Writer identity construction in Mexican students of applied linguistics

Alberto Mora,Maria Popescu

doi:10.1080/2331186x.2017.1365412

Abstract

AbstractThe paper examines the connection between discursive and non-discursive features and the construction of writer identity. In particular, the paper compares and contrasts the writer identity development of two groups of undergraduate students of applied linguistics in the Mexican context, one made up of locally educated ones and the other composed of returning migrants from the USA. Through a combination of the analysis of various essays written by the participating students at different stages of their academic program and a discourse-based interview methodology, the study looks at the ways in which and the extent to which differences in international experience, professional experience and teacher education background influence the development of an essential academic identity. The results show that returnees made less use of first person pronouns and more use of sophisticated linguistic choices such as topic sentences, supporting details, and citations to strengthen their arguments and to convey...

Highlights

The literature on academic writing research highlights the importance of writer identity—that is, the author’s implicit or explicit appearance in a text (Hyland, 2002)—for the overall quality of a piece of academic writing
As I show in more detail below, there were differences between the two groups of students regarding the linguistic choices they made and the level of argumentation displayed in their essays, which in turn influenced the achievement, or the lack of, writer identity
The above analysis raises some interesting issues about the way in which undergraduate students of applied linguistics construct their writer identity, and the role played by discursive and non-discursive features in all this process

Summary

Introduction

The literature on academic writing research highlights the importance of writer identity—that is, the author’s implicit or explicit appearance in a text (Hyland, 2002)—for the overall quality of a piece of academic writing (see, e.g. Hyland, 2000; Ivanič, 1998; Matsuda, 2001; Tang & John, 1999). This paper examines the writer identity construction process of undergraduate students of applied linguistics in the Mexican context. It compares and contrasts the writer identity development of two different groups of students in terms of levels of international and professional experience and teacher training background. It uses assignments written at different stages of the undergraduate program and follow-up interviews as data.

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Results

Conclusion