Navigating Early College: Literacy Experiences and Identity Negotiations of Latina/o Students

Abstract

This research provides insight into the adjustments of urban-schooled Latina/o students as they enter higher education. This year-and-a-half-long qualitative case study focuses on connections between identity negotiations and the academic literacies of five Latina/o college students at a predominately White university. Specifically, I draw on sociocultural definitions of literacy along with literature that focuses on “identity as position” as a means of discussing the ways in which Latina/os are positioned by the discourses embedded in the academic literacies of the university. In seeming contradiction, the students in this study adopted critical perspectives as well as deficit perspectives as they navigated a variety of academic literacies, which, in turn, led to a variety of positionings. These perspectives, positionings, and subsequent identity negotiations provide the basis for implications in secondary and postsecondary education, as well as in literacy research, meant to assist Latina/os in their adjustment to higher education.