Freeman Kimberley Edelin, Winston-Proctor Cynthia Eileen, Gangloff-Bailey Felicia, Jones Jason M
Department of Human Development & Psychoeducational Studies, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States.
School of Education, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC, United States.
Front Psychol. 2021 Jun 8;12:669407. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669407. eCollection 2021.
The purpose the present study is to explore African American undergraduate students' perceptions of their experiences and academic motivation within a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) learning environment. As part of a larger study, we collected 212 open-ended survey responses from first year students in STEM majors about how the HBCU context shapes their academic motivation. We used semantic thematic data analysis and found three major themes and corresponding sub themes that were salient in the development of students' academic motivation: place (institutional climate, HBCU mission and tradition, and absence of marginalization); pedagogy (culturally relevant pedagogy, positive faculty-student relationships, African American curriculum and instruction, racial socialization); and people (people "like me"; student, faculty and alumni models of high achieving African Americans). We discovered that HBCU institutional factors engendered academic motivation that is rooted in students' racial identity and suggest the construct of racial identity-rooted academic motivation. Given the important and unique realities of African American students that impact their educational experiences, engagement, identity development, and achievement in various types of school contexts, self and sociocultural variables must be included in research and theory on the motivational psychology of African American students. Implications for higher education practice and future research are discussed.
本研究的目的是探讨非裔美国本科生在历史悠久的黑人学院或大学（HBCU）学习环境中对自身经历和学术动机的看法。作为一项更大规模研究的一部分，我们收集了212份来自STEM专业一年级学生的开放式调查问卷回复，内容是关于HBCU环境如何塑造他们的学术动机。我们采用语义主题数据分析，发现了在学生学术动机发展中显著的三个主要主题及相应子主题：场所（机构氛围、HBCU使命与传统以及无边缘化现象）；教学法（与文化相关的教学法、积极的师生关系、非裔美国课程与教学、种族社会化）；以及人物（“像我这样的人”；成绩优异的非裔美国学生的学生、教师和校友榜样）。我们发现，HBCU的机构因素产生了植根于学生种族身份的学术动机，并提出了种族身份根源学术动机这一概念。鉴于非裔美国学生的重要且独特的现实情况会影响他们在各类学校环境中的教育经历、参与度、身份发展和成就，自我和社会文化变量必须纳入关于非裔美国学生动机心理学的研究和理论中。文中还讨论了对高等教育实践和未来研究的启示。
