How do immigrant students develop social confidence and make friends in secondary school? A retrospective study

Abstract

This paper pertains to a retrospective study of immigrant students’ experience of making friends and gaining social confidence in secondary school. In the study, 17 undergraduate students participated in either a one-to-one semistructured interview or focus group. Questions were asked to understand their experiences in making friends and gaining social confidence when they came to Canada between grades five to nine. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse the data. This method was useful in looking for commonalities in meaning in participants’ responses. In total, seven themes and 20 subthemes were discovered, which are discussed in detail. Implications for school professionals are discussed along with suggestions for future research.