Adult multilingual refugees: stories of higher education achievements

Refugees are people who were forced to leave their countries with no prospect of returning. Like many others, they want a place to build their lives and work on their education. In this study, I talked with three refugees who speak one or two more languages in addition to English. They all aim to graduate from college and are currently working toward that goal. The experience of refugees in college is a little studied area. Therefore, I became interested in understanding how they perceive their college journey. Through interviews with each participant, I learned what they believed was challenging and what was supporting them during their time navigating a community college. They reported that language was still challenging them, though not in the same way as when they first arrived in the United States. Their current challenges revolved mostly around how the academic English language is used in college. In addition, they mentioned that talking with their American classmates was challenging sometimes because of cultural differences or sometimes because the refugees had an accent. But these students who participated in my study also found support in some teachers who motivated and inspired them to continue in college, and consequently, to continue seeking a college degree.