Impact of Professional Identity on English Learning Engagement of English Majors from a University in Ethnic Minority Regions

This study examines the mediating mechanism of professional identity on English learning engagement through a questionnaire survey of 206 English majors from one of the universities in ethnic minority regions. Based on the participation-identification model, learning engagement theory and the previous research on professional identity, academic self-efficacy and learning engagement, the author proposes two hypotheses: (1) English majors’ professional identity positively predicates their English learning engagement; (2) English majors’ English academic self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the relationship between their professional identity and their English learning engagement. The results demonstrate that under the premise of including the control variable, professional identity can significantly influence English learning engagement of English majors from the university in ethnic minority regions with a strong effect. Besides, English academic self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between professional identity and English learning engagement. This study provides some pedagogical implications for facilitating English majors’ English learning engagement.