Situating Disciplinary Identity and Motivation Negotiation in Undergraduate Students’ Race and Gender Experiences: The Destabilizing Impacts of Academic Probation During a Pandemic
Abstract
Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) calls for motivation researchers to treat learning and motivation as inseparable from context. Previous research has examined students’ expectancies and values in specific disciplines, showing dynamic changes over time. Limited research has examined students’ processes of change, considered the influence of students’ disciplinary identities, or solicited characteristics of the disciplinary environment that influence change. Additionally, current frontiers of the field aim to race-reimage motivational constructs. By situating motivation research in the race and gender experiences of historically marginalized students (i.e., Black, Latinx, Hispanic, Indigenous, women), the field can expand motivation theories to support a diversifying population, instead of relying on theories primarily based on the experiences of White individuals. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the processes of motivational and identity change and situate students' identity and motivation negotiations in their disciplines, race, and gender. Using a qualitative, single case study design, eight undergraduate students of color majoring in science or engineering and who were on academic probation were interviewed. Results identified three processes of negotiating their identity and motivation that students employed in response to being on probation. Students reported challenges to their identity and motivation negotiations situated in their race and gender experiences. However, they also shared cultural assets that supported their continued identification with, expectancies for success in, and valuing of their science and engineering disciplines. Findings propose theoretical and methodological implications considering communal values in the SEVT model. Practical implications are discussed for instructors and student success personnel to integrate students’ social identities and communal motivations into their disciplinary engagement.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Rogat, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Community college education|Education|Social psychology|Social structure
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