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The Mechanism of Student Agency in Self-Formation Through Knowledge Engagement in Higher Education

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Student Agency and Self-Formation in Higher Education

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education ((PSGHE))

Abstract

Despite the emerging focus on student agency in higher education research, human agency is not limited to college students. However, what is particularly emphasised in higher education is student agency related to active engagement with disciplinary knowledge, which might lead to academically highlighted self-formation. Combining the growing interest in student agency with the call for “bringing knowledge back in” (Young, Bringing knowledge back in: From social constructivism to social realism in the sociology of education. Routledge, 2007; Ashwin, 2021), this chapter aims to understand the mechanism of students’ reflexive agency underlying their academic self-formation. The chapter presents part of findings from an ongoing research project for developing a theory that explains what is self-formation and how students engage in it, particularly with the central role of disciplinary knowledge. The theory development involved both the conceptual research on relevant theories (e.g. college student experience theories, agency theories, self-theories, learning theories, and knowledge theories) as well as the empirical findings from a 15-month ethnographic study of thirteen graduate students. One of the emergent themes that constitutes the theory is regarding the mechanism of how students’ reflexivity works in their academic self-formation. First, this chapter unravels the mediating mechanism underlying students’ active self-reflexivity, which enables their academic self-formation. Second, how students’ reflexivity operates in relation to structural resources will be discussed. Finally, I shall argue that students’ changing reflexivity is attributable to their engagement with disciplinary knowledge by drawing on both data and concepts. The chapter can serve as a conceptual foundation for further investigations of student agency and self-formation through knowledge engagement by operationalising the concepts and providing empirical examples of them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Soyoung Lee

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  1. Soyoung Lee
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Correspondence to Soyoung Lee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong

    Yusuf Ikbal Oldac

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Lili Yang

  3. Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Soyoung Lee

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Lee, S. (2023). The Mechanism of Student Agency in Self-Formation Through Knowledge Engagement in Higher Education. In: Oldac, Y.I., Yang, L., Lee, S. (eds) Student Agency and Self-Formation in Higher Education. Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44885-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44885-0_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-44884-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-44885-0

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