THE CONSTRUCTION AND NEGOTIATION OF AGENTIVE IDENTITY: A CASE STUDY OF A MALAYSIAN STUDENT

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The success of the government’s aspiration into developing holistic Malaysian students not only lies in what has been going in today’s classroom but also outside classroom in which the fundamental process of seeking for knowledge, skills and competencies. Holistic identity is not a construct that is inherited, nor does it remain constant but is developed and evolves from different academic encounters faced by the students. Thus, the present study investigated the construction and negotiation of a student’s identity from her interaction within academic settings in Malaysian Higher Education Institution (MHEI).
 
 Methodology: The study employed qualitative research and linguistic ethnography approaches utilising case study as the research design. One (1) Malaysian student from a MHEI was chosen using purposive sampling technique. The data for the study were collected from classroom observations, interview and focus group discussion. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and identity in interaction framework analysis.
 
 Findings: The participant of this study constructed and negotiated an agentive identity during the process of making conscious decisions in her academic experiences. Agentive identity could be seen emerged from her interactions and indexed from her behaviour and opinion during her academic encounters (inside and outside the classroom). The participant’s engagement behaviour portrayed could be interpreted as being agentive from the lens of the two principles in identity framework analysis namely; the emergence principle and the indexicality principle.
 
 Contributions: Experiencing different educational contexts could help to shape Malaysian students to be balanced, academically and morally, as aspired by the Malaysia National Education Philosophy. Malaysian students are seen as the catalysts who would lead the country in the future. The findings of this study could also be used as a reference on how educational practices reflect on the production of individuals as manifested in the NEP. Examining how students construct and negotiate their identities in a new or/and familiarised academic convention could enlighten the stakeholders such as the students themselves, lecturers, tutors, parents, and ministry to be more flexible, allowing students to be empowered within appropriate contexts.
 
 Keywords: Malaysian students, students’ identity, higher education, student agency, agentive identity
 
 Cite as: Nadia, T., & Zurina, K. (2023). The construction and negotiation of agentive identity: A case study of a Malaysian student. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(2), 373-394. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss2pp373-394