Locus of control, interest in schooling and self-efficacy as predictors of academic identity in an academic community of practice

Abstract

This research set out to explore how French-speaking students (FSS) construct and negotiate their academic identities in a multiculturally contrasting academic milieu. Academic identity is described as academic self-esteem because it is required by students to take responsibility for their learning. It is a stipulation of communicated and negotiated trajectories of experiences that depict how people see themselves and how they are seen by others(Vandeyar, 2010). The negotiation of identity requires diverse dimensions of engagement with more knowledgeable others (MKO) (Reyes, 2007) in communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). Utilising the research strategy of narrative inquiry, case study, semistructured interviews, and focus group interviews, this paper explores how FSS perceived themselves in relation to how they took responsibility for their learning. It is argued in this paper that the development of the necessary academic self-esteem via the acquisition of locus of control, interest in schooling and self-efficacy can assist foreign students to take responsibility for their learning without having feelings of prejudice as they engage with MKO in academic communities of practice. The paper will conclude by suggesting that academic institutions can utilise