Sheridan, Kimberly MKonopasky, Abigail Wildman2017-01-292017-01-292016https://hdl.handle.net/1920/10573The purposes of this linguistic analysis of agency in adult secondary learners are to use functional linguistics to develop a diagnostic tool to analyze narratives for agency and to investigate adult secondary learners’ agency experiences with discourse analysis. A feeling of agency—a capacity to produce effects (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2006)—is critical in academic domains, where feelings of low agency can lead to poor performance and dropout. Related concepts like self-efficacy and perceived control are often assessed via survey, which may not assess cultural difference and may be predictable from the measure’s wording, unlike the narrative accounts proposed here. Moreover, agency may be particularly important in adult secondary education, where learners face high barriers to completion.290 pagesenCopyright 2016 Abigail Wildman KonopaskyEducational psychologyAdult educationAgencyLinguisticsMixed methodsNarrativeDissertation