Learner agency is a concept central to higher education (Klemenčič, 2023) and foreign language (FL) education (Mercer, 2011). For learners to play an agentic role in their personal goal pursuit, self-efficacy beliefs, or “individuals’ judgments of their capabilities to learn or perform courses of action at designated levels” (Schunk & Pajares, 2010, p.668), contribute to their personal agency through engaging in self-regulated processes, including goal setting, self-monitoring progress, self-evaluations, and effective use of strategies (Zimmerman, 2000, p.87). 
While these beliefs have been shown to partly influence learning, task performance, and motivation across domains in education (Schunk & DiBenedetto, 2015), they cannot be understood in isolation. Recent FL motivation research has re-emphasized the role of contextual aspects of learning experiences in which self-efficacy mainly stems from successful engagement in activities that are personally valued, challenging, and authentic (Graham, 2022). The extent to which learners perceive value in activities is related the likelihood for them to initiate self-regulation (Usher & Schunk, 2017, p. 28). On the other hand, motivation researchers in the context of learning languages other than English (LOTEs) have suggested a strong positive relationship between learners’ personalized reasons for FL study, and higher levels of FL proficiency (Dörnyei & Al-Hoorie, 2017, p.465). Understanding self-efficacy from the perspective of FL learners’ personally meaningful reasons may shed light on the worrying decline of interest and investment in LOTE degree programmes, in both the Netherlands and internationally (NRC, 2024; Lusin et al., 2023). 
Given the roles of self-efficacy and task value in FL learners’ personal goal pursuits, the paper examines the retrospective narratives of three graduates from a Chinese as a FL (CFL) degree program at a Dutch University. Narrative data not only provide rich contexts from learners’ perspectives but also allow us to examine the qualitative elements in the dynamic processes of learners’ self-evaluations of their FL competence, which may shift as they encounter new situations. Our analysis focused on the key experiences in which self-efficacy, self-regulation, and personal meaning emerged. Our findings implied that authenticity emerged as a central contextual dimension in participants’ key experiences and their most valued goal: speaking fluency. On the one hand, authentic information inferred from such key experiences appeared to prompt participants for meaningful self-evaluations of their speaking self-efficacy. When feedback inferred from these experiences was not perceived as authentic, undesirable emotions related to a sense of awkwardness emerged in their narratives. On the other hand, participants’ interpretations of task value appeared to depend on the level of perceived authenticity in social interactions using Chinese as a tool for communication. It seems that some personally valued experiences were interpreted as more worthwhile because participants attributed their usefulness in relation to their personal goal. By examining the qualitative aspects of self-efficacy and task value, the paper aims to contribute to discussion and inform future FL pedagogical approaches in fostering learner agency. 

This study employed a qualitative a narrative inquiry design to explore learners’ personally meaningful experiences in which self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulation appeared. Participants were three recent graduates of BA and MA programmes in Chinese as a FL (CFL) at a Dutch university, who began their Bachelor’s studies in the same cohort. Convenience sampling guided the initial participant recruitment. Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was obtained in accordance with institutional ethical guidelines. Data were collected through a combination of an initial open interview, and a subsequent semi-structured interview. The former provided space and freedom for participants to spontaneously reconstruct their language learning narratives in a holistic way, while the latter allowed for a more focused examination of the specific experiences where self-regulation and self-efficacy emerged. After each interview, participants received a summary that they could respond to, modify, or comment on. All sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. A deductive-inductive approach was adopted for analysis, beginning with Author 1 identifying emergent themes from the data, following a two-level analysis, informed by Murray’s (2015) distinction between descriptive and interpretative analyses. At descriptive level, Author 1 organized the emergent themes within three phases (beginning, middle, and end). Building on the initial thematic organization, Author 1 linked the themes to the broader theoretical framework, including Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1997), and the three reciprocal processes of self-regulation by Schunk and DiBenedetto (2020, p.3). Simultaneously, Author 1 developed a coding scheme on the basis of Radnor’s (2001) model for clearer structure and theoretical grounding for interpreting data. The interpretative analysis process was repeated iteratively and refined collaboratively by Author 1 and Author 2.  Specifically, Author 2 reviewed the interviewer summaries, and examined selected excerpts provided by Author 1 several times. The two authors reached consensus on the coding process through repeated iterative discussions. Once the interpretations of data were finalized, all members of the research team reviewed the interpretations to ensure the analysis process was well-grounded and consistent.   

To be a self-regulated agent requires engagement in self-initiated changes by remaining mindful of and accountable for one’s learning processes in order to attain desired outcomes. However, accurate self-evaluations of one’s competence can be an inherently difficult task, given that feedback information is often incomplete, difficult to access, and biased (Carter & Dunning, 2008). A personally valued experience which learners perceived as more useful and meaningful can be understood in terms of the extent to which it offered more authentic evidence for them to integrate in their self-evaluations of self-efficacy and choices regarding engagement in an activity. Learners’ undesirable affective reactions (i.e., awkwardness) to specific experiences indicated the crucial role of authenticity in social interactions when speaking Chinese, appearing to function as a source of impetus for learners’ self-initiated changes to achieve speaking fluency. However, the extent to which learners were self-efficacious about a highly personally valued task may not automatically correspond to how they experienced meaningful engagement or evaluated the outcomes in relation to their self-defined satisfaction and success. Fostering personal meaning and connecting self-relevance into learning activities in higher education has gained increased attention regarding its importance in promoting internalization of extrinsic motivation (Vansteenkiste et al., 2018), because the intrinsically motivating activities may provide opportunities for learners to “function in a spontaneous and authentic way” (Vansteenkiste & Soenens, 2023, p.124). While narrative approaches present certain limitations, our findings offer insights that may serve as a starting point for exploring the joint roles of self-efficacy and task values in authentic self-evaluations that fosters agency in the context of FL motivations.

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