Modeling L2 Writer Voice: Discoursal Positioning in Fanfiction Writing

Abstract

► I analyze two L2 students’ writing in Fanfiction.Net. ► Three design features in this fanfiction discourse are intertextuality, dialogic interaction, and electronic text. ► These features locate the L2 writers in multiple social positioning for voice. ► Their degree of facility in the design features is visible in their different voices. ► Overall, a range of resources available in fanfiction discourse help them construct voice. Of various online discourses, distinctive design features of fanfiction discourse have given rise to a new social space that holds great potential for the negotiation of identity. In this study, I propose that fanfiction discourse creates a social space that helps shape the voice construction of the L2 writer. In order to understand how the L2 writer's multiple social positions within fanfiction discourse affect voice construction, I analyze a popular online culture-based writing website, < www.fanfiction.net >. Three dominant design features are identified that allow various forms of participation and levels of engagement by its members: intertextuality, dialogic interaction, and electronic text. These three features are actualized in three different positionings (ideational, interpersonal, and textual) that Ivanič and Camps (2001) believe writers take on when constructing a voice. Results suggest that the two L2 participants in my study created voices in multiple positionings made available by re-purposing a pop-culture storyline or characters, communication with audiences, and digital resources. Overall, this study offers a nuanced view of how voice is projected and negotiated within the intersections of multiple online discourses and how it relates to L2 writing in the digital era.