Nomlomo, VuyokaziJoseph, Damilola Ibiwumi2023-01-182024-04-172023-01-182024-04-172022https://hdl.handle.net/10566/11155Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study focuses on first-year student teachers’ academic writing proficiency in relation to their identity construction. Specifically, it investigates first-year student teachers’ English secondlanguage (L2) academic writing proficiency and its effect on identity construction as they transition from high school to initial teacher education (ITE) at a selected university in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The study is informed by Academic Literacies Theory, Identity Theory, and Identity Construction Theory (Cerulo, 1997; Joseph, 2004; Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004; Bailey, 2007), which shed light on the relationship between language learning and identity construction.enAcademic writingAcademic literacyEnglishLanguageHigher educationSouth AfricaUniversity of the Western Cape