How first-year students manage their action crises and motivation to build their learner identity: a look into the critical moment of goal disengagement

• Published in: Motivation and emotion Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 852 - 867
• Main Authors: Timar-Anton, Casandra, Negru-Subtirica, Oana, Opre, Adrian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Clinical Psychology; College students; Crises; Disengagement; Identity; Learning; Motivation; Objectives; Original Paper; Personality and Social Psychology; Psychology; University students; Goal disengagement; Goal motivation; Action crisis; Learner identity; micro identity
• ISSN: 0146-7239; 1573-6644
• DOI: 10.1007/s11031-022-09965-y

For first-year university students developing and expressing themselves as learners is key for their future academic success. How students relate to the act of studying on a day-to-day basis represents a concrete here-and-now expression of their learner identity. First-year students need to gain the ability to self-regulate their goal pursuit by knowing what goals to engage with and pursue, but also recognize when disengagement from goals is appropriate. The present exploratory study attempts to connect action crises, motivation, micro-level learner identity, and goal disengagement in the context of academic learning. The main results indicated that after disengagement, students’ controlled motivation for the following goal increased. The intensity of action crises predicted an increased commitment to studying and autonomous motivation for the following study goal.