Publication-Related Policy and Student Agency in Postgraduate Program of English Language Education: A Case Study

Abstract

Following Indonesian education policy, universities in Indonesia assign students to publish a scholarly article in at least a nationally accredited journal to accomplish their master’s degree. This study aims to identify and describe student agency in implementing the publication-related policy. The role of agency in learning is so essential and, yet, agency on the part of learners has not been a major concern in studies of agency. So far studies on student agency have mostly focused on assessment and there has been no research, if any, on student agency in responding to a policy related to scholarly publications in higher education. This study filled the gap by examining agentic strategies used by students of a postgraduate English department at a government university in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. This research is a case study involving three (3) postgraduate English department students who were selected purposively. Data collection of the study was conducted by doing in-depth interviews. A semi-structured interview was used in which open and close-ended questions about students' agentiC strategies in responding to the publication-related policy were given. The data form the interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings demonstrated the students employed several strategies in responding to the publication policy, which involve utilizing varied online resources, seeking feedback from lecturers and peers, and voluntarily participating in various writing workshops. As students live under varying constraints, further study needs to be conducted to uncover more students’ agentic strategies in responding to publication-related policy.