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The academic goals, course repetition, and completion

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The academic goals, course repetition, and completion

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Content THE ACADEMIC GOALS, COURSE REPETITION, AND COMPLETION
RATIOS OF ASIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
IN URBAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES
by
Elton Ken-Ing Hom
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2007
Copyright 2007 Elton Ken-Ing Hom
ii
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my parents and siblings.
iii
Acknowledgements
I’d like to acknowledge all the people who have helped me get to this point in
my educational career. First, I want to thank Drs. William Maxwell, William
Rideout, and Stuart Gothold, my final dissertation committee members, for being
supportive, patient, and encouraging throughout this journey called “dissertation.” I
wanted to also acknowledge the people who were not on my final dissertation
committee but who were equally important in their contributions, constructive
criticisms, and kindness. I would like to thank: Dr. Linda S. Hagedorn for all her
valuable assistance and recommendations she provided while serving on my
committee up to the oral defense; Linda Pace, Mary Orduno, and Dr. Kim
Hirabayashi for making the dissertation process smooth and efficient, Drs. Alex
Chen, Anthony Hernandez and Deborah Oh and Allison Beas for their assistance
with the SPSS program; Ms. Truc Nguyen for her valuable literary resources; my
second family located in California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA)
especially David J. and Maria Godoy, Beatriz Encinas, Ms. Corlis Ushijima, David
Sandoval, Steve Teixiera, Aileen Mori, Judy Jenkins, Rebekah Palomino, Alisa
Zepeda-Madrid, and Maria Laines; John and Marilyn Long for giving me my first
scholarship as an undergraduate, as well as the selection committees of the Pasadena
California Retired Teacher’s Association / CSULA Scholarship, American Multi-
Cinema Bill Hager Memorial Scholarship, CSULA Friends of the Charter School of
Education - Dr. Joseph P. Linscomb Memorial Scholarship, CSULA Department of
English - Frederick Shroyer Memorial Scholarship, CSULA Charter School of
iv
Education - M. I. Pettijohn-Pennick Memorial Scholarship fund, and the Texaco
Corporation for their financial support of my academic endeavors, my very crazy-in-
their own way, but equally loving brothers and sisters for supporting ALL my
educational endeavors, driving me to and from school and work (even in the late
evenings), always putting up with my idiosyncrasies and keeping me grounded;
Debra McCabe of LeSportSac, Simone Legno of Tokidoki, and Matthew Holman for
Vidal Sassoon for their generous acts of kindness and words of encouragement; all
my teachers, friends, and co-workers from Hoover St. School, Berendo Junior High,
Canoga Park High, UCLA, CSULA and USC, especially: Marco Canales, Ms. Nhi
and Tiffany Pham, Mrs. Thu Le, Douglas Shin, Ms. Ai Jin Lee, Miriam Varela,
Susan Jaughn, Mona Tse, Cheryl Hsu, Mr. Thaiphong Vo, Mrs. Urvi Patel, Ms. Jia
Hao, Mrs. Toshiko McCallum, Aimee Lim, Ms. Edarhline Salas, Lorraine Sfeir,
Reynaldo Pineda, Juana Solorio, Danette Winslow, Dolores Rivera, Eliza Tate, Epi
Serrato, Francisca Campos, Rebeka Palomino, Angela Bugayong, Becky Hopkins,
Franck Amichia, Kevin Chua, CSULA ITS help desk, Mr. Giang “Do Mah” Huynh
and Diana “Do Mah” Diep, and Dr. John Purcell; my academic and career mentors
Drs. Chogallah Maroufi, Allison Taufer, William Bendixen, Betty Bamberg, and
Jack Kolb, and, of course, the wonderful faculty and staff members of the CSULA
Charter School of Education and English departments, USC Rossier School of
Education and USC Dissertation Support Center; and the countless relatives and who
kept me motivated and focused on completing the dissertation. I humbly thank you.
v
Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgments iii
List of Tables vi
Abstract vii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: Review of Literature 22
Chapter 3: Research Design 49
Chapter 4: Results 58
Chapter 5: Discussion 67
References 87
Appendix 106
vi
List of Tables
Table 1: Gender and Ethnicity of Asian and Latino International Student 53
Population
Table 2: t-test Analysis of Course Completion Ratio and Race 58
Table 3: ANOVA analysis of Asian International Students (Age, Gender and 59
Marital Status)
Table 4: t-test Analysis of Course Completion Ratio and Gender (Asian 60
International Students)
Table 5: ANOVA of Latino International Students (Age, Gender and 60
Marital Status)
Table 6: Chi-Square Analysis of Highest Degree Desired and Race 61
Table 7: Independent Samples t-test between Course Repetition and Race 62
Table 8: t-test Course Repetition Means of Latino International Students 63
Table 9: ANOVA Test Course Repetition (Latino International Students) 63
Table 10: Analysis of Course Repetition and Gender (Latino International 64
Students)
Table 11: Course Repetition Means of Asian International Students 64
Table 12: ANOVA Test Course Repetition (Asian International Students) 65
Table 13: t-test Analysis of Course Repetition and Gender (Asian International 66
Students)
vii
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the Asian and Latino
international student population within the Los Angeles Community College District
(LACCD). Through the use of academic transcripts and the Transfer and Retention
of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) survey questionnaire, this study
examined international students and the effect of race, gender, academic goals, and
marital status on course completion ratio. The study also sought to find the top three
courses repeated by international students in the LACCD.
The study found that, in terms of course completion ratio and academic goals,
the Asian and Latino groups were very similar despite the slight and statistically
insignificant differences. However, when looking exclusively within the Asian
population, gender yielded statistically significant correlations with course
completion ratio. Within the Latino population, the same independent variables
yielded no statistically significant correlations with course completion ratio. The
study also found that the three most repeated courses were lower-level English
courses: English 021 and English 028 (both remedial level), and English 101 (the
first in the English course sequence to count for transfer credit).
This study was significant because it specifically examined international
students enrolled in community colleges, a student population rarely studied. The
findings of this study were based on students’ academic transcripts. This study also
provided information on the characteristics of Asian and Latino international
students with several public and educational policy implications regarding the
viii
capacity of all institutions of higher education to: accommodate the impact of course
repetition; offer remedial coursework; develop a new system of identifying national
origins; and assess student academic preparedness.
This study’s research design consisted of a paper questionnaire developed by
the TRUCCS project, a three-year, longitudinal study of 5000 community college
students at nine campuses in a large metropolitan district. The study began in the
academic year of 2000 and lasted until 2003 (including winter and summer sessions)
with the intent to study the goals, success and academic patterns of students across
241 classrooms in the LACCD.
1
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
Studies have shown how the presence of international students benefits the
college campus they are in. Not only do they bring millions of dollars into
institutions and the surrounding community area, but they also increase the level of
cultural understanding and experience for staff, administrators, and students. Given
that the rate of international students is expected to increase, it is important for us to
understand this student population in order to better assist them and to attract more
of them to attend community colleges. Little is known about their coursetaking
patterns, specifically, the courses that they withdraw from (Zamani, 2000), the
courses they repeat (Maxwell, Hagedorn, Cypers, Moon & Brocato, 2003), and their
academic goals.
The study of international students is not new. Research that has been done,
however, has explored issues of brain drain (Eley, Ibrahim, Demeke & Smalley,
2003; Johnson & Regets, 1998; Tansel & Gungor, 2003) and the socio-political and
global impact of international students (Johnson & Regets, 1998; Neuschatz &
Mulvey, 2003) all within the four-year university setting. There has been very little
research done on the international student population outside of those realms.
International students were often viewed as a homogenous group when, in fact, a
high level of diversity existed. Even when regular students were discussed (i.e., non-
international students), there are many widely accepted differences between students
from two-year and four-year educational institutions, in terms of, among other
things, student population, academic programs offered by the institution, and course-
2
taking patterns. This study examined Asian and Latino international students
enrolled in one of the nine community colleges in the Los Angeles Community
College District and their course completion ratios, courses they repeated and their
academic goals. In addition, this study sought to find if there were differences based
on national origins, gender and marital status. What separated this study from most
of the previous research, however, was the utilization of the academic transcripts of
international students at the community college level.
The Los Angeles Community College District was comprised of nine
campuses located in a large urban area. The two different cultural groups within the
international student population were Asian and Latino. This study looked at these
two groups individually and in comparison to each other.
Purpose
In this investigation, Asian and Latino international students in community
colleges were studied to determine and gain an understanding of their academic
goals, course completion rates, and courses repeated. This study determined to what
extent independent variables such as national origin, age, gender, and marital status
affected students’ course completion and repetition rates.
Rationale
Our understanding of international students was limited to the realm of four
year universities and to the context of socio-political issues: brain drain, foreign
students staying in the United States after they complete their academic studies, U.S.
3
institutions’ reliance on foreign graduate students within the fields of science and
mathematics and the mother countries of our international students (Broaded, 1993;
Choi, 1995). There were almost no studies that examined the course-taking behavior
of international students with regard to the Asian and Latino international student
population in community colleges. Demographic data (Keller, 2001) indicated a
continued high concentration of international students enrolling in community
colleges, especially within large metropolitan and urban areas such as Los Angeles
(Cohen, 1991). This student population has not yet been fully studied or understood.
A greater understanding of this international student population was needed in order
to assist them in their educational endeavors.
This study examined the Asian and Latino international student coursetaking
behavior, in terms of course completion ratio and courses repeated. In addition, it
observed if age, gender, and marital status exerted any influence within the two
national origin groups. The research was guided by the following three questions:
1) Do Latino and Asian international students differ in their academic goals?
Do these patterns differ by age, gender, and marital status?
2) Are there differences in the course completion ratios between single and
married Asian and Latino international students? Do these patterns
differ by gender, age, and marital status?
3) What are the courses Latino and Asian international students repeat? Do
these patterns differ by gender and national origin?
4
Delimitations
The students selected for this study were purposely sought in the higher-level
(i.e., non-remedial) English courses. These students, as opposed to the lower-level
students, reached an English proficiency level adequate enough to comprehensively
read and answer the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students
(TRUCCS) survey questionnaire. In addition, the results of this study were also
limited to students who claimed only one ethnicity. This study excluded students
who self-reported more than one ethnicity in an effort to prevent data analysis
distortion of students who claimed only one ethnicity. There was also an effort to
control for other possible confounding variables that could possibly affect our data
analyses.
The international students in this sample population were fully educated from
the primary through secondary levels (K-12 equivalent) in another county. This
meant that their point of entry into the higher educational system of the United States
(U.S.) was the community college, making them a unique student population. Many
students in the international student population were partially educated in the U.S.,
but this study did not investigate them in an effort to minimize and control for the
number of confounding study variables. In addition, this study assumed that this
international student population sample had higher first-language proficiency than
immigrant students who attended U.S. schools. Research has shown that students
with higher first-language proficiency do better in English courses than those
students with less first-language proficiency (Chavkin & Gonzalez, 2000). This
5
language proficiency phenomenon was accounted for in this study by only studying
international students who had gone through their K-12 education outside of the U.S.
This study was limited to Asian and Latino international students whose
sample size was 289 and 148, respectively. Other ethnic groups were too small,
which would have greatly limited the generalizability, validity, and reliability of the
data analyses.
Limitations
There were several limitations to this study, the first being that the
questionnaire was not administered on a random basis. Given the wide spectrum of
student ability in the community college, the researchers in the TRUCCS study were
cognizant of the fact that not all students, domestic or international, had the same
English proficiency levels. One of the selection criteria that determined which
courses and students to administer the TRUCCS survey to was the students’ ability
to adequately understand, read, and answer the survey which was only available in
English. As a result, there was a lack of sampling in the most basic and remedial
English as a Second Language (ESL) courses.
The author of this study considered the possibility that the study population
may have been unfairly biased from this selection criterion. The idea was dismissed
based on the research of foreign born and foreign educated immigrants in community
college done by Bailey and Weininger (2002). Bailey and Weininger (2002) also
experienced a relatively low survey response rate but were able to confidently
ascertain that all students were represented in their study after calculating weight
6
adjustments for survey non-responders. Their research found that foreign-born and -
educated students, as a group, did well academically without having to take into
account the students’ levels of English proficiency. The research of Bailey and
Weininger (2002), indicated that international students who earned a foreign high
school diploma were a relatively homogenous group in terms of their academic
performance and that their performance was a result of their foreign high school
diploma and not the level of English that they were placed in or happen to be at when
they completed the survey. Contrary to what many educators believe, research has
shown that remediation (in either English or mathematics) did not prevent
international students from becoming academically successful students (Bailey &
Weininger, 2002; Dozier, 2001).
One of the reasons given by the literature to explain the academic success of
international students was their already strong academic training received in their
homeland. In other words, the biggest academic obstacle for international students
was the English language barrier. Once their English skills were developed enough
to read and comprehend English, they would be able to utilize their strong
educational preparation in the community college (Bailey & Weininger, 2002;
Blumenthal, 2002).
In regards to this study, the selection of students in this study was not based
on English ability, but their national origins and educational history, like in the study
done by Bailey and Weininger (2002). In addition, this research found that the
students in this study population were also in remedial English courses themselves
7
which indicated that they also shared similar English deficiencies and, more
importantly, indicated that the international students in the study population had also
navigated through remedial and basic ESL coursework.
Another limitation this study faced was the survey instrument which biased
the sample population by its method of identifying student’s ethnicity. Asian
students were able to identify themselves from nine individually listed countries
versus the four regions Latino students could choose from (see question 30 of the
TRUCCS survey in Appendix 1). Even when individual nations were listed as they
were for the Asian countries, the terms were still rather ambiguous. For example,
people from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were grouped into the
“Chinese” category in spite of their vast cultural and socioeconomic differences.
Similarly, the survey design did not allow for differentiation between the many
nations that comprise the South American and Central American regions. As such, it
was impossible for the researcher to identify the individual nation from which each
Latino student came. In addition, the ambiguous terminology of the designated
Latino ethnic groups was problematic because of the possible confusion they may
have caused for some students taking the survey. For example, how would students
from Cuba or Puerto Rico define themselves? This survey instrument did not
adequately account for these differences, and as such may have not captured the full
spectrum of cultural diversity that really exists in this study population.
Other problems arise when we categorize international students by their
national origin (when it is represented in a survey). This survey did not make an
8
effort to distinguish between the minority ethnic groups that reside in foreign
countries. Take for example the many ethnic Chinese people in the South East Asian
areas like Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. There has not been a
system or protocol in place for higher education institutions to determine students’
own national origin classification versus the country they happen to last reside in.
How have researchers who do their work within the national origin/racial paradigm
check for these circumstances, and how did they determine nationality for these
students? These questions and considerations regarding national origin have
highlighted the need for creating new terminologies.
The partial reason for aggregating the sample population into two different
groups was to alleviate the problem of sample bias. It would not have been
meaningful to compare students who identified themselves as Chinese to students
who identified themselves as South American, since the South American region is
comprised of several different (i.e., politically, socially, culturally) countries. Since
the purpose of the study was to compare Asian to Latino international students, the
researcher felt it was more meaningful to group the sample population by larger
national origin groups.
The types of students chosen for this study reflected the traditional definition
of international student; that is, a student who has studied outside of the U.S. from
grades K through 12. This study did not examine students from different countries
who entered (perhaps more than once) the U.S. educational system anywhere
between K through 12. In addition, the survey did not involve students who may
9
have moved back and forth from the U.S. and another country nor students who
attended high school in the U.S. and in another country (i.e., attending a U.S. high
school for only the 11
th
and 12
th
grades). The researcher of this study also assumed
that students who marked that they were educated in another country from ages 4-18
on the survey had actually received a full, and not partial, primary and secondary
education.
The data results gathered from this drawn sample of international students
cannot be generalized to the domestic population in this community college district,
the international students of other community colleges and districts, nor the domestic
population of other community colleges with the same student ethnic or demographic
backgrounds. The descriptive analyses do not claim to describe the students on
various variables.
More generally, the researcher of this study has acknowledged that there
were differences of various cultural groups that exist in the Asian and Latino
American regions. The cultural, political, and financial wealth differences between
these nations can possibly play a role in the academic student success of students
which can attribute to a student’s academic success. In spite of these differences,
though, research looking at minorities, both domestic and international, on specific
ethnic and national origins has often been ignored by educational research and
American society in general.
The blatant omission and inconsideration of national origins and cultural
groups within educational research has been rife and could easily be found in almost
10
all studies that took into account national origins. The categories that studies
typically divided their sample population into were: White, Asian, Black, and Latino.
These terms have been widely used and accepted by researchers, and they have been
little reexamined. There has been a reluctance to investigate the very obvious
differences between people with different national origins or cultures within the
studies.
It has been the status quo of the educational field to identify students by the
general geographic region they come from (i.e., Asia, Central America, Latin
America). The problem with this type of student categorization is that it often
combines very different types of cultures and societies into one category. Many
times, international students are inappropriately labeled and, most often, simply
ignored as a result of the status quo categories. Despite the very obvious differences,
the research has been ignoring these differences and continues to combine diverse
groups and cultures into one category of race.
This inherent problem of trying to place a varied population of students into
just four categories is magnified when members of one group do not agree with the
racial classification they are placed in. Such is the case for people who come from
Africa. There has been a great cultural divide that exists between Africans and Black
Americans. Africans often identify themselves as African, and not as Black
Americans, and rightfully so. Africans have their own languages, cultures, and
histories quite separate from the Black Americans. In spite of their own cultural and
national identifications, Africans are almost always labeled as Black. These
11
problems have existed in institutions as well as in the educational research
community.
There are many considerations to be taken into account when dealing with
such encompassing terms like Asian and Latino international student. These
categories combine first-world and developing nations together. The financial and
cultural differences between first-world and developing nations impact the student
population. While it is hardly discussed in educational literature, the creation of
large student categories often ignores the political and cultural diversity of different
nations. Democratic, communist, and monarchial nations are always combined
without the consideration of the differences between the students who come from
different political societies and climates (i.e., stable, unstable, war-zones). Their
perceptions of and attitudes toward higher education, and education in general, can
vary greatly.
Even more troubling is the arbitrary exclusion of nations all together through
the common practice of combining the very vast regions of Central and South
America. Many of the countries of Africa are not counted, nor are the many nations
in South America, and the Eastern Block. There is a blatant disregard for such
nations. The problem is paradigmatic and requires a new system of thinking,
labeling, and consideration of things discussed (see Chapter 5 for further detail on
this matter).
12
Definitions
International student: Students in the TRUCCS database who received the equivalent
of a K-12 education outside of the U.S.
Domestic student: Students in the TRUCCS database who attended educational
institutions in the U.S. from grades K through 12.
Course completion ratio: The ratio of courses completed divided by the number of
courses attempted. This calculation for course completion ratio has been
borrowed from the study done by Hagedorn (2003).
Highest academic degree goal: A student’s desired highest academic degree he or
she would earn if no obstacles were encountered.
Review of Topics
For the purposes of this study, the following topics were investigated in the
literature review: persistence and retention; course repetition; course completion;
immigrant students; foreign students; function of community college, marital status,
and married students.
Persistence and Retention
Theories of attrition and retention have been developed by Spady (1970,
1971), Tinto (1975, 1986, 1993), Astin (1975, 1977), and Bean and Meztner (1983).
The theories proposed by Spady, Tinto, Astin, and Bean and Metzner have been
helpful in understanding persistence, retention, and attrition of students in post-
secondary educational institutions, even if the crux of research relied heavily on
traditional students in four-year universities. Upon closer inspection, however, these
13
theories, and many of their variables, did not explain retention issues presented by an
international student population. There was no mention of international students in
these theories nor were these studies set in a community college setting.
The fact that many students were immigrants, non-white, worked at least
part-time, and had limited English proficiently automatically placed them in the non-
traditional student body population (Chaves, 2003; Hirose-Wong, 1999). These
characteristics forced us to reexamine theories put forth by Spady, Astin, and Tinto.
In addition, it prompted us to begin looking for other reasons for student retention
and persistence and relying less on the involvement aspect of students, especially for
the international student population.
Given that we knew so little about retention and persistence patterns of
international students in community colleges, we had to infer from the available
information on non-international students, namely minority students at community
colleges (Wild & Ebbers, 2002), to begin our discussion on the retention and
persistence patterns of international students. Given the alarming low rates of
persistence and retention in U.S. colleges and universities, most of the research has
studied U.S. students. The studies looking at persistence and retention focused on
specific ethnic and racial groups, namely: Asian Americans, Latinos, Blacks, and
Caucasians and patterns that emerged from them. But just because minority
domestic students belonged to the same ethnic group as international students did not
mean that they had the equivalent academic, financial, or cultural capital. Trying to
fit international students into these theories, however, will not yield accurate results
14
for the simple reason that international students are not what we consider to be non-
international students nor minority students.
Course Repetition
The data gathered on the topic of course repetition were derived mainly from
institution-based reporting. As a result, reports were not in a standardized format.
The decentralized form of reporting made it difficult to determine if any international
students were even studied at all. What we did know about course repetition was
mainly in regards to domestic students; we knew very little about course repetition as
it pertains to international students in general and especially within this study’s
sample population. The problem was further compounded by the fact that there were
less than 10 resources that could be found that related to course completion or course
repetition in relation to international students in community college.
Research has shown that the most repeated courses for domestic students
were developmental courses (i.e., remedial level courses) (Adelman, 1999) and that
community colleges in urban areas offered a high percentage of remedial and
developmental courses (Cohen, 1991). Since the TRUCCS study was done in an
urban community college district, it made it an ideal database for this study to utilize
in its investigation of international students.
Our study of course retaking of international students looked specifically at
the courses they had to retake by examining their transcripts and to see if the course
repetition phenomena were prevalent for international students. In addition to
looking at the specific courses international students repeated, this study calculated
15
each students’ course completion ratio which required looking beyond specific
courses repeated and to begin evaluating the students’ success in their coursework as
a whole. The course completion ratio is a more accurate indicator of community
college student academic success since the ramifications for dropping and course
repeating are much less significant in the community college than it is for the four
year university (Hagedorn, 2003). The ratio is calculated by the number of courses a
student enrolled in four weeks or longer divided by the number successfully
completed.
Function of Community College
The original role and function of community colleges was to prepare students
for transfer to four-year educational institutions by way of completing coursework
towards an associate degree (Cohen, 1982, 1986; Johnson, 1982, Littleton, 1998). In
spite of the multi-faceted educational roles community colleges have developed and
evolved into, the standard measure of success of community colleges by state
legislatures and community college administrators has been the number of students
who earn the associates degree. Instead of trying to measure student degree
attainment at individual institutions, Adelman (2000) recommended that policy
makers should instead look at graduation rates on a national scale in consideration of
the fact that students are highly transient and attend multiple educational institutions
to meet their own educational objectives. However, the whole notion of determining
community college success through the number of students who attained a degree, in
general, has become a misleading benchmark of success because research has shown
16
that not all students intend to transfer to a four-year university, or attain an
associate’s degree (Ottuya & Mitchell, 1994; Foote, 1997). There was also research
which pointed to the fact that there was no significant effect of associate degree
receipt upon receipt of a bachelor’s degree (Bailey and Weininger, 2002). More
succinctly, the community college measurement for success has not been what the
students consider to be success. In fact, the community college’s current
measurement of success has not been congruent with the constantly changing
educational role it has evolved into for the many students who do not earn associate
degrees but still take advantage of the various programs available to them. Such
may be the case for international students, some of whom may have been labeled as
“drop outs” by the institution, but have utilized the community college for other
reasons (i.e., job skill development, English language development, etc.). As Cohen
(1982 & 1986) notes, student intent rarely reflects program labels or student’s own
course-taking patterns. Looking at the academic transcripts of international students,
however, may help us more clearly understand what their intent for attending
community college was.
Community colleges have had the traditional transfer/liberal arts programs
for students intending to transfer, as well as a variety of vocational/occupational
programs that lead to a certificate or associate degree in applied science, continuing
education and personal interest programs that do not count towards academic credit,
and development/remedial programs which primarily serve as improving or
preparing students in math and English skills to enter a degree or certificate program
17
(Adelman, 1989, Cohen, 1986; Foote, 1997). The relative ease of attending a
community college has made these services accessible to a wide spectrum of
students, including international students (Bohrer & Lucas, 1981; Cohen, 1991;
Craig, 1990). An increase in the number of foreign students enrolling in community
colleges has been mentioned and noted in academic literature (Darrup-Boychuck,
2001; King & Fersh, 1983). The prevalence of non-traditional course-taking patterns
and overrepresentation in vocational education of ethnic minorities has also been
found in the literature (Beckwith & Edwards, 1979; Rivera-Batiz, 1995).
With so many academic and non-academic programs available to students in
community colleges, it would be in our best interest as educational researchers and
practitioners to understand which types of academic (or vocational) programs
international students gravitate towards. There has been difficulty reaching an
understanding of the educational interests of international students because of their
ambiguous presence in much of the current research. It was uncertain if international
students had been aggregated into the general population of these studies without
explicitly stating so, or if they were ignored all together. This study was needed to
specifically examine international students in community college and their
educational goals.
Latino & Asian Students
Immigrant students made up about a quarter of the community college
student body but the fact that not much data have been or are collected on them,
makes them a vastly understudied and unknown population (California Tomorrow,
18
2002). This study sought to understand the course completion ratio of Latino and
Asian immigrant students and their reasons for attending the community college.
This study was different from most of the studies looking at international
students in that there was a conscious effort to control for immigrant status.
Immigrant status refers to those who were born in a country other than the U.S. In
the case of this study, the international students selected from the immigrant group
population were fully educated in the K through 12 systems in their birth countries; a
non-immigrant would be a student who was born in the U.S. Studies have found that
immigrant students performed better than non-immigrant groups (Bailey &
Weininger, 2002; California Tomorrow, 2002). The studies also revealed that
immigrants who attended high school in the U.S. or another country earned
considerably more credits than their native counterparts and were more likely to earn
an AA than their native counterparts.
Not much was known about the education of minorities beyond the secondary
educational level (Fry, 2003). The studies and institutional reports on international
students mostly focus on basic variables like gender, ethnicity, and grade point
average (GPA). This study was different in that it sought to understand the
international student population on a more detailed, transcript- and survey-based
background. The purpose of this study was to try to fill the void of knowledge by
trying to understand the course completion ratios and the reasons why the Latino and
Asian international student populations enroll in community colleges.
19
Gender
Though gender was a highly studied variable in the literature, there was a
clear lack of knowledge about gender among international students in the community
college setting. In the studies that were set in four year universities, there was no
clear consensus of what effect gender had on student academic performance. In fact,
the studies often contradicted each other. On one hand there were studies that
indicated female students were more successful (Lewallen, 1996; McHewitt, 1993;
Peralta Community College, 1999) while other studies indicated males being more
successful (Hacket, Betz, Casas, & Rocha-Singh, 1992; Jackson, Gardner &
Sullivan, 1993). This study hoped to find if gender had an effect on the academic
performance of Asian and Latino international student populations within a
community college setting by closely examining academic course transcripts.
Age
There was a vast amount of literature that examined the effect of age on
student academic performance. Tinto (1993) found that older students were more
likely to drop out as a result of the greater responsibilities they had than their
younger counterparts. There have been many studies that have either defended
(Axelson & Torres, 1996; Gao, 2002) or rejected Tinto’s theory (Quigley, 1995;
Haegdorn, Maxwell, Chen, Cypers & Moon, 2002) and some that found age had a
very minimal, if any, effect on student academic performance (Belchier, 2000;
Scherini, 1985). What was clear in the literature was an absence of data and research
on the effect of age in community colleges. This study sought to find if there was
20
indeed a relationship between the age and course completion ratio within the Asian
and Latino international student population in a community college district by using
academic transcripts.
Marriage
This study used the enhancement and scarcity hypothesis developed by
Cardenas, Major and Berna (2004) as a theoretical framework to examine marriage.
According to the enhancement hypothesis, having multiple roles was beneficial for
an individual. Contrary to the enhancement theory was the scarcity theory which
purports that multiple roles were not beneficial for an individual. The enhancement
and scarcity hypothesis dealt directly with the issue of marriage whereas the
integration and interaction models set forth by Spady (1970), Astin (1975), and Tinto
(1975) merely implicitly considered marriage as a factor. The theories of Spady,
Astin, and Tinto were based on traditional students within a four-year university
which made them difficult to apply towards non-traditional students, such as
international students, in community colleges. There were also no studies which
looked directly at marriage and its effect on the course completion ratio. What we
were left with after the review of literature was a clear absence of research on
marriage and its effect, if any, on international students in community colleges.
Methods
Research for this proposal used data collected by a survey created by the
Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) project, a
three-year, longitudinal study of community college students at nine campuses in a
21
large metropolitan district. The survey was a 47 item questionnaire that was both
quantitative and qualitative. The TRUCCS database was ideal for this proposal
because it was both longitudinal and set in an ideal location. International students
are usually found in educational institutions in urban metropolitan areas such as
those participating in the TRUCCS project. The sample had an adequately sized
population to investigate the issues related to international students as proposed. In
addition, the international students selected for this study attended institutions
outside of the U.S. from grades K through 12.
The main sources of longitudinal data for this proposal were the student
academic transcripts and were analyzed from a student's initial point of entrance into
any of the nine community colleges and 5 semesters thereafter since the year 2000,
including Summer and Winter terms.
This study was both descriptive and inferential using chi squares and the
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Transcripts were closely
reviewed to see which classes international students enrolled in from which
inferences will be made on their intent, either educational or vocational, for attending
a community college. The courses that international students had to repeat were
noted. Data collected were used to see if any national origin, age, gender, or marital
status patterns emerged within the international student population in the TRUCCS
database.
22
CHAPTER 2: Review of the Literature
Introduction
The research done on community college students has not fully examined the
international student population. Most of the studies have focused on a demographic
group that is no longer the norm. Traditional college students are quickly being
replaced by what we call non-traditional students: foreign students, lower-income
students, older students, non-middle-class students. Several researchers have found
that the developmental theories based on middle-class students were inapplicable to
minority students with different personal and social backgrounds and experiences
(Paulsen and John, 2002; Tinto, 1987; Wild and Ebbers, 2002). Many researchers
have studied the attrition of students in higher education (Brooks-Harris, 1999; Nora,
2002; Walker, 1999) and they have focused on minority groups such as African
Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. The studies that have been done failed to conduct
empirical research on student withdrawal patterns based on demographic,
socioeconomic and institutional factors (Zamani, 2000). There has been very little
research done on foreign students or their course taking patterns from community
colleges (Maxwell, Hagedorn, Cypers, Moon, & Brocato, 2003).
Community colleges were often cited as the best place to meet the needs of a
diverse student population because of relatively low tuition, open-admissions
policies, and convenient locations (Boggs, 2001). Community colleges have been
cited as being much more forgiving in allowing students to attend post-secondary
school on their own terms and time schedules as opposed to four year universities
23
(Adelman, 1999). In addition, the small class sizes, more individualized attention
and emphasis on teaching made the community college an ideal place for academic
study (Ewing, 1992). As a result of these factors, community colleges enrolled a
more ethnically diverse student body than any other higher education sector (Palma-
Rivas, 2000, Bryant, 2001).
Much research has tried to explain the reasons why students leave their
higher educational institutions prior to receiving their educational degrees. The two
main theories that the research has focused on are Tinto’s Student Integration Model
and Bean’s Model of Student Departure.
Tinto’s theory measured student persistence by the student’s motivation and
academic skills and the academic and social characteristics of the institution. The
theory assumed that the student and institution carry the same weight in their
contribution to a student’s goal to complete his or her undergraduate degree. The
student’s academic performance was a reflection of the commitment between the
student and institution. Academic integration, social integration, and institutional
commitment yielded the highest effects on retention.
Much research has defended Tinto’s theory of student persistence. Research
that studied student campus involvement done by Astin (1997) as well as studies
done on informal meetings between student and faculty by Pascarella and Terenzini
(1991) have defended Tinto’s theory that student and institution must be a good
match for student success. But there was also research which pointed towards its
weaknesses, which ignored the external factors that may shape students’ perceptions,
24
commitments, and preferences. Much recent research has shown how external
factors can alter a student’s willingness to stay in school (i.e., parental attitudes
towards education, peer response, and ability to pay).
The Student Attrition Model of Bean and Metzner (1986) looked at the role
factors beyond the institution in affecting student attitudes and decisions. College
grades were the result of such social-psychological processes. External factors
included the response of family and friends to the student’s attending college, and
the costs of attending college. The effects of such social-psychological variables
have been well documented in studies that show factors such as college expenses,
social interactions, and familial support are important in a student’s decision to
persist in higher education. The role of intent to persist, attitudes, institutional fit,
and external factors all influenced the decision to stay in school. Understanding that
past models of student persistence were based on theories of traditional students,
Bean and Metzner (1986) developed a model of persistence for nontraditional
students. Because of their data collection method, many of the students whom Bean
and Metzner (1986) wanted to study had withdrawn before data could be collected.
In the end, Bean and Metzner (1986) were left with a very small sample group in
their study.
Rather than using each model of student persistence separately, Cabrera,
Castaneda, Nora & Hengstler (1992) studied how Tinto’s Student Integration Model
and Bean’s Model of Student Departure converge. The research of Cabrera et al.
(1992) found that the theories did not work against one another, but rather worked in
25
complement to each other. Many of the terms used in both the theories of Tinto and
Bean overlap, and Cabrera et al. (1992) have gone so far as to suggest that both
theories have shortcomings without the other when studying student persistence in
college.
Given that the United States has been experiencing an increasing rate of
immigration (Keller, 2001; Murdoch & Hoque, 1999), it was important to understand
where international students were in terms of their course completion and repetition
rates in order to better assist this population group. Foreign students have faced
many disadvantages not just at the community college, but all post-secondary
institutions, in general. Foreign students fell within many of the categories which
research has shown to be indicators of student attrition: nontraditional student,
minority backgrounds, attending school on a part-time basis, being first generation
students, non-supportive family and friend network, having low English proficiency
skills, in poor academic preparation (i.e.: in need of remedial math and English skills
and lower high school grade point average), having a high need of financial support /
federal financial aid, and having more than five social roles (Benitez, 1998; Bonham
& Lucies, 1993; Brawer, 1996; Brickman & Nuzzo, 1999; Dozier, 2001; Feldman,
1993; Fujita, 1994; Gordon, 1994; Inman & Mayes, 1999; Jalomo, 1995; Kraemer,
1996; Lamkin, 2000; Lewallen, 1993; London, 1996; McHewitt, 1993; Mohammadi,
1994; Nevarez, 2001; O’Brian & Zudak, 1998; Reece & Garner, 1997; Terenzini,
Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella & Nora, 1996; Zamani, 2000). The overwhelming
obstacles that nontraditional students face, including international students, made this
26
study of coursetaking patterns and reasons for attending community college much
needed in order to better understand and assist this student population.
What made this study significantly different from other studies and reports
was its focus on international students and use of transcripts. This study examined
course-taking patterns of foreign students by looking at academic transcripts.
Transcripts were used in this study because they provided valuable, and accurate,
information on a student’s academic journey. Adelman (1992 & 1999) noted that
not only are we able to see what classes students took, but also the level of
coursework, the grades they earned, the length of their academic career, and the
degrees they earned. Unlike voluntary surveys, questionnaires, and other qualitative
measures that can be used, academic transcripts have been utilized as strong
quantitative data that provide evidence of a student’s academic career. As Adelman
(1999) states, transcripts are critical pieces of data because they “do not lie, they do
not exaggerate, and they do not forget” (p.vi).
Incoming Student Population
Understanding what foreign students take at the community college was
important for two reasons. One, policy implications could be drawn from the data
indicating their increasing growth in population (Keller, 2001; Murdoch & Hoque,
1999). Secondly, our current practices and policies have not adequately addressed
this new group of non-traditional students entering post-secondary education
(Paulsen & John, 2002). The research done by Keller (2001) in world fertility rates
forecasted a new mix of nearly 500,000 students enrolling annually from abroad.
27
Keller (2001) pointed out that from 1965 to present, the United States immigrant
(both legal and illegal) population was greater than the immigrant populations of all
the other developed countries of the world combined. Keller (2001) estimated that
about 35 to 40 million people entered the United States, of whom about 750,000 to
900,000 legal immigrants have been admitted each year, depending on political
asylum grantees. The Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated that at least
300,000 people entered the country illegally every year, while another 200,000
immigrants entered legally via various visas (i.e., student, work, or tourist) with no
intention of returning to their homeland. Immigrants have come mainly from Latin
America (including the Caribbean countries), Asia and Africa, whereas prior to
1965, nine out of ten immigrants in the United States were from European countries
and Canada. According to a United States 1993 census study, one person over the
age of five was growing up speaking a language other than English at home.
Additionally, the overall skill and educational levels of many recent immigrants have
been considerably lower than those of immigrants prior to 1965. More than 43% of
the legal immigrants and a higher percentage of those who entered illegally have not
had a secondary school education (Keller, 2001). The influx of new adult
immigrants and their extensive educational needs have been using the community
college as a resource.
Nora and Cabrera (1996) found that the precollege academic abilities of both
minorities and non-minorities played a significant role on their academic
performance in college persistence. Performance in college, encouragement from
28
parents, positive experiences with the academic and social realms of the institution
were much more influential in outcome measures (Jackson, Smith, and Hill, 2003;
Kalsner and Pistole, 2003; Kraft, 1991; Nora and Cabrera, 1996). In a study done at a
four year university, the support of friends was the strongest noncognitive predictor
of international student academic achievement (Boyer and Selacek, 1988). The
authors of that study hypothesized that the assistance of friends helped international
students with their language proficiency and to integrate more.
The function of college has been found to be perceived differently by
different minority groups (Bryant, 2001) which could have serious future
implications. Asian American students reported college as a place to gain skills in
math, science, and technology whereas the Black and Hispanic sample population
reported stronger career preparation as the function of college (Bryant, 2001).
There have been many studies documenting the different learning styles of
minority students. Ikegulu (1999) noted how African, Asian, and Latin American
cultures were family and community oriented and how these cultures valued family
over individualism which, in turn, affected their academic standing at their
institution. Similarly, Native American students who were raised on the collectivist
and communal lifestyle of their reservation were found to be unaccustomed to the
individualistic and autonomous nature of post-secondary educational institutions
(Jackson, Smith & Hill, 2003). In addition, a study looking at Pacific Islander
students found that significant barriers included cultural differences in learning styles
(Ah Sam & Robinson, 1998). Kelly & Sweet (1991) observed how foreign students,
29
specifically, experienced educational and cultural barriers such as unwillingness to:
1) respond to teacher questions, 2) speak aloud in class, and 3) share assignments
aloud.
What the school climate was like, in terms of how academic departments
function and what classes were offered, affected student attendance patterns (Kuo,
1999). It has been found that first generation students often feel they have to make an
all or nothing decision about maintaining their parents’ way of life or rejecting their
family culture to pursue an academic goal (Inman &Mayes, 1999; Kalsner & Pistole,
2003; London, 1996). Pressure from friends and family encouraging these students to
not go to college was often intense (Inman &Mayes, 1999; London, 1996). Zamani
(2000) further explained that first generation students often had to manipulate
multiple identities in order to be accepted by friends and family. In spite of the
different challenges that first generation students faced, including those who are
foreign students, they have been shown to be more resilient than their disadvantages
in their college experience (Pascarella, Wolniak, Pierson, & Terenzini, 2003).
Studies have also found that students who were more integrated had stronger goal
and educational commitments that positively affected their persistence (Napoli &
Wortman, 1998) and their academic achievement (Ikegulu, 1999).
Perceptions of prejudice and discrimination also negatively affected the
social and academic adjustment of minority students (Nora & Cabrera, 1996). Many
studies have documented how minority students, including international students,
faced experiences dealing with their race such as racial stereotyping and lowered
30
academic expectations of minorities (Boyer & Sedlacek, 1987; Hellman & Harbeck,
1997; Terrell & Wright, 2002).
International students have been a truly a unique population in the U.S.
higher educational system because of their distinct separation as well as direct
interaction from the American academic and social culture. As a result, much of the
research on international students in four-year universities has been defined and
guided by Tinto’s prevailing notions of interaction and integration. These studies
have both supported and rejected Tinto’s hypothesis. Regardless of how sociable or
integrated international students have been shown to be, they have revealed
themselves to be resourceful and resilient in reaching their academic goals.
The adjustment to college was more quick and effective for international
students who had a strong support system (Al-Sharideh & Goe, 1998; Boyer &
Sedlacek, 1988; Schram & Lauver, 1988). International students mostly interacted
with other international students from the same country or other international
students (Furnham & Alibhai, 1985), which was a cause of concern since the
opportunity to interact with American students was lost. Interaction with American
students also assisted in the adaptation and adjustment of international students as
well (Furnham & Alibhai, 1985).
Other studies have found international students who lacked a social or
support network but were academically performing well. These studies have
hypothesized that the academic success of these types of international students was a
31
coping mechanism for their lack of social support system (Chu, Yeh, Klein,
Alexander, & Miller, 1971; Dozier, 2001).
The shortcoming of the research findings on the interaction levels of
international students was that they were set in four year universities. In spite of the
research that has pointed towards the benefits of student integration (Astin, 1975;
Spady, 1970; Tinto, 1975) it has been common knowledge that students in
community colleges are less involved on their campus than students in four-year
universities (Hellman & Harbeck, 1997; Maxwell, 2000). In addition, the transient
culture of all students in community college almost goes against the notion of
socialization.
The type of interaction that did occur in community college was strictly
academic, and not for the purpose of socializing (Maxwell, 2000). Bryant (2001)
suggested that students in community colleges may less likely be able to participate
in such activities as a result of their work schedules. Related to the notion of work,
some students enrolled in community college to learn enough English for immediate
job marketability skills while others enrolled with the intent of going to a four-year
university (Ignash, 1992; Kuo, 1999; Voorhees & Zhou, 2000). According to Kuo
(1999), functional and academic English courses must be offered by institutions in
order to best suit the needs of the different students at the institution; without such
availability of courses, students leave the campus in search of campuses that have the
desired courses available.
Several reasons have been found to explain why students attend community
32
college. While some students may feel that they have acquired enough education for
their own needs, the community college may not recognize that as student academic
success. More specifically, the community colleges’ measurements for success may
not be the same measurements of success that students may have. At the institution
level, success is determined by the number of students who earn the associate degree.
However, student success could be perceived differently by individual students. For
example, a student may have just wanted to attend a community college to learn
enough English to attain employment, or he/she may have just wanted to take
enough classes to earn a vocational certificate or gain enough technical skills to
begin working on a full-time basis (Lords, 2000). The reasons why foreign students
attend community colleges was something we hoped to more clearly understand by
studying the transcripts and survey questionnaire responses.
This study examined the Asian and Latino international student coursetaking
behavior, in terms of course completion ratio and courses repeated. In addition, it
observed if age, gender, and marital status had any influence within the two racial
groups. The research was guided by the following three questions:
Academic Goals
The findings of the academic goals of students lead to the understanding that
the function of college was perceived differently by different minority groups
because of cultural differences (Ah Sam & Center-Anthony, 1998; Bryant, 2001;
Hellman & Harbeck, 1997; Jackson, Smith, and Hill, 2003; Watson, Terrell &
Wright, 2002). This same observation could be said of foreign students: some
33
studied English for immediate job marketability skills while others wanted to enroll
in four-year institutions (Lords, 2000; Kuo, 1999; Voorhees & Zhou, 2000).
Research has clearly shown how international students are a distinct group
from the adult student population, non-traditional students, and traditional students in
terms of their educational goals, motivation level, and family commitments
(Denniston & Imel, 1982; Kanchier & Unruh, 1988). However, there was a dearth of
research looking outside of socio-cultural variables such as academic goals and their
effect on academic performance. This study sought to examine the possible
relationship between academic goals and the course completion ratio of international
students in community college. However, we first needed to know what types of
academic goals were held, and what types of coursework were taken by foreign
students (Hagedorn, Maxwell, Cypers, Moon, & Lester, 2003).
Research has also shown that international students in community college
who have earned a foreign high school diploma were more academically successful
than immigrant students with a U.S. high school education in terms of number of
credits earned, associate degree completion and transfer rates; their only barrier was
the English language (Bailey & Weininger, 2000; Bosher & Rowenkamp, 1992;
Mery, 1999; Peralta Community College, 1999). Once the English skills were
attained, international students continued to earn academic degrees. Brickman and
Nuzzo (1999) found that the foreign-born immigrant groups used college as a means
of English language acquisition for the purpose of academic advancement and not so
much for vocational training as did immigrants who were born in the United States.
34
The international students in this study starkly contrasted with other students of the
same ethnicity who were born in the U.S. and wanted to earn a vocational certificate
or gain enough technical skills to begin full-time employment (Lords, 2000).
Course Repeating
The following review of research will show that the majority of courses that
domestic students repeated were remedial-level, also known as college preparatory
courses. The majority of course repeating was in remedial courses for both two- and
four-year post-secondary institutions (Adelman, 1999). This has caused concern
given the high prevalence of remedial coursework offered; remedial courses were
offered in all public two-year colleges, almost all institutions (94%) with a high
minority enrollment, and over three-quarters of undergraduate institutions (78%)
(Merisotis & Phipps, 2000). Overcrowding of impacted courses and delayed
attainment educational goals were caused by repetition of coursework. There was
also a significant amount of attention paid to remediation and course repetition by
politicians as it affects educational spending for students in state and federal
governments (i.e., state and federal financial aid, and K-12 spending). There are
many types of students who have enrolled in remedial courses ranging from recent
high school graduates to non-traditional students such as those over 25 (Merisotis &
Phipps, 2000). While the reasons why remedial education exists and what it is
exactly defined as are up for debate, remediation has been shown to improve chances
of success in college for students requiring it (Merisotis & Phipps, 2000). Despite
35
what the literature has said about course repetition and remediation, we still do not
know, however, what the case is for international students at community colleges.
Our current orientation towards this subject was even more limited
considering that we have not specifically addressed the international student
population. It was not known for sure what exactly was happening within the
international student population in regards to course retaking partly because it was
not clear if they were studied or not. The data in the studies done have been
aggregated by ethnicity, which we do not know for sure if international students
were included or not. Much of the research became suspect due in part to a
researcher’s arbitrary decision to include, say a Japanese international student, in the
“Asian” category or completely exclude the student from the study. This problem
could be similarly problematic for international students from Russia, Mexico, or
Haiti as they can easily categorized as White, Latino, or Black, respectively, in these
kinds of reports. Our study of course retaking of international students looked
specifically at the courses they had to retake by examining their transcripts and to see
if the course repetition phenomenon was prevalent in the international student
population. We wanted to know which classes international students failed and
repeated.
Another problem we encountered from evaluating the data was the absence of
a standardized form of producing reports. Studies done on course retaking were
usually in the form self-evaluation reports done by institutions under the auspices of
their Institutional Research Office. As mentioned before, this decentralized form of
36
reporting varied from institution to institution and it was not always easy to decipher
if international students were actually being studied as a group by themselves or
aggregated with non-international students.
The little research that was found (which was less than ten) on international
students in community colleges, mainly in the form institutional reports, clearly
indicated that they were academically successful students. A report done by Mery
(1995) for the City College of San Francisco showed that international students had a
higher course completion rate of 88.63% in their ESL coursework than the college’s
overall credit course completion of 80.5%. This success rate is significant because it
not only demonstrates the strong academic ability of the international student
population, but is also leaves us to wonder what happened to the 11% of students
who did not complete their coursework. The report, however, only tells us about
ESL coursework and leaves out all other coursework.
Related to the three issues of persistence, retention, and course repeating was
the notion of course completion ratio. According to Hagedorn, Maxwell, Chen,
Cypers, and Moon (2002), course completion ratio was a more accurate indicator of
community college student academic success than other measures of retention and
persistence. It was calculated by the number of courses a student passed successfully
divided by the number of courses a student enrolled in for longer than four weeks. A
course was considered successfully completed if the student earned an A, B, C. or
“PASS” (if the course was on a pass/no pass grading scale). Courses where a student
37
earned a D, F, or W were considered not successful. A student earned the grade of
W if a course was dropped between the 5
th
and 12
th
weeks.
There were several indicators that led the researcher in this study to believe
that international students within the Los Angeles Community College District
(LACCD) were repeating courses. First, there was research that indicated colleges in
urban areas offer a higher percentage of remedial and preparation courses (Cohen,
1992). Secondly, Adelman (1999) found that the most repeated courses were
remedial-level courses. Lastly, international students have been found to attend post-
secondary institutions in large metropolitan and urban areas (Cohen, 1992; Ignash,
1992 & 1994). Given these three factors, the TRUCCS database and the LACCD
were ideal for this study.
Married Students
The research studying the effect of marital status has been contradictory. In
addition, marital status was examined almost exclusively within the domestic student
population. Last but not least, research done on marital status of students mostly
examined its psycho-social effect on students and often times ignored academic
performance. Any type of cohesive hypothesis or theory on the matter in regards to
international students should be made with extreme caution since the international
and non-international populations of students are quite distinct from one another. As
such, this study sought to find if any relationship between marital status and course
completion ratio exists specifically within the international student population
attending community college.
38
Historically, in the research, married students were grouped with the “non-
traditional” students. Marriage as a student factor was not explicitly considered in
the early studies done by Spady (1970), Astin (1975), and Tinto (1975), who only
looked at students fitting the traditional student model: young four-year college
students. Implicitly, however, marriage was addressed in the theories as it was a
variable which may interfere with, if not limit, the interaction with other students and
professors. Bean and Metzner (1985) adapted Tinto’s model for non-traditional
students by giving a lesser role to social integration and focusing more on variables
like employment, outside encouragement, and family responsibilities. A more recent
examination of marriage on students has been done by Cardenas, Major, and Berna
(2004) who offer two hypotheses that contradict one another: the enhancement
hypothesis and the scarcity hypothesis. These two theories reflected the body of
inconsistent research findings on the subject.
The enhancement hypothesis stated that the psychological and physical
benefits of having multiple roles enhances an individual’s well-being (Cardenas,
Major & Berna, 2004). Research examining older and married community college
students found they were more likely to have higher GPAs and more likely to earn a
baccalaureate degree than single students (Lange & Fundis, 1994; Oyinlade, 1992;
Santa Rita; 1996; Winter & Harris, 1998). A study done specifically on international
students at a four year university, found that married students experienced less stress
than single students (Cho, 1988). In addition to the hypothesis theory, Santa Rita
(1996) hypothesized that married students experienced higher academic success than
39
their single counterparts due to financial responsibilities, concerns, needs, and
overall incentive.
According to the scarcity hypothesis, the more social roles one has, the less
time and energy one has to devote to each of them (Cardenas, Major & Berna, 2004).
Married students who fared worse in their academic performance than single
students in the community college support this hypothesis. Middle-aged married
females, in particular, were found to be more likely to drop out of community
college (Brophy, 1986; Grimes & Antworth, 1996). While studying the retention
rates of older female graduate students, in a four-year research university, Hagedorn
(1993) found the biggest factor of persistence was being single. In addition, female
students have been found to be more concerned about being able to handle career
and familial responsibilities than men both at the undergraduate level (Jackson,
Gardner & Sullivan, 1993) and graduate level (Einarson & Santiago, 1996; Zapper &
Stansbury, 1984).
Some studies have also found that married undergraduate students adjusted to
the demands of college as well as those of single students (Meehan & Negy, 2003)
and that marriage did not have an effect on student academic performance
(Hanniford & Sagaria, 1994; Tucho, 2000). No significant differences were found
between married and single students in an older study done on international students
enrolled in Texas community colleges (Hart, 1974).
Research on the effect of marriage on international student academic
performance in the community college was absent from the literature. This study
40
sought to find out if marriage played a role in the course completion ratio of
international students in community college.
Latino & Asian Students
The focus on minorities in education has been strong within the K-12 realm
but quite weak in the post K-12 level (Fry, 2003). Even though immigrant students
have continually, for a decade, accounted for approximately a quarter of the
community college population, they are largely not visible since no data are collected
on their numbers or outcomes (California Tomorrow, 2002). This was especially
troubling considering such a large population of students is most likely being
underserved as they are understudied. The wide range of ethnic, educational, and
socio-economic variation within each racial group makes understanding any group
quite difficult (Kim, 2002; Siu, 1996). This study sought to find the course
completion ratio of Latino and Asian international students and their course
completion ratio in the community college.
A large majority of research examining immigrant students has been confined
to students who have fully or partially experienced a K-12 education in the United
States. There has been a distinct void of research dealing directly with international
students and an even greater void of studies examining international students at the
community college level (Lamkin, 2000). In addition, the studies that examined
immigrant students look at attrition, withdrawal and grade point average attainment.
Virtually no studies looked as closely at student transcripts. This study sought to
41
find if a relationship between a student’s regional origins affects their academic
performance and their course completion ratio.
The inequitable pattern of degree and certificate attainment within the
California Community Colleges has been documented by California Tomorrow
(2002). Based on a seven year longitudinal study of immigrant students, 40% of
Asian students transferred within 6 years compared to only 18% of Native
Americans and Latinos. Other community college systems reported Asians as the
only minority group having high success rates rivaling those of white students while
the success rate of other minority groups, including Latinos, were significantly lower
(Peralta Community College, 1999). Hispanic students were overly represented in
the community college, vocational preparation programs, and adult education (Fry,
2002; Saenz, 2002; Wilds & Wilson, 1998). They were underrepresented in terms of
completion as well as in the transfer and graduation rates to the UC and CSU
systems (Harvey, 2002; Lewallen, 1996; Rendon & Garza, 1996; Wilds & Wilson,
1998). Hispanic students have been noted to attend community college because of
the availability of vocational preparation, adult education, flexible hours, and
location (Fry, 2002; Saenz, 2002). The fact that Hispanics attended community
college because of the ease of attending part-time may partially explain why they
were not successful given the body of research that showed full-time attendance as
the greatest indicator of academic success, graduation, course, and completion
(Bonham & Lucies, 1993; Brawer, 1996; Lewallen, 1993; McHewitt, 1993).
Asians have long been considered the “model minority in education (Kim &
42
Yeh, 2002) with high persistence, retention, and graduation rates rivaling those of
Whites, and always surpassing those of Blacks and Latinos in the high school, post-
secondary, and graduate levels (Bailey & Weininger, 2002; California Tomorrow,
2002; Education Trust, 2003; Fry, 2003). In the discussion of Asian immigrants in
the community college, California Tomorrow (2002) found that most immigrants
earned AA degrees at higher rates than non-immigrants and many immigrant groups
transferred at rates compared to their non-immigrant peers or slightly better.
Interestingly the study also found that the transfer rates of immigrant Filipino,
Latino, Southeast Asian and Asian Indian students were lower than non-immigrants
from these groups (California 2002). Many reports documented the high rates of
persistence and AA and BA graduation rates of Asians in comparison to the low
persistence of Hispanics (Bailey & Weininger, 2002; Kangas, Budros, & Yoshioka,
2000).
One interesting aspect of immigrants concerned nativity. Nativity (the
number of generations an immigrant is in the United States) has been shown to be
related to the likelihood of entering postsecondary education (Bailey & Weininger,
2002; California Tomorrow, 2002). Additionally, Bailey and Weininger (2002)
found that nativity, not race and ethnicity, was a strong significant indicator of
credits earned, completion of an AA, and transfer to a 4 year university. Immigrants
who completed high school in the U. S. or another country earned considerably more
credits than their native counterparts and were more likely to earn an AA than their
native counterparts (Peralta Community College, 1999). In their study of refugee and
43
immigrant students in a four year university, Bosher and Rowekamp (1992) found
that the strongest predictor of academic success was the amount of schooling the
student received in his or her native country. They also found a negative relationship
between years of education in the United States and the length of the students’
residency to their academic performance in the university.
The wide range of ethnic, educational, and socio- economic variation within
each racial group makes understanding any group quite difficult (Ikegulu, 1999;
Kim, 2002; Siu, 1996). For example, research has shown the differences that exist
between wealthy and educated students from Hong Kong as opposed to refugees
coming from Vietnam or how Cubans have been the most successful ethnic group
within the Latino population. There was a very conscious effort in this study to not
make the assumption that domestic immigrant students were the same as
international Latino and Asian students. The purpose of this study was to try to fill
that void by trying to understand the course completion ratios, educational intentions
and course repetition patterns of Latino and Asian international students in
community college.
Gender
Educational research has heavily used gender as a variable in studies across
different aspects of the field. This may have been for two main reasons: 1) gender
could be easily controlled for as a variable, and, more importantly, 2) researchers
may have wanted to test the strength of gender divisions and roles. There have been
numerous studies testing the effect of gender on dependent variables such as course
44
withdrawal, attrition, degree completion, grade point average, and choice of
academic major. The extensive research on the effect of gender has yielded
conflicting data; it was not consistent or unilateral across the board. In addition, very
little research has examined the relationship between gender and course completion
ratio in the community college. To lessen the void of knowledge pertaining to
international students in community colleges, one of the research questions of this
study examined gender in relation to course completion ratio for international
students.
The traditional role of women being caregivers seemed to be a relatively
strong perception held by both Asian and Latino students in higher education
institutions. In a study using 208 community college students, Grimes and Antworth
(1996) found that non-traditional women withdrew citing family reasons. In spite of
the well-defined gender roles entrenched in Hispanic families (Romo, 1998; Rendon
1992), there were more Hispanic females enrolled in post-secondary institutions than
Hispanic males (Harvey, 2002). Studies have also documented how students felt
males should be more geared towards the business and sciences whereas females
towards arts and humanities (Fan, Sharpels, & Karnilowicz, 1999; Kalsner & Pistole;
2003).
Some community colleges reported an overrepresentation of females in terms
of degree completion (Lewallen, 1996), successful course completion (Peralta
Community College, 1999), and graduation (McHewitt, 1993).
In other studies within four year university settings, women had less positive
45
expectations of completing science or engineering degrees than men (Hacket, Betz,
Casas, & Rocha-Singh, 1992) and were shown to be more concerned about being
able to handle career and familial responsibilities (Jackson, Gardner & Sullivan,
1993). Women also represented a larger proportion of students who reported
“childcare” and “medical” as reasons for their withdrawal from the university
(Swager, Campbell, & Orlowski, 1995) indicating that there was still a familial
responsibility held for women.
Similar findings on gender differences, favoring males, were also found at the
post-baccalaureate level. Among graduate science, engineering, and medical
students, women were more likely to anticipate work and family demands (Einarson
& Santiago, 1996; Zapper & Stansbury, 1984). In addition, Hagedorn (1993) found
the biggest factor of persistence for older female graduate students in a four-year
research university was being single (i.e., having little or no familial responsibilities).
The effect, if any, gender had on the international student population in this
dataset was something this study hoped to find. On one side of the debate, gender
has been shown to be weak indicators of performance while there are opposing
arguments that indicate gender is a strong indicator. In spite of the research of gender
at the three levels of higher education (community college, undergraduate, and
graduate), we still did not know how it affected the academic success of international
students. More specifically, we do not know if gender had an effect on the course
completion ratio of international students in community colleges.
46
Student Age
The research that studied the effect of student age on student academic
success has been unclear and quite contradictory. Tinto (1993) argued that older
students were more likely to drop out because of their added life responsibilities than
younger students, which, according to his integration theory, prevented them from
being able to integrate into the university social milieu. There was much data to
support Tinto’s research. Gao (2002) found that graduates who started an A.A.
program at younger ages completed in less time than older students. The data
collected by Axelson and Torres (1996) confirmed Tinto’s argument when they
found that full-time students under 25 had the lowest withdrawal rate of 19%. This
trend seemed apparent within many four year universities as well. In the Wisconsin
University System (2000), students who entered one of the public four year
universities under the age of 20 graduated at almost twice the rate of students aged
20 or higher (60.5% and 27.4%, respectively). In two separate studies using
community college students, middle aged married female students were more likely
to withdraw (Brophy, 1987; Grimes & Antworth, 1996).
The amount of research that showed older students being more successful
students was just as abundant as the body of research which argued against it. There
was a large body of research which indicated that lower-aged students had higher
incidences of academic withdrawal. This body of research went against Tinto’s
notion that the responsibilities older students had were an academic hindrance. In
fact, they even went so far as to argue that these hindrances seemed to increase the
47
academic drive and focus of older students. Studies looking at the TRUCCS
database found that older students, Latinos specifically, tended to achieve higher
grades and finish their courses (Hagedorn, Maxwell, Chen, Cypers & Moon, 2002).
In terms of percentage of successful course completions, younger students (aged 16-
18) were less successful than students over the age of 65 within all four of the Peralta
Community College System in Northern California (Peralta Community College,
1999). Students over the age of 25 within the State of Virginia community colleges
had a higher chance of graduating, with either a certificate, diploma, or associate
degree (McHewitt, 1993). Younger students have also been found to have a higher
withdrawal rate and persistence rate than students over the age of 25 (Lucas &
Meltesen, 1993; Quigley 1995). Geltner (1996) found that traditional aged students
between 20 and 24 had the lowest success rates while those between 60 and 64 had
the highest in Santa Monica City College in California (Geltner, 1996). Arnold &
Ugale (1996) found that students with the highest success rate were 39 years and
older, followed by students aged 22-29 who had average success rates and students
under 22 had lower than average success rates. There was also research that found
older students earned better grades on average than younger students enrolled in four
year universities, as well (Belcheir, 2000; Hoskins, Murtaugh, Burns, & Schuster;
Newstead & Dennis, 1997).
The research on age and community college completion became even more
confounding with research that found age had very minimal or no effect on the
academic success. One study simply showed age having little effect on prediction on
48
academic success (Belchier, 2000). Another study found that the highly varied
distribution of community colleges made it difficult to generalize about (Scherini,
1985).
There were no studies which have investigated the age and course retaking
patterns of international students at the community college level. This study sought
to determine if age was a factor in determining course withdrawal, retaking, and
function of community college for the international student population in the
TRUCCS database.
Conclusions
We know that community colleges have been easily accessible to all students
(Boggs, 2001; Bryant, 2001) and have been entry institutions for many people,
including international students, into the higher educational system of the United
States. Very little was known about international students at the community college
(Bailey & Wininger, 2000; Szelenyi, Katalin, Chang, & June, 2002) outside of the
basic demographic (i.e., ethnicity, age, gender) information gathered from
admissions applications and surveys, such as TRUCCS. Much more meaningful and
useful data such as course completion, course repetition, and academic goals of
international students in community college were almost non-existent in the research.
This study used academic transcript data in addition to qualitative data gathered from
the TRUCCS database to investigate these topics relating to international students
within the Los Angeles Community College District to lessen the void of knowledge
for this little-known yet very important student population.
49
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to determine the coursetaking patterns of
international students. This study examined international student’s course
completion ratio and the courses they repeated. In addition, this study examined the
possibility of gender or ethnic patterns that may exist within the data in terms of
academic goals and marital status.
Research Design
The research design for this study consisted of a paper questionnaire survey
developed by the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students
(TRUCCS) project, a three-year, longitudinal study of community college students at
nine campuses in a large metropolitan district. The time of the study began in the
academic year of 2000 and lasted until 2003 with the inclusion of winter and summer
sessions. The intent of the TRUCCS project was to study the goals, success and
academic patterns of students across 241 classrooms in the community college
district. Students were asked to voluntarily complete a 47-item questionnaire (please
see Appendix A). This study utilized the TRUCCS data and the complete academic
transcripts that were collected as part of the study. Utilizing the TRUCCS database
was ideal for this proposal because it was both longitudinal and set in an ideal urban
location, where the great majority of international students study (Cohen, 1991).
Since the TRUCCS project was a longitudinal study, it included the data relevant for
investigating the issues related to international students as proposed.
50
The international student population in this study voluntarily participated in
the TRUCCS project. Classrooms were identified through a stratified sampling
method that focused on three levels of English courses (2 levels below transfer, 1
level below transfer, and transfer level), as well as occupational programs, stratified
by age, gender and ethnicity. This study looked only at age, ethnicity, gender, and
marital status in regards to the international student population.
The main sources of longitudinal data for this proposal were student
transcripts. This proposal used quantitative transcript data to answer the proposed
research questions. The scope and extent of the TRUCCS database was large and
extensive. Transcripts have been analyzed from a student's initial point of entrance
into any of the nine community colleges and 5 semesters thereafter since the year
2000 with the inclusion of the summer and winter terms.
The variable of success in each course was defined in accordance with
California Community College Chancellor’s Office. It was a dichotomous variable
that defined course success as completing a course with a grade of C or better. The
category of non-success is applied to grades lower than a C (i.e., C-, D+, D, D-, and
FAIL), including withdrawal from the course before completion.
This study sought to examine student academic success by looking at a
student’s course completion ratio as an alternative to the standard measures of
academic success like persistence and retention. There has not been a single
definitive definition for persistence or retention, but one thing that was consistent for
both terms was the examination of a student’s attendance patterns. At the same time,
51
though, there was often very little attention paid to academic transcripts. While
consistent attendance patterns may have been an accurate indicator of academic
success for students in four year universities, it may have not been for students in
community colleges. By their very nature, community colleges have been more
student-friendly than their four-year counterparts. Community colleges have made it
easy for many students, including those that are non-traditional, to attend part-time.
In addition, there have been much less consequences associated with withdrawing or
having inconsistent attendance patterns in community colleges than in four year
colleges. Given the relatively lax admission requirements in the community college,
the course completion ratio was used to determine student success in this study. The
course completion ratio was a more accurate indicator of academic success because
it looked at the grades earned in each course. The value of the course completion
ratio was measured by dividing the number of courses completed by the number of
courses attempted. In order for a course to be calculated in the ratio, the student had
to be enrolled in the course for at least four weeks and earned a grade of A, B, or C.
Non-passing grades were C-, D, F, or W. A “W” was recorded when a student
dropped a course between the 5
th
and 12
th
week of instruction. This calculation for
course completion ratio was borrowed from Hagedorn (2003). Once a course
completion ratio was determined, it was labeled as a dependent variable in the SPSS
program so that we could test to see if independent variables such a race, age,
gender, and marital status had any effect on it. Unlike previous studies
aforementioned done on retention and persistence, this study used a data set of only
52
international students; it excluded domestic non-U.S. citizen students and U.S.
citizens who are of a different ethnic group.
This study also sought to determine which courses international students
repeated. In order to do so, academic transcripts were examined and courses that
were repeated two times or more were marked. The marked courses were then
identified by their course title and number. Using SPSS, course repetition was used
as a dependent variable and it was tested to see if independent variables such as
national origin, age, gender, and marital status influenced which courses were
repeated.
Population and Sample
International students were the sample population in this study. Specifically,
students who were entirely educated in a foreign country from kindergarten through
the twelfth grade, or equivalent, were selected for this study. This sample population
was also unique in that, for most of these students, the community college was their
point of entry into the U.S. higher educational system.
Questionnaires were distributed in select English and other college level
courses. This was done to ensure that the students in the courses would be able to
accurately read and understand the English language to complete the TRUCCS
survey questionnaire. This survey was not given to international students who were
in lower English level courses since they would not be English proficient enough to
understand the questionnaire.
53
Of the 5,000 responding students, 8.7% (n = 437) of the students identified
themselves in the category described as an Asian or Latino international student.
The population was limited to Latino and Asian international students because other
ethnic groups were too small. Of the 437 students, there were 289 belonging to the
Asian category and the remaining 148 students were in the Latino category. The
study population was comprised of students coming from a total of thirteen
nationalities. The researcher in this study felt that more meaningful conclusions
could be made from larger population sizes and therefore divided the study
population into two large racial groups. There were 157 male participants, 277
female participants, and 3 students who did not respond to the question asking their
gender. Please see Table 1 for the gender and ethnic breakdowns of each racial
group. Despite having only one male and female who identified themselves as from
Mexico, it was quite possible that Mexicans preferred to identify themselves as
Central Americans.
Table 1
Gender and Ethnicity of Asian and Latino International Student Population
Origin Country Male Female Total
Asian
East Asian
Chinese 27 66 93
Korean 9 19 28
Japanese 20 28 48
South East Asian
Thai 5 4 9
Laotian 0 2 2
Cambodian 2 0 2
Vietnamese 5 18 23
Filipino 17 40 57
54
Table 1 Continues
South Asian
Indian 15 10 25
Latino
Mexican 1 1 2
South American 13 25 38
Central American 36 51 87
Latino/Hispanic 7 13 20
Total Valid Responses 157 277 434
Total Non-Valid Responses N/A N/A 3
Total International population N/A N/A 437
The following research questions led the study.
Research Questions
1) Do Latino and Asian international students differ in their academic goals?
Do these patterns differ by age, gender, and marital status?
2) Are there differences in the course completion ratios between single and
married Asian and Latino international students? Do these course taking
patterns differ by gender, age, and marital status?
3) What are the courses Latino and Asian international students repeat? Do
these patterns differ by gender and national origins?
Instrumentation
Based on the above questions, this was a quantitative study where: a) data
derived from self-report questionnaire surveys were collected; b) measures with a
quantifiable coding (i.e., academic transcripts) were used, and c) data were analyzed
using cross-tabulations and independent samples t-tests.
55
Data Collection
The study employed a correlational survey design. International students at
each institution were asked to voluntarily complete a survey questionnaire. The
survey questionnaires were administered and proctored by employees of the
TRUCCS project.
Validity and Reliability
All of the TRUCCS data collection was carried out by educators who were
trained by TRUCCS project staff members. Survey proctors were given scripts to
follow to maintain uniform and consistent survey questionnaire proctoring.
Data Analysis
Data analyses were done using SPSS program. This study mainly used cross-
tabulations, t-tests, and Chi-square tests to determine if the results supported the
hypothesis that there was a statistical relationship among these factors for
international students.
Definition of Variables
The study used several independent variables (gender, marital status, national
origin, and academic goals). Dependent variables were course completion ratio and
course repeating. Gender and marital status were measured by questions 28 and 31,
respectively on the TRUCCS questionnaire. Age was measured by question 29,
which asked students to indicate one of the following categories: 16 years or
younger, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21-24, 25-29, 30-39, 40-54, or 55 or older.
56
National origin
This was question 30 on the TRUCCS survey questionnaire (to see this item,
go to appendix 1). Students were asked to choose from 22 different ethnicities
provided on the survey (see Appendix for the full listing). For the purposes of this
study, the ethnic groups were concentrated on two categories: Latino and Asian. The
Latino category was separated accordingly: South American, Central American,
Latino/Hispanic. The Asian category was divided accordingly: East Asian (Korean,
Chinese, Japanese), South East Asian (Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Laotian,
Cambodian), South Asian (Indian).
Highest academic degree goal
This was question 12 on the TRUCCS survey questionnaire that what the
student’s highest academic degree would be if he or she had no obstacles. Student’s
highest academic degree goals were an ordinal measure, asking survey respondents
to choose from one of the following: will take classes, but do not intent to earn a
degree; vocational certificate; Associate; Bachelor’s degree; At least a Bachelor’s,
maybe more; Master’s degree; Doctoral degree; Medical degree.
Course completion ratio
The value of the course completion ratio was measured by dividing the
number of courses completed by the number of courses attempted. In order for a
course to be calculated in the ratio, the student must have been enrolled in the course
for at least four weeks and earned a grade of either A, B, or C. A course was
considered “non-passing” if the student earned a D, F, or W. A “W” was recorded
57
when a student dropped a course between the 5
th
and 12
th
week of instruction. This
calculation for course completion ratio has been borrowed from the study done by
Hagedorn (2003).
Course Repeating
Course repeating was determined by looking at each student’s transcript and
looking at which courses they repeated. The researcher coded the number of times a
course was repeated for each student in the study population.
58
CHAPTER 4: Findings
This study examined the Asian and Latino international student coursetaking
behavior, in terms of course completion ratio and courses repeated. In addition, it
analyzed whether age, gender, and marital status exerted influence within the two
ethnic groups.
Table 2 shows the data on the t-test between the course completion ratios of
the Asian and Latino international student population. The Asian population had a
mean course completion ratio of .82, and the Latino population rate was .79.
According to this table, the differences in mean on the course completion ratio
between both ethnic populations were trivial. There was no statistically significant
difference between Latino and Asian international students in their course
completion ratios.
Table 2
t-test Analysis of Course Completion Ratio and Race
National
Origins n
Course
Completion
Ratio Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Asian 267 .82 .18 .01
Latino 140 .79 .18 .01
p = .09
Table 3 shows the results of a 2 X 2 X 2 Factorial ANOVA test with course
completion ratio as the dependent variable with age, gender, and marital status as
independent variables for the Asian population. Neither age nor marital status had a
59
statistically significant relationship with the dependent variable, but gender did (at
the .05 level). The test also showed that the value of any combination of interaction
of the three independent variables was not statistically significant.
Table 3
ANOVA analysis of the Course Completion Ratio of Asian
International Students in relation to Age, Gender and Marital Status
Source df
Mean
Square F Sig.
Age 1 .00 .10 .75
Gender 1 .18 5.46 .02
Marital Status 1 .11 3.54 .06
Age * Gender 1 .00 .11 .74
Age * Marital Status 1 .00 .07 .79
Gender & Marital Status 1 .01 .34 .56
Age * Gender * Marital Status 1 .02 .73 .39
Error 256 .03
Total 263
Corrected Total 262
Table 4 shows the gender difference on course completion ratio within the
Asian population. The ANOVA test in Table 3 only told us that gender was a
significant independent variable. The results of the analysis done in Table 4 shows
us which gender did better than the other. According to the test, Asian females had
higher course completion ratios than Asian males. Asian males had a mean value of
.78, and the Asian females had a mean value of .85. The t-test analysis indicated that
the difference in means between the course completion ratios of Asian females and
males were significant; Asian females earn significantly greater course completion
ratios than Asian males. The results of the t-test showed a strong significance level
of less than .01.
60
Table 5 shows the results of a 2 X 2 X 2 Factorial ANOVA test with course
completion ratio as the dependent variable with age, gender, and marital status as
independent variables for the Latino population. Neither age, gender, marital status,
nor any combinations thereof had any statistically significant relationships with the
course completion ratio in the Latino international student population.
Table 5
ANOVA of Latino International Student (Age, Gender and Marital
Status)
Source df
Mean
Square F Sig.
Age 1 .02 .48 .49
Gender .00 .05 .82
Marital Status 1 .08 2.40 .12
Age * Gender 1 .00 .01 .90
Age * Marital Status 1 .07 1.93 .17
Gender * Marital Status 1 .00 .00 .94
Age * Gender * Martial
Status
1 .02 .73 .39
Error 130 .03
Total 138
Corrected Total 137
Table 4
t-test Analysis of Course Completion Ratio and Gender (Asian
International Student)
Gender n
Course
Completion
Ratio Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Male
95 .78 .21 .02
Female
172 .85 .16 .01
*p = .00
61
Table 6 shows the crosstabulation of academic goals for Latino and Asian
international students. The table clearly shows the high post-community college
academic goals of the international students in this study with about 26.4% (114)
students who reported wanting to earn a Master’s degree, 22% (96) who reported
considering earning a Master’s degree after completing a Bachelor’s degree, 15%
(65) of students who wanted to earn a Bachelor’s degree, and 12% (52) who wanted
to earn an Associate’s degree. Only about 3% of students in this study population
took classes with no intention of earning a degree and roughly 2% who were seeking
a vocational certificate. Three chi-square tests were performed to see if race, gender,
and age affected a student’s academic degree goals, and these tests found no
statistically significant correlations.
Table 6
Chi-Square Analysis Between Highest Degree Desired and Race
Race Total
Highest academic degree
desired Asian Latino
1 ) Take classes / no
degree
10 (3.5%) 3 (2%) 13 (3%)
2) Vocational
Certificate
3 (1%) 6 (4%) 9 (2.1%)
3) Associate 32 (11%) 20 (14%) 52 (12%)
4) Bachelor's 43 (15%) 22 (15.1%) 65 (15%)
5) At least a B.A,
maybe more
71 (25%) 25 (17%) 96 (22%)
6) Master's 74 (26%) 40 (27%) 114 (26.4%)
7) Doctoral 36 (12.5%) 21 (14.4%) 57 (13.2%)
8) Medical 17 (6%) 9 (6.2%) 26 (6%)
Total 286 (100%) 146 (99.7%) 432 (99.7%)
p = .84 (race)
p = .80 (gender)
p = .65 (age)
62
The next type of data analysis that utilized transcript data was in regards to
course repeating. The data revealed that the top three repeated courses were the
same for each racial group, though the ranking of the courses differed. The results of
this analysis are shown in Tables 7 through 13.
Table 7 shows the course repetition means of both the Asian and Latino in a
t-test done between cultural category and course repetition. The Asian population
had a mean of 2.24 and the Latino population had a mean of 2.21. The difference
between these groups was negligible.
Table 7
Independent Samples t-test Between Course Repetition and Race
National
Origins n
Course
Repetition
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Asian 267 2.24 .55 .01
Latino 140 2.21 .51 .01
p = .37
Table 8 shows the three most repeated courses and their mean number of
times repeated in the Latino international student population. The mean number of
times students retook English 028, English 021, and English 101 was 2.13, 2.10, and
2.00, respectively.
63
Table 8
t-test Course Repetition Means of Latino International Students
English
Course
Level n
Course
Repetition
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
028 28 2.13 .53 .01
021 20 2.10 .51 .01
101 13 2.00 .50 .01
Table 9 describes the test results using one way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) comparing the course repetition means between the Latino international
students. The ANOVA test was needed to determine if the differences in means
between the repeated courses were significant. According to the test, the three
classes had no significant differences in mean values as translated from the following
calculation: F (2,59) = .16, p = 3.15 > .05.
Table 9
ANOVA Test Course Repetition (Latino International Students)
Sum of
Squares
DF Mean
Square
F Sig.
Between
Groups
.15 2 .07 .07 3.15
Within
Groups
25.16 59 .43 .43
Total 25.31 61
p = 3.15
Table 10 shows the course repetition mean values of male and female Latino
students. The male group had a course repetition mean of 2.21 and the females had a
64
course repetition mean of 2.22. The t-test revealed that gender was not significant on
courses retaken within the Latino group.
Table 10
t-test Analysis of Course Repetition and Gender (Latino International
Students)
Gender n
Course
Repetition
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Male 31 2.21 .51 .23 Times
Taken Female 30 2.22 .52 .26
p = .55
Table 11 shows the three most repeated courses and their mean number of
times repeated in the Asian international student population. The mean number of
times students retook English 101, English 028, and English 021 was 2.23, 2.24, and
2.20, respectively.
Table 11
Course Repetition Means of Asian International Students
English
Course
Level n
Course
Repetition
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
101 50 2.23 .53 .01
028 40 2.24 .51 .01
021 35 2.20 .50 .01
Table 12 describes the test results using one way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) comparing the course repetition means between the Asian international
students. The ANOVA test was needed to determine if the difference in means
65
between the repeated courses was statistically significant. It shows no significant
difference in means between the three courses. In order to compare the mean
differences of the pretest scores between the three courses, one way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if they were significant. According to the
test, the three classes had no significant differences in mean values as translated from
the following calculation: F (2,123) = .04, p = 3.07 > .05.
Table 12
ANOVA Test Course Repetition (Asian International Students)
Sum of
Squares
DF Mean
Square
F Sig.
Between
Groups
.07 2 .01 .04 3.07
Within
Groups
31.69 123 .26
Total 31.76 125
p = 3.07
Table 13 shows the course repetition mean values for both the male and
female Asian students. The male group had a course repetition mean of 2.01 and the
females had course repetition mean of 2.23. The t-test revealed that gender was not
significantly related to courses retaken among the Asian international student
population.
66
Table 13
t-test Analysis of Course Repetition and Gender (Asian International
Student)
Gender n
Course
Repetition
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Male 49 2.01 .51 .01 Times
Taken Female 76 2.23 .52 .02
p = .58
67
CHAPTER 5: Discussion
This study examined the Asian and Latino international student coursetaking
behavior in terms of course completion ratio and courses repeated. In addition, it
observed if age, gender, and marital status had any influence within the two ethnic
groups. The research was guided by the following three questions:
1) Do Latino and Asian international students differ in their academic goals?
Do these patterns differ by age, gender, and marital status?
2) Are there differences in the course completion ratio between single and
married Asian and Latino international students? Do these patterns
differ by gender and age?
3) What are the courses Latino and Asian international students repeat? Do
these patterns differ by gender and national origin?
Research Question 1 - Do Latino and Asian international students differ in their
academic goals? Do these patterns differ by age, gender, and marital status?
The first question of this study sought to find if the Asian and Latino student
population differed in their academic goals. The findings of this study indicate that
the Latino and Asian international student population are quite similar in their
academic goals. Over forty percent of the students from both groups indicated that
they wanted to earn “at least a Master’s degree, maybe more.” In addition, the data
reveals that age, gender, and marital status are not significant variables in relation to
the students’ academic goals. The findings indicate that this population group, that
is, international students who arrived in the United States already educated with the
68
equivalent of a U.S. K-12 education in their home countries, entered the community
college system with similar educational intents and goals. This finding supports
previous research which found that international students have high educational
goals (Bailey & Weininger, 2002; Brickman & Nuzzo, 1999; Mery, 1995; Peralta
Community College, 1999). These are very high educational goals. This finding
also implies that we can no longer aggregate minority students solely on their race
and ethnicity, and that we must also consider their previous academic backgrounds,
including where they studied and to what extent (i.e., length of time, level of
academic rigor, etc.) (Dozier, 2001).
The fact that so many international students are indicating that they want to
earn at least a Master’s degree signals many things. First, it tells us that they are not
just using the community college as a means to develop immediate employment
skills (e.g., learning enough English or particular job skills). This is contrary to
previous research that found immigrant students often utilizing community colleges
for these purposes (Brickman & Nuzzo, 1999; Kuo, 1999; Lords, 2000).
Furthermore, these data also show us that the sample student population in this study
planned on being long-term students with the intent of earning a Master’s degree,
and possibly higher graduate degrees. We can expect most of the student population
in this study to stay in the community college, perhaps not necessarily to earn an
associate’s degree, but to earn enough units to transfer into a four-year university,
graduate with a Bachelor’s degree, and earn a Master’s degree. Thirdly, students
indicating they want to earn a “Master’s degree and maybe more” indicates that these
69
students will be seeking professional jobs. Their occupational goals are beyond the
reach of students who are attending community colleges for immediate job
placement (Lords, 2000). In addition, professional jobs are much higher paying and
stable in comparison to the types of jobs that some students want to be immediately
placed in. An important question that remains in regards to international students
and their jobs is where they plan to work. Based on the research on international
students and where they eventually find employment, chances are they will
eventually stay in the U.S. for not only employment but also for permanent
residence. This has many financial implications as these students anticipate staying
in the two- and four-year educational pipeline and in the U.S. to work and reside.
(Broaded, 1993; Johnson & Regets, 1998; Tansel & Gungor, 2003).
Research Question 2 - Are there differences in the course completion ratio between
single and married Asian and Latino international students? Do these patterns
differ by gender and age?
The second question of this study investigated the course completion ratio of
Asian and Latino international students to see if race, age, gender and marital status
patterns existed. The course completion ratios of both the Asian and Latino groups
were very similar to one another: the Asian and Latino group had a rate of .82 and
.79, respectively. The cultural differences between the two groups did not have an
effect on course completion ratio. International students in this study had very
similar goals and outcomes, thus debunking the “model minority” perception that has
been attached to Asians (Bailey & Weininger, 2002; Kangas, Budros, & Yoshioka,
70
2000; Kim & Yeh, 2002). Conversely, and more importantly, it highlights the
academic strengths of Latinos despite the many psycho-social issues they deal with
(Hellman & Harbeck, 1997; Nora and Cabrera, 1996).
Secondly, the data results show us that we should also focus on gender and
not solely on national origin in our discourse of international student academic
success. Rather than focusing our attention on ethnic and cultural differences, which
many previous researchers have emphasized (Ah Sam & Center-Anthony, 1998;
Jackson, Smith & Hill, 2003; Nishimoto & Hagedorn, 2003), we should also take
into consideration other factors, such as class, length and quality of previous
education, and gender, as possible factors in course completion ratio, as evidenced
by the Asian population in this study. This is not to suggest that gender roles are not
cultural, but merely that our analysis of such factors should not exclude gender as a
variable. There may be cultural gender biases influencing the Asian international
student population. What was interesting to find was that there was no gender
differences in the Latino group, contrary to what many researchers have found
(Romo, 1998; Rendon 1992). This finding could also be an indication that there is a
slow modification of gender roles within the Latino culture in general, or more
particularly among the highly educated strata. At least within this study, Latinas can,
and did, just as well in their courses as their Latino counterparts.
Student age did not have an effect on the course completion ratios of either
ethnic group. This finding supports previous research that showed age having little
effect on prediction of academic success (Belchier, 2000). In addition, this finding is
71
another indication that the Latino and Asian international student populations are
academically similar groups in terms of course completion.
Marital status had no effect on the course completion ratios of either the
Asian or Latino group. The finding that marital status was an insignificant variable
does not support the enhancement or scarcity hypotheses set forth by Cardenas,
Major, and Bernas (2004). Rather, this study supports the research that found no
difference in academic performance between married or single students (Hanniford
& Sagaria, 1994; Hart, 1974; Meehan & Negy, 2003; Tucho, 2000). As a caveat,
however, it should be noted that the significance level for marital status in the Asian
group was .06.
The married and single students within the Latino population showed no
substantial difference in their course completion ratios. The slight difference in
course completion ratio between the single and married Latino students indicates that
the two groups achieved similar academic progress. As noted earlier with course
completion ratios, this finding could be a signal indicating the modification of gender
roles, in this case for Latina students who are married, to continue their education.
More quantitative studies need to be done on the Asian and Latino
international student population to further understand and explain this finding.
Research Question 3 - What are the courses Latino and Asian international students
repeat? Do these patterns differ by gender and national origin?
The third question of this study concerned which three courses were most
72
repeated by international students. Based on the transcripts of the international
students in this population, the study found that the three most repeated courses were
English 21, 28, 101. There was no statistically significant difference between gender
groups or the two ethnic groups.
The fact that two of the three most repeated courses are remedial English
leads us to believe that the international students in this study entered their respective
community colleges needing English language development skills. This is expected
given the fact that a great majority of students in this study indicated English was not
their first language. Three reasons could possibly explain why English 101 was also
one of the most repeated courses for this population. First, the same students who
failed English 21 and 28 are also finding English 101 to be difficult. Secondly,
students who may have tested into English 101 may have passed the placement exam
by a very slim margin and found themselves academically struggling for 101. Third,
it could be a combination of the previous two reasons.
The occurrence of course repetition by the Asian and Latino international
student population is a double edged sword. From the institutional perspective, it
indicates to us that the purpose and intent of remediation is being dutifully carried
out as we prepare students to learn English. It also signals to us that we are not
engaging in the social promotion of students within the community college system.
From the student perspective, however, course repetition can be very stressful
academically and psychologically. Success in college is low for students where
reading is the core problem (Meristosis & Phipps, 2000). Students not only
73
experience psychological stress from their academic failure but also from having to
manage and work around an unexpected personal and academic adjustment in terms
of availability of time, courses, and possible delay in academic goal completion. The
fact that the students in this study population enrolled in and repeated remedial
coursework and still managed to attain high course completion ratios should dispel
any belief that only unsuccessful students require remediation (Dozier, 2001).
Conclusions
Asian and Latino international students in this population were more similar
than they were different based on the findings of this study. Both groups were
similar in terms of their academic goals, course completion ratios, and courses
repeated. In fact, this study showed that the Asian group was different from the
Latino group only when gender was considered in the calculation of the course
completion ratio.
What this study indicates to researchers is that it may be more meaningful to
view this group of students as a group amongst other student populations and should
not be aggregated into other student groups such as immigrant students or students
who have attended K-12 educational institutions in the United States, both groups
whom the research has shown to be quite different in terms of their educational and
occupational goals and objectives (Dozier, 2001). The fact that the international
students in this study had such high academic goals is not so much attributed to the
fact that they were educated outside of the U.S. as much as they received a consistent
education in their native language from kindergarten through 12
th
grade (Bailey &
74
Weininger, 2002). The students in this study were able to receive a relatively high
level of education in their respective countries, many of which do not have
compulsory education or are first world countries. In addition, we must also
consider the very likely possibility that these students had a high level of literacy in
their native language, which could attribute to their high academic expectations, and
ultimately their confidence to achieve them (Chavkin & Gonzalez, 2000). Research
has shown that students with stronger pre-college skills have a higher chance of
success in college than those with weaker pre-college skills (Nora & Cabrera, 1996).
From this we can infer that the Asian and Latino international students in this study
had a significant amount of financial and social capital to be able to receive the
equivalent of a K-12 education in their respective country of origin. Thus, the level
of students we are dealing with here do not require the same type of attention as do
students who left their native countries under much more dire circumstances such as
escaping war zones and who may not have the same value in education as the study
population (Ogbu, 1998). More research needs to be done on an ethnic level to
further understand each group within the two larger ethnic groups as unique and
significant differences found in smaller-sized ethnic groups can be lost when they are
aggregated into larger groupings (Nishimoto & Hagedorn, 2003).
In regards to course completion ratio, this study confirmed the findings of
previous researchers examining the course completion success of international
students. While this study did not compare international students to non-
international students, the course completion ratio mean for both groups was about
75
81%, which is a relatively high level of student academic success and corresponds to
the success rates of other studies as well (Geltner, 1996; Hagedorn & Lee, 2005;
Mery, 1995; Peralta Community College District, 1999).
Suggestions for future research
Now that we have investigated Asian and Latino international students’
course completion ratios, courses repeated, and academic goals, there are several
things that future research can build upon. Since Asian and Latino international
students are very similar with the majority of them wanting to earn a Master’s degree
or higher, it would be interesting to examine this finding more closely by studying
the academic goals of each ethnic group represented in the study population. As
discussed before, the consolidation of multiple nations into more general categories,
such as “Central American,” weakens these findings as smaller groups are often
overshadowed by larger groups. It would be interesting to see if there were any
differences between students of different nations, rather than of vast geographic
regions. One suggestion for future research would be to replicate this study using a
research population divided by individual nationalities, especially those that were
grouped into larger categories in this study like South American, Central American,
and Other/Latino. Carrying out this study will require a much larger student
population database than TRUCCS since there was very little representation of
students from smaller countries in it.
The second finding of this study revealed that Asian females had a higher
course completion ratio than Asian males. Future research should explore this
76
phenomenon by focusing on variables that this study did not account for such as
cultural biases, student motivation, study skills, and level of responsibility outside of
their academic lives. It would also be interesting to do the same research study on
the Latino population to explain why the male and female students have such similar
course completion ratios. The research findings of one ethnic group may help to
explain, or at least provide new avenues of research, for studying the other.
The level of English ability should also be a factor when looking at this
population again. This is a particularly interesting variable to look at because of the
fact that some nations represented in this population were English-speaking former
European colonies (i.e., India). How do students coming from countries that have
been colonized by European countries fare in comparison to students coming from
nations which were not colonized by the Europeans? Do these students take the
same courses (i.e., remedial English)? How effective is the training of the English
language at the schools in those countries? These are the type of questions that such
a research project will have to seriously consider before devising an actual research
study. It would also require the researcher to examine transcript grades and gather a
student population that meets this profile. Finding a student population will probably
be the most difficult task of this type of study and will most likely require the use of
a larger database where the appropriate students are more represented.
Researchers interested in the data population should consider doing an
academic follow-up study specifically examining actual academic goal attainment. It
would be interesting to see how many students in this population finished an AA,
77
transferred with or without an AA to a four-year university, earned a B.A., earned a
Master’s degree, or went on to get professional or doctorate degrees. To
complement these data, similar studies should be done in four year universities and
private universities as well.
This study highlighted the need for detailed survey instruments. If there are
surveys being produced that ask respondents about their race or nationality, then they
must list each nation and not aggregate them by regions (i.e., Central America or
South American). In addition, it should also accommodate people with bi- and
multi-ethnic backgrounds. Only when we begin to address that a population exists
can we truly begin to understand and study them. Continuing to ignore such student
populations would only be a detriment to educational research. On a related note, a
longitudinal study is needed which examines each Latin American country. Because
this survey grouped the Latin American nations by regions, there is no way of
knowing exactly which nation each student came from. By looking at each Latin
American country specifically, we will be able to find and study and differences
between Latin American countries and to other nations as well.
In order to avoid the possibility of having a biased sample population, as this
study did, future research studies intending to use surveys should consider having
their survey translated into the languages of students enrolled in ESL courses. Doing
so would expand the sample population and afford the opportunity to carry out a
wider study with the inclusion of students in even the most basic ESL courses.
Given that so many different immigrant groups utilize community colleges for their
78
educational needs, having all institutional documents translated in several languages
should be the norm and not the exception.
Implications
The finding that the three most repeated courses for the international student
population were English classes carries the biggest implication for each of the
different levels of the higher education system (community college, public and
private four year universities). This finding signals to community colleges to offer
more sections of English courses given the fact that there will be many students who
need to repeat them. The necessity to repeat such courses impacts not only the
international student population, but also the rest of the student body of the
community college. Without extra courses offered, it will be difficult for all students
to be able to reach their academic and career goals without delay.
Public and private four year colleges and universities should also take into
consideration the extent to which they are prepared to assist and accommodate
students who are repeating English courses. One of the current trends in U.S.
colleges and universities is the removal of remedial-level coursework and
concentrating them in the community colleges (Merisotis & Phipps, 2000; Schmidt
et al., 1999). This is especially true in the state of California within the California
State University (CSU) system where under Chancellor’s Office Executive Order
665, students must exit remedial coursework in English and math within their first
year. If a student does not complete his or her remedial coursework by the end of
their freshman year, the university dismisses the student. As a result, many students
79
are forced to complete their remedial coursework at the community college, thus
placing greater strain on the community college English departments as well as on
the students enrolled in the remedial and basic ESL courses.
Private colleges and universities should also consider how they want to deal
with the issue of course repetition in their English courses. While many universities
are able to select their international students by placing a minimum score on the
TOEFL exam, the issue becomes how high the score should be set. The university
must consider lowering the TOEFL score to not only attract more international
students, but to also create a financial opportunity by having them enroll in more
English courses. On the other hand, universities can set high TOEFL scores and not
offer remedial or basic English courses in the name of academic rigor and prestige.
This is an especially tough decision for state universities to make given that their
main source of funding comes from student tuition, and the fact that international
students usually pay significantly higher tuition than domestic students.
As all four-year colleges and universities (public and private) deal with the
issue of remedial level English course repetition in their respective institutions, their
decisions on the matter will reflect their stand on issues of fairness, equity, and
academic excellence. For example, is it fair to expunge students from the university
if there are not enough courses offered for students to complete their remedial
coursework? What type of message does the university send to the campus
community and the general public if there are not enough English courses available
or if the TOEFL score is set too high? Is it fair for non-international students to feel
80
the impact created by international students? What institutions will do (or not do) to
accommodate the course repetition phenomena will be interesting to observe and
study.
Now that we know that the international students in this study had high
academic degree goals and were academically strong students, as evidenced by their
responses to the academic goal question and course completion ratio, respectively,
one suggestion for future research would be to do a follow up study that specifically
looks at the employment status of these students. How did the study population as a
whole fare? It would also be interesting to see how these students are contributing to
the work force. How many remain in the U.S.? The study should not only be
quantitative, but also qualitative so that we could understand the struggles and
challenges experienced by this student population within the U.S. higher education
system and work force. The future study should examine how this group compares
to the domestic minority population and general student population, as well.
This study’s findings regarding course repetition also has implications for
prospective and currently enrolled international students in community colleges. The
fact that the top three repeated courses by international students were all English
courses should signal to international students three particular points. The first of
which is the importance of developing their English skills as much as they can before
they enter the community college system. Secondly, international students should be
aware that if they enter the community college system with very little or no English
skills, then they must be prepared to encounter some time delays in reaching their
81
academic and degree goals, as they may not develop their English language skills
quickly enough to progress through their academic plans as expected. This very
possible time delay will definitely impact the student’s non-academic life in areas
such as student visa extensions, availability of funds for tuition and living costs,
family commitments, personal commitments, and self-perceptions of success and
failure. Last but not least, international students should also realize that having to
repeat an English course is not unusual and should not attach any type of negative
stigma to it.
Instructors of English language courses should recognize their very high level
of importance in their respective institutions as they are the faculty whose specific
goal is to develop the most necessary skill for academic success of not just
international students, but all students with English language deficiencies. In many
ways, English language instructors are really the stewards to these students’
educational, and, ultimately, career goals. As such, these instructors should be just
as trained and experienced as those teaching English literature courses. While it was
not investigated in this study, research has shown how the least experienced or
newest faculty members are often relegated to teaching the English language
development courses. Instructors of these classes should also recognize how
difficult it is for international students to overcome the language barrier and to also
understand how course repetition may be a necessity for some. In addition, they
should not view remediation as a process for unsuccessful students (Dozier, 2001).
The way community colleges identify international students is mainly by
82
their national origins. As this study found, Asian and Latino students are much more
similar than they are different. This finding leads us to question whether or not
identifying students by their national origins is even necessary, or relevant at this
point. It may be more meaningful for community colleges know their students’ level
of financial resources, their parents’ education level, and their reasons for studying in
this country. This way, the community college could assess what types of
prospective students will be enrolling in their campuses and to make any necessary
programmatic changes. For example, if there was going to be an influx of students
coming from Third World countries or war zone areas, it may be necessary to
provide more counseling services, and dropout prevention in addition to extra ESL
courses. While it may be difficult to attain accurate income information, it would
help us understand how much acculturation and experience a student has, and, in
turn, would help community colleges determine how long students will study in the
academic system. There will be students who want to earn a Master’s degree and
those who want to learn English for immediate job placement. Level of prior
education should also be considered since financial wealth buys access to many
things that are restricted to many, including education, social capital, and cultural
experiences. This is especially true for people living in Third World or
impoverished nations. If our intention was to help students based on the country
they came from, then it should be adjusted to customize services according to their
prior educational level and finances available to them. It would also be wise to have
all new students take an English language placement exam. This would ensure that
83
students are placed in the proper English level course and, again, signal to the
institution the number of students needing particular levels of ESL courses.
This study also has major implications for future research utilizing national
origins or ethnicity as a variable. While the TRUCCS database asked each
respondent to identify his or her national origin, the answers given were still rather
ambiguous. Take for example ethnic Chinese people who happen to be born in
Vietnam. Do these students self-report themselves as coming from China or
Vietnam? There was no way to see if such cases existed within the TRUCCS
database, or in most of the surveys researched for this study for that matter. This
scenario also reveals the subjective nature of identifying one’s own nationality. As
such, surveys need to be reevaluated and redesigned so that these types of scenarios
are accurately addressed and accounted for. A more sophisticated and global-
minded method of measurement would go beyond asking where an international
student was born and begin to ask more specific questions regarding ethnicity and
ancestry. Bi-racial and multi-ethnic students also need to be considered and
recognized in surveys, as well.
Given the fact that the world is becoming more connected and globalized, we
need to reevaluate the current conceptualization of race and national origins. There
is a great need to reconsider our notions and terminologies regarding what national
origins are. As big an issue as race plays in our higher educational system, as seen in
our national debates over affirmative action, racial equity, and student diversity,
racial identity is self-reported without any follow-up from institutions. Eventually,
84
we have to consider at what point will it become irrelevant to discuss issues of
national origins in our ever increasing diverse population. Is it possible to accurately
trace a person’s national origins? If so, who decides how far back (in terms of
generations) do we need to look back upon to “legally” identify ourselves as a
member of an ethnic group? These are just the beginning of a long line of questions
to consider as we construct a new racial paradigm.
In terms of course completion ratios, this study indicates a need to research
males in the Asian international student population to understand why they had
significantly lower course completion ratios than the rest of the international student
population in this study. Future research on single Asian male international students
should investigate areas that were not covered in this study such as psycho-
socialization issues, language issues, or student academic issues in an attempt to
explain this finding. For the Latino population, we need to recognize the fact that the
group is homogenous despite gender and marital status variables, and that perhaps
support services may not need to be as differentiated as it is needed within the Asian
population.
Further research needs to be conducted on foreign students, in general, within
community colleges, specifically, to better understand, and, ultimately, support this
growing student population. Any research done will help us gain a much deeper
understanding than the one we currently have. In addition, it would assist us in
developing policies that are more conducive to the goal attainment, academic or
vocational, of foreign students. If we can know which factors lead foreign students
85
to decide which classes they take and retake, we would be able to better suit the
educational, social, and psychological needs of the students (Boggs, 2001; Clements,
2000; Hagedorn & Maxwell, 2000; Maxwell, 2000; Nilda Palma-Rivas 2000), train
community college administrators to better understand and be more sympathetic to
foreign students (Ewing, 1992; Gomez, 1987; Ikegulu, 1999; Inman & Mayes, 1999;
Zudak, 1998), make for increased opportunities and better well-being for foreign
students (Benitez, 1998; Bryant, 2001; Inman & Mayes, 1999; Kalsner & Pistole,
2003; Kuo, 1999; Maxwell, Hagedorn, Cypers, Moon, & Brocato, 2003; Pascarella,
Wolniak, Pierson, & Terenzini, 2003; Wolanin, 1998; Zudak, 1998) and train for a
better more competitive workforce (Murdoch & Hoque, 1999). Foreign students
have been found to be a growing potential source of financial income for the
institutions they attend as they are replacing the traditional students in community
colleges (Hatton, 1995; Kurzet, 1997; Wild & Ebbers, 2002). Since attrition (either
student or institution initiated) reduces the amount of tuition a community college
receives, these research data could provide a more fiscally and financially secure
community college (Desruisseaux, 1998; Kurzet, 1997; Levitz, Noel, & Richter
1999; Lamkin, 2000). In addition, the institution benefits as student graduation is an
indicator of student satisfaction and success and how well it has offered what its
students expect, need, and want (Levitz, Noel, & Richter, 1999). Because other parts
of the world show a significant population increase, institutions in the United States
can expect to see a growth increase of foreign student enrollment (Keller, 2001;
Murdock & Hoque, 1999). Money used to enact such programs would be less
86
scrutinized by taxpayers and educational and financial policy makers on the local,
state, and national levels (Levitz, Noel & Richter 1999). Last but not least,
maintaining the presence of international students in the community college
promotes cultural, and optimally, global understanding of domestic students (Ewing,
1992; Gomez, 1987, Hatton, 1995, Lamkin, 2000).
87
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Appendix
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the Asian and Latino international student population within the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). Through the use of academic transcripts and the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) survey questionnaire, this study examined international students and the effect of race, gender, academic goals, and marital status on course completion ratio. The study also sought to find the top three courses repeated by international students in the LACCD.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Hom, Elton Ken-Ing (author)

Core Title The academic goals, course repetition, and completion

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 02/07/2007

Defense Date 09/07/2006

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Course completion ratio,international students,OAI-PMH Harvest,two-year colleges

Language English

Advisor Maxwell, William E. (committee chair), Gothold, Stuart E. (committee member), Rideout, William M., Jr. (committee member)

Creator Email ehom8@yahoo.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m242

Unique identifier UC187412

Identifier etd-Hom-20070207 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-160893 (legacy record id),usctheses-m242 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Hom-20070207.pdf

Dmrecord 160893

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Hom, Elton Ken-Ing

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu