International Journal of Language & Linguistics

Critical Literature Review Essay on Nontraditional Veteran Students’ Classroom Learning and Social Experiences in the Community College Classroom: Balancing the Transition Literature with a focus on Coping Strategies
Philip Ray Jones, Ph.D.

Abstract
This paper is a critical literature review essay that highlights how the existing body of veteran educational transition literature severely lacks research on “coping strategies” for veteran students experiencing negative social and academic situations as they transition from war into the conventional college or university setting. The essay highlights major social and academic issues, which veteran students transitioning into the academy commonly experience such as frustration with traditional college peers, isolation and alienation in the classroom and on campus, poor academic progression, lack of instructor support, as well as discrimination of gender and sexual orientation. Moreover, the essay asserts that the current body of veteran student transition literature tends to only “inform” of these issues, but fail to illustrate how the veteran student can effectively respond to and eliminate these issues.

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