Academic Goal Orientation and Possible Selves of African Undergraduate Students Living In the United States (Published)
There is a large gap in literature about the many Africans increasingly arriving in the United States (US) either by sheer ignorance or because of their racial homogenization with African Americans. Indeed, this conflation ignores the vast socio-cultural and historical differences in literature. This paper examines possible selves and goal orientations of African Undergraduate students in the United States. A study that adopted multiple regression was undertaken. The author sought to understand this relationship by collecting data in the Spring Semester of 2007 from undergraduate students registered in any of the semesters in the Spring semester, 2007 and the year 2006, and whose both parents were born in Africa. A significant relationship was found between students’ balanced possible selves and their mastery goal orientations. This suggested that students with more balanced possible selves had higher academic goal orientation. Additional analyses also indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between length of stay in the United States and possible selves which would be indicative of the students’ continued enculturation into an individualist society which in effect increases the number of balanced possible selves.
Keywords: Goal Orientation, Immigrants, Possible Selves, Undergraduate Students, enculturation