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Open Dissertation 2013.Pdf The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School The Department of Behavioral Sciences and Education MEXICAN AMERICAN ADULTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A QUALITATIVE STUDY A Dissertation in Adult Education by Janet Ann DeRosa 2013 Janet Ann DeRosa Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education May 2013 The dissertation of Janet DeRosa was reviewed and approved* by the following: Elizabeth J. Tisdell Professor of Adult Education, Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Felicia Brown-Haywood Affiliate Assistant Professor of Adult Education Gloria B. Clark Associate Professor of Humanities and Spanish Chiara Sabina Assistant Professor of Social Sciences Karin Sprow Forte Instructor in ESL Program Specialist and Leadership Esther Prins Associate Professor of Education Adult Education Program Coordinator *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT This qualitative study used a narrative design to explore the perceptions, background and experiences of Mexican Americans who completed their bachelor’s degree as adult learners. The study focuses in particular on their experiences of learning to be bicultural. A Borderlands framework whereby Mexican American adult learners negotiated university life between two cultures, namely their culture of origin and the host culture, served as the primary theoretical framework that informed the study. Data consisted mostly of participant narrative interviews. Artifacts representing their culture or experience in higher education that some participants either discussed over the phone or actually brought to the interview served as ancillary forms of data. Data were analyzed using a three-dimensional model of narrative analysis. The findings of the study were then grouped into four major areas. The first set of findings focused on background information as it related to agriculture, educational pursuits, and family of origin. The second set of findings related to opportunities seized through a Mexican American collectivist mindset. The third set focused on how participants negotiated life in the Borderlands, geographically or metaphorically as they became more bicultural. The final set pertains to managing life as adult learners in higher education. The study ends with a consideration of the findings in light of theory and educational practice. Suggestions for future research also are made pointing to the immense gaps in the literature pertaining to the process of becoming bicultural for Mexican American adult learners and how that process influences retention in higher education, persistence in academics and college degree attainment. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. viii PART ONE: INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY ........ 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 Forging a Research Topic: A Narrative ....................................................................... 1 Contextualizing the Problem ........................................................................................ 4 Contested Terms in Describing Mexican Americans ............................................. 6 Mexican Americans and Degree Attainment ......................................................... 7 Cultural Disjuncture ............................................................................................. 9 Degree Attainment, Biculturality and Crossing Borders ........................................ 11 Latino Adult Learners in Higher Education .................................................................. 13 Purpose and Research Questions .................................................................................. 16 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................ 17 Overview of Design and Methodology......................................................................... 19 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................. 21 Assumptions and Limitations....................................................................................... 23 Organization of the Study ............................................................................................ 25 Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................... 30 Theoretical Framework: Living Within and Beyond the Borderlands ........................... 30 The Legacy of Colonization ................................................................................. 31 Gender in the Borderlands .................................................................................... 37 Transforming Consciousness ................................................................................ 39 Latinos in Adult and Higher Education ........................................................................ 47 Cultural Issues and Adult Higher Education ......................................................... 48 Latinos in Adult Higher Education............................................................................... 52 Persistence in Higher Education for Latinos in General ................................................ 55 Personal Factors Influencing Persistence .............................................................. 60 Environmental Factors Influencing Persistence .................................................... 63 Involvement Factors Influencing Persistence ........................................................ 64 Socio-cultural Factors Influencing Persistence...................................................... 65 Empirical Literature on Mexican Americans in Higher Education ................................ 67 Socioeconomic Status .......................................................................................... 69 Gender ................................................................................................................. 72 Ethnicity .............................................................................................................. 76 Critiquing the Research ........................................................................................ 80 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................ 82 Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................. 84 Qualitative Research .................................................................................................... 85 v Narrative Inquiry ......................................................................................................... 88 Background of the Researcher ..................................................................................... 91 Participant Selection .................................................................................................... 93 Data Collection Procedures and Methods ..................................................................... 94 The Narrative Interview ....................................................................................... 95 Field Notes: Photographs and Memos .................................................................. 98 Documents and Artifacts ...................................................................................... 99 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 100 Verification Strategies ................................................................................................. 102 Informal and Formal Feedback ............................................................................. 104 Forms of Triangulation ........................................................................................ 106 Summary: Verification ......................................................................................... 107 Part Two: Participant Narratives.......................................................................................... 108 Chapter 4 Jane .................................................................................................................... 108 Background ......................................................................................................... 108 Significant Factors in Degree Completion ............................................................ 112 On Being Bicultural ............................................................................................. 115 On Being an Adult Learner .................................................................................. 116 Closing ................................................................................................................ 117 Chapter 5 Lorenza ............................................................................................................... 119 Background ......................................................................................................... 119 Significant Factors in Degree Completions ........................................................... 120 Cultural Artifacts ................................................................................................
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