Navigating Barriers and Embracing Transformation: The Academic and Social Experiences of Bangladeshi Female Graduate Students in the United States

This article examines transformative education by focusing on the experiences of Bangladeshi female graduate students navigating academic and social challenges in higher education in the United States. This examination aligns with Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory, which emphasizes critical reflection on lived experiences as a pathway to personal transformation (Mezirow, 1991). The article is drawn from a large phenomenological study that examined the experiences of South Asian female international graduate students as they pursue their academic studies in the United States. More specifically, the focus is on the experience of female Muslim students from Bangladesh and the impact of academic and linguistic barriers as they pursue advanced degrees at Midwestern universities in the United States. Data were collected through a series of interviews and was analyzed using transcendental phenomenology. The findings reveal that the students faced difficulty in communication and in understanding the American accents. Findings also indicated that the students faced difficulty in writing academic papers due to language barriers. Despite the academic and social challenges, these female students perceived the experience of studying in the United States as an empowering and a transformative one. The paper ends by acknowledging the potential limitations of the research and suggests specific measures to help such students improve their experience in the United States.