Journal article
A social-belonging intervention improves STEM outcomes for students who speak English as a second language
Science advances, Vol.6(40), eabb6543
10/02/2020
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb6543
PMCID: PMC7852387
PMID: 33008912
Abstract
A social-belonging intervention administered at 19 universities increased ESL students’ persistence and performance in STEM.
Students who speak English as a second language (ESL) are underserved and underrepresented in postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. To date, most existing research with ESL students in higher education is qualitative. Drawing from this important body of work, we investigate the impact of a social-belonging intervention on anticipated changes in belonging, STEM GPA, and proportion of STEM credits obtained in students’ first semester and first year of college. Using data from more than 12,000 STEM-interested students at 19 universities, results revealed that the intervention increased ESL students’ anticipated sense of belonging and three of the four academic outcomes. Moreover, anticipated changes in belonging mediated the intervention’s effects on these academic outcomes. Robustness checks revealed that ESL effects persisted even when controlling for other identities correlated with ESL status. Overall, results suggest that anticipated belonging is an understudied barrier to creating a multilingual and diverse STEM workforce.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A social-belonging intervention improves STEM outcomes for students who speak English as a second language
- Creators
- Jennifer LaCosse - Indiana University BloomingtonElizabeth A. Canning - Washington State UniversityNicholas A. Bowman - University of IowaMary C. Murphy - Indiana University BloomingtonChristine Logel - University of Waterloo
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Science advances, Vol.6(40), eabb6543
- DOI
- 10.1126/sciadv.abb6543
- PMID
- 33008912
- PMCID
- PMC7852387
- NLM abbreviation
- Sci Adv
- ISSN
- 2375-2548
- eISSN
- 2375-2548
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000001, name: National Science Foundation, award: 1661004; name: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/02/2020
- Academic Unit
- Educational Policy and Leadership Studies; Center for Social Science Innovation; Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984283720602771
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