Graduate students often face challenges in developing their scholarly voice and academic identity during thesis writing, particularly in English-medium instruction (EMI) contexts. This study explored scaffolded tasks within a Community of Practice (CoP) framework to support six Kazakhstani master’s students in transitioning from peripheral participation to active engagement in academic discourse. Using a social practice perspective, we used a qualitative approach to analyse students’ reflections, annotated bibliographies, and draft proposals. Findings revealed that scaffolded tasks fostered more profound reflexivity, autonomy, and critical thinking, creating a productive “third space” for identity negotiation and scholarly engagement. Embedding information literacy frames further enhanced students’ ability to participate in ongoing academic conversations. The study highlights the transformative potential of integrating scaffolded tasks within CoP frameworks to support graduate students’ scholarly identity formation and recommends further research into scalable approaches for diverse educational contexts.