RETURNED MIGRANT STUDENTS' SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS IN FIRST YEAR OF COLLEGE IN PUERTO RICO: A PROFILE
Abstract
This descriptive study explored selected characteristics of returned migrant students in first year of three colleges in Puerto Rico, such as their: social and educational backgrounds; linguistic preferences for English and Spanish; linguistic difficulties in English and Spanish; positive and negative statements of their cultural adaptation in Puerto Rico; and, positive and negative statements of their self-concept. Using the survey approach, the study employed a questionnaire, with follow-up interviews and other supplementary materials, to gather data. These data were analyzed using three statistical analyses: frequencies and percents, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. The results showed that the participants: (a) agreed with most of the premises in the area of linguistic preference for English but were undecided with most of the premises in the area of linguistic preference for Spanish, (b) rated high their linguistic degrees of competence in both English and Spanish, (c) were undecided with most of the premises related to positive and negative statements of their cultural adaptation in Puerto Rico, and (d) agreed with all the premises related to positive statements of their self-concept and disagreed with all the premises related to negative statements of their self-concept. Additional data revealed that non-significant relationships were found between the: (a) number of years that participants lived in the United States and positive or negative statements of their cultural adaptation in Puerto Rico, (b) number of years that participants had lived in Puerto Rico, since they returned from the United States, and positive or negative statements of their cultural adaptation in Puerto Rico, and (c) number of years that participants attended elementary school in the United States and their linguistic difficulties in English and Spanish. Based upon these findings, the following conclusions were reached, the participants: (a) slightly preferred to use English, rather than Spanish, in many occasions of their daily and academic lives, (b) did not recognize linguistic difficulties in either English or Spanish, (c) did not recognize exhibiting positive or negative characteristics of cultural adaptation in Puerto Rico, and (d) recognized exhibiting characteristics of a positive self-concept. Moreover, non-significant relationships were revealed between the major variables listed in the preceding paragraph.
Subject Area
Educational sociology
Recommended Citation
HAMILTON-MARQUEZ, JAIME, "RETURNED MIGRANT STUDENTS' SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS IN FIRST YEAR OF COLLEGE IN PUERTO RICO: A PROFILE" (1987). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8715802.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8715802
