Academic Self‐Efficacy and Learning Engagement Among Law–English Dual Degree Students: The Mediating Role of Professional Identity Under the Foreign‐Related Rule of Law Orientation

Abstract

While interdisciplinary professional education is increasingly vital for complex contexts, little is known about how academic self‐efficacy, professional identity, and learning engagement are related in Law‐English dual degree programmes under a foreign‐related rule‐of‐law orientation. Drawing on social cognitive theory and perspectives on professional identity development, this study examined these relationships among undergraduates in such a programme at an eastern Chinese university using an explanatory mixed‐methods design. A total of 230 questionnaires were collected (215 valid for quantitative analysis) and 16 semi‐structured interviews were conducted to elaborate the statistical findings. The results showed positive associations among all three variables and a significant indirect association between academic self‐efficacy and learning engagement through professional identity. The qualitative findings further indicated that students' engagement was shaped by programme understanding, confidence in interdisciplinary learning, and their imagination of future foreign‐related legal roles. The study contributes to research on interdisciplinary professional education by identifying professional identity as an identity‐related link between academic confidence and learning engagement in an emerging legal‐language pathway. It also offers practical implications for curriculum integration, professional orientation, and practice‐based learning in such programmes.