Religion and higher education migrants’ acculturation orientation

ABSTRACT

Muslims may not experience integration or assimilation in European countries, as they have certain values regarding hijab, eating restrictions, and lifestyle. They may therefore face more challenges than other migrants. With the insight that religiosity may have an impact on migrants’ national and/or ethnic identities, we look at the role of religion in acculturation. The study investigated emerging patterns and challenges in sociocultural adaptation processes, including host-community interactions with (Iranian) migrants and Iranian international PhD students’ future intentions. Positive evaluations of the attitudes of Spaniards towards Iranians are thought to improve the drive to seek out intergroup contact and facilitate integration or assimilation in Spain. The paper’s key finding is that religion has an impact on Iranian international students. It is possible to imagine religion as a unifying factor that binds many migrant populations under a single ethnic identity. When regarded as a threat to the migrants’ ethnic identity, it also appears to create social distance between the migrants and the local population. The results of this study can be used to address factors that threaten successful acculturation and boost those that encourage sociocultural adaptation and learning the local language.

KEYWORDS:

• Acculturation
• identity
• Iranian international students
• language learning
• religiosity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ali Elhami

Ali Elhami is a faculty member at the Unicaf university. He obtained his PhD from the univesridad Autónoma de Madrid and has since been actively involved in conducting research and publishing his findings in reputable academic journals. His expertise lies in the fields of culture, migration, international students, acculturation, social adjustment, intergroup contact, identity, communication accommodation theory (CAT), and language learning. He is also a board member of several international journals and regularly attends conferences and workshops to stay updated on the latest research in his field.

Anita Roshan

Anita Roshan obtained her PhD with an international mention in philosophy and language science at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). Her research is situated in the field of sociolinguistics, with a special focus on language socialization, trajectories, language investment, social identity, ethnography, migration, diversity, and inclusion. Moreover, she is a reviewer in two peer-reviewed open-access journals, the MEXTESOL Journal and the International Journal of English and Comparative Literacy Studies.