As racial tensions continue on college campuses across the nation, more attention is needed to understanding the ways in which students of color gain a level of authority in speaking on racial issues. Based on interviews with 31 undergraduate students of color from 2 public research universities on the U.S. West Coast, this study asked…

In this qualitative study, we explored the experiences of 26 engineering student mentors and mentees in a peer mentoring program. We found that mentors and mentees exploited the mentoring program's fluid structure and situated social relationships to enact a specific type of academic/professional goal and identity conducive to their entry to one…

This study examines the transformative experiences of a group of academic coaches who participated in the Target New Transitions (TNT) program during the 2014-2015 academic year. The TNT program trains undergraduate students, through professional development workshops and reflective exercises, to serve as year-round academic coaches for first-year…

Drawing on a qualitative interview-based study, this article foregrounds the perspectives of a group of male pre-service teachers at a South African university for choosing "not" to specialise in the teaching of young children. Male pre-service teachers in this study associate with teaching older learners in the senior phases,…

This multiple case-based study investigates the relationship between recruiting agents and the UK universities who act as their principals. The current extensive use of agents in UK higher education may be seen as an indicator of the financial impact made by international students. The study analyses the practice of agent management and explores…

By drawing on a theoretical framing based on the geography of encounters, this article examines how students give meaning to racialised encounters on campus. These encounters are mediated by long established notions of difference based on power inequalities where race remains a powerful source of difference. However, race is not simply enacted but…

English language learners (ELL) are students with a primary language spoken other than English enrolled in U.S. educational settings. As ELL students take on the challenges of learning English and U.S. culture, they must also learn academic content. The expectation to succeed academically in a foreign culture and language, while learning to speak…

This qualitative study builds on earlier research on language and identity by focusing on how Canadian Generation 1.5 university students enact their identities through talk-in-interaction. Drawing on (applied) Conversational Analysis (CA) to analyze critically the production and management of social institutions in talk-in-interaction in tandem…

This article explores the intersection between institutional hierarchies and learning at a UK conservatoire. Conceptualizing learning as a social practice situated in a hierarchical social space, the article draws on the theorization of Bourdieu to understand how students are positioned in the conservatoire field and what this means in terms of…

The move to "internationalize" United States universities has contributed to increased interest in global service-learning. This article presents qualitative data collected by a team of faculty and students during a service immersion in Nicaragua. The solidarity model of service-learning attempts to address shortcomings of earlier…

Higher education is a distribution center of knowledge and economic, social, and cultural power (Cervero & Wilson, 2001). A critical approach to understanding a higher education classroom begins with recognizing the instructor's position of power and authority (Tisdell, Hanley, & Taylor, 2000). The power instructors wield exists…

This paper uses a methodology that synthesises an Academic Literacies approach and Critical Discourse Analysis to explore student experiences of feedback on written assessments in two higher education institutions. The qualitative analysis of student interviews is oriented around three topics: (1) the socially situated meaning of feedback; (2)…