The Socialization of International and Refugee First-Generation Postsecondary Students

This article reports on a 16-month multiple-case study examining the academic discourse socialization of international and refugee English as an additional language (EAL) first-generation postsecondary students. Situated within a language socialization perspective, the study foregrounds first-generation status to examine an underexplored subgroup of EAL university students. Focusing on four focal participants, data from surveys, reflective journals, and interviews document how students navigated their English-medium academic environments. The analysis identities “survivorship capital,” highlighting how students exercised agency and mobilized linguistic and cultural resources within structural constraints. The paper concludes with a call for additional criticality in language socialization/academic discourse socialization research.