Building a Pathway to Engineering: The Influence of Family and Teachers Among Mexican-Origin Undergraduate Engineering Students

• Published in: Journal of Hispanic higher education Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 37 - 51
• Main Authors: Mein, Erika, Esquinca, Alberto, Monarrez, Angelica, Saldaña, Claudia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-01-2020
• Subjects: College Students; Decision Making; Discourse Analysis; Engineering Education; English (Second Language); Ethnography; Family Role; Language Usage; Leadership Training; Mexican Americans; Occupational Aspiration; Program Descriptions; Self Concept; Sociocultural Patterns; Spanish; Student Attitudes; Student Characteristics; Student Recruitment; Teacher Student Relationship; Undergraduate Students; Latina(o); engineering; recruitment; identity; sociocultural; STEM
• ISSN: 1538-1927; 1552-5716
• DOI: 10.1177/1538192718772082

This study draws on sociocultural perspectives of identity to understand the ways in which Mexican-origin undergraduate students are recruited into the “figured world” of engineering. The analysis of in-depth, ethnographically situated interviews with 14 participants revealed three sets of recurrent discourses in students’ accounts of their pathways to engineering: discourses about the family and the “choice” to study engineering, discourses about childhood activities tied to engineering aspirations, and discourses about teacher support to become an engineer.