Sociocultural Factors That Influence Migrant Students’ Academic Performance in an English Language Teaching Program: Voices from Abroad

Abstract

This qualitative research explains how sociocultural factors influence the academic performance of a group of migrant students enrolled in the English Language Teaching Program at Universidad Católica Luis Amigó. Three data collection techniques were implemented for the development of this project. First, a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions was conducted for each participant. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed for analysis purposes. Before the interview, participants were delivered a consent form and a biodata format to be filled. Second, six participants were invited to write a week-long narrative describing their experiences in the target cultural scenario. Third, a focus group was set up with five students selected at random out of the thirteen participants. Major results indicate that students who perceive a higher level of family support are more likely to achieve their academic goals. Besides, migrant students who report fewer difficulties to adjust to the host culture, have greater opportunities to succeed academically. In addition, migrant students’ previous academic experiences have an important impact on their adjustment process to the university context. This study concluded that migrant students’ academic performance is a dialogical and reciprocal relationship among different sociocultural factors.