REPRESENTATION AS MOTIVATION: PERSPECTIVES OF FIRST-GENERATION AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE STUDENTS ON INSTRUCTORS OF SHARED IDENTITY

The research explored first-generation, African American male college student interactions with African American male instructors in higher education. The purpose of studying shared identity student-instructor interaction was to identify and understand themes in the student experiences and gain insight into approaches beneficial to the student demographic. The paper used theories relative to race, gender, and sense of belonging to view and understand student experiences and factors impacting students’ academic success. The study aimed to address the problem of African American male students’ isolation and academic withdrawal due to a lack of shared identity support from the classroom leader, and the related effects on persistence and completion. This paper included perspectives of students from the community college and university level. 

The study findings described participant efforts in classes led by African American male instructors, the magnitude of sense of belonging from African American male instructor interaction, as well as the instructors’ efforts in motivating participants in the study to reach their goals. This paper built upon the work of previous research on race, gender, and sense of belonging in higher education. This study provided seminal information beneficial to educational policy, programs, theory, and practices used to support the study demographic.