can create dissonance for working-class students as they experience tension between their home communities and the norms and values of higher education. In this study, I explored how working-class students make meaning of their social class identity at public research institutions. Through a critical constructivist narrative…

Universities throughout the world contain people of Chinese heritage studying, researching or working in higher educational institutions. This paper offers a case study example from a higher education institution in China in analysing the fluctuating identity positions of Chinese heritage students. From a critical intercultural perspective, the…

Although the practice of channeling students who are labeled as "academically underprepared" into developmental education courses has been a ubiquitous practice among community colleges, the vast majority of these students are not completing their developmental coursework, much less their desired credential. This research illustrates the…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in which religious students manage the dual identities of student and member of faith. If an "identity clash" occurs, how is it managed? A total of 17 students from a British university were interviewed to investigate the nature of this identity management. The results show that many…

This qualitative study fills a gap in our understanding of how students who attend for-profit institutions make sense of their education choices, their understanding of themselves as students, and the meaning of post-secondary education in the context of their diverse life experiences. The narratives of students who have attended for-profit…

Using theories of positioning, emotion, and power as a lens, this study explores the lived experiences of a reader labeled as struggling who was enrolled in four different course contexts: traditional high school English, high school remedial reading, high school Young Adult Literature, and college English. Interview data suggests the participant…

This article reports on a cross-institutional, mixed-methods research study designed to gather data on first year writers' language backgrounds at three North American universities. Researchers administered a language survey to 1,870 first year writing students and led follow-up focus groups with 32 participants. Researchers utilized three methods…

Words and labels used about a person inevitably have an impact, whether intended or unintended. This article discusses the need for intentional and overt, critical reflection and discussion in higher education regarding the language faculty and students use. The authors provide language examples commonly used in courses that could have varied…