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Motivation and Achievement of Immigrant Students in Times of Economic and Political Instability

Motivation in Education at a Time of Global Change

ISBN: 978-1-78754-614-1, eISBN: 978-1-78754-613-4

Publication date: 25 March 2019

Abstract

A strong anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment permeates the political discourse in the United States and many Western European countries. This political discourse, along with policies designed to limit immigration, is likely to influence the academic motivation of students from immigrant groups. In this chapter, we consider how anti-immigrant sentiment in the host countries may affect the motivation and achievement of immigrant and refugee students. Specifically, we apply findings from research examining stress and anxiety, belonging, identity, teacher expectancies, and stereotype threat to speculate about how these motivational factors may be affected by anti-immigrant rhetoric. Next, we use Maehr’s (1984) theory of personal investment (PI) as a framework for integrating the various components of motivation that can be applied to the current plight of immigrant and refugee students. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion about the steps we can take, both at the personal and the policy levels, to counteract the hostile political discourse and promote higher levels of PI in education among immigrant and refugee students.

Keywords

Citation

Urdan, T., Sharma, N. and Dunn, M. (2019), "Motivation and Achievement of Immigrant Students in Times of Economic and Political Instability", Motivation in Education at a Time of Global Change (Advances in Motivation and Achievement, Vol. 20), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 169-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0749-742320190000020009

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited