This study explores the negotiation and evolution of writer identities, and genre signaling and awareness, of five English L2 international doctoral students in education enrolled in a UK university in the process of writing their dissertations. In all cases, the students conducted research in their home countries and native language (Arabic, Japanese, etc.).
The study targets the under-theorized area of writing in research degree programs, in this case a full time PhD program and a part time EdD distance program at the same university. Through social engagement, the social norms in which these doctoral students are writing are understood to have a potentially profound effect on their writer identities (see Morita, 2004); the students are viewed as agents and organizers of their own learning (see Hopwood, 2010); and the self-reflective metadiscourse they use, which displays ways these research writers cast themselves in their writing to signal to their readers their positions, allegiances, and awareness as academic writers, is also taken into account (see Hyland, 2004).
Data were collected via student self-reports and interviews over a period of one year, and dissertation drafts were analyzed and a final stimulated recall interview was conducted, in consideration of self-reflective metadiscourse. Results showed that the EdD students who had not left their target contexts showed more confidence about their identities as professional experts in the field, but less so as researchers. This was opposite for the PhD students.
The implications of this study are immense in addressing the ways doctoral programs provide academic training for L2 students in full time/in-house and part time/at home contexts. While it is understood that both doctoral programs are designed to launch professional academic careers, the resulting identities of the students may be starkly different.
Hopwood, N. (2010). Doctoral experience and learning from a sociocultural perspective. Studies in Higher Education, 35, 829–843.
Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary interactions: Metadiscourse in L2 postgraduate writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(2), 133-151.
Morita, N. (2004). Negotiating participation and identity in second language academic communities. TESOL Quarterly, 38(4), 573-603.
