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“I won’t try my best”: a narrative inquiry of a student’s graduation policy appropriation

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Abstract

This narrative inquiry documented a university student’s graduation policy appropriation from a sociocultural perspective and explored how various factors may have affected this appropriation process in a particular higher education context. Longitudinal data from various sources, such as semi-structured interviews, informal conversations, and diary entries, were analyzed to reconstruct the student’s lived experience of the policy appropriation process. It was found that the student policy appropriation was possibly related to the constant reformation and negotiation of their own personal interests, motivations, beliefs, and experiences, and the dynamic influences of other policy actors and their actions. The student policy appropriation was found to be situated within a local context of power hierarchy. Students, at the lower end of the power hierarchy tended to compromise when their interests, motivations, and beliefs were in conflict with the teachers and program coordinators. This study contributes to an understanding of the complexities involved in educational policy appropriations from a student perspective and reveals the implications for educational policymaking and policy implementation.

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  1. Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Chengyuan Yu

  2. Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Macau, E21-4074, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, 999078, Macau SAR, China

    Cecilia Guanfang Zhao

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  1. Chengyuan Yu
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Yu, C., Zhao, C.G. “I won’t try my best”: a narrative inquiry of a student’s graduation policy appropriation. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 22, 743–755 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-021-09714-9

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