Language feedback responses, voices and identity (re)construction: Experiences of Chinese international doctoral students

Abstract

ABSTRACT We draw on Bakhtin’s dialogic construct of ‘double-voicedness’ to explore Chinese international doctoral students’ responses to their non-Chinese supervisors’ language feedback and their reasoning of the responses. Results show that the students respond to supervisors’ language feedback in four ways: no revision, faithful revision, extended revision and self-initiated revision. Through negotiations with culturally differentiated voices, the students accomplish a dual process of responding to supervisors’ language feedback and (re)constructing their scholarly identity. These voices are across time (e.g. past, present and future) and space (e.g. China and New Zealand), constructing who they are and who they want to be. We suggest developing a more culturally-responsive and empowering intercultural pedagogy to facilitate international doctoral students’ (re)construction of scholarly identity in feedback practice and academic writing, as well as in the wider context of intercultural doctoral supervision.