chinese undergraduate academic writers: negotiating identity in u.s. higher education jennifer lund...
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Chinese Undergraduate Academic Writers:
Negotiating Identity in U.S. Higher EducationJennifer Lund
Indiana UniversityINTESOL- November 15, 2014
My backgroundMy background
6+ years experience teaching academic writing to international students at the university level
Experience teaching Chinese students in four unique settings
IIE Open Doors 2013 IIE Open Doors 2013 Report Report
40 percent more international students in U.S. universities than a decade ago
International students add 24 billion to the U.S. economy
Chinese international students (235,000 total) make up 21 percent of total international students in the U.S.
Chinese student enrollment has increased 26 percent at the undergraduate level (Indian and Korean student enrollment is decreasing)
Why do so many Chinese students study Why do so many Chinese students study
abroad?abroad?
Introduction to identity in Introduction to identity in
higher education writinghigher education writing
Bartholomae (1985) – “Inventing the University” Focus on novice native English
writers in first-year writing programs in the U.S.
Students need to acquire appropriate voice and identity to gain a “position of authority”
Introduction to identity in Introduction to identity in
higher education writinghigher education writing
Ivanič (1998) – “Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing” Studied L1 non-traditional, mature
writers navigating university discourse
Text helpful for its clear explanations of accommodation, opposition, and resistance
Critical theorist Henry Critical theorist Henry GirouxGiroux
Lea and Street (1998)Lea and Street (1998) One of the first studies on L1 learners
in higher education to focus on writer identity
Academic literacies approach through case studies
Alignment with “New Literacy Studies”
Resistance and accommodation noted in interactions with writing tutors
Identity of Multilingual Writers in Identity of Multilingual Writers in
Higher EducationHigher Education
Norton (1997) – link between identity and Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic power Unequal power structures between
dominant and less dominant discourses
Investment is a key term linked with self-image
“Complex history and multiple desires”
Voice has a different meaning in Voice has a different meaning in
L2 writingL2 writing
Canagarajah (2004) – overview of identity in SLA research Voice must be defined differently
in L2 writing L2 writers negotiate voice in their
second language differently than their L1
Voice has a different meaning in Voice has a different meaning in
L2 writingL2 writing
Hirvela & Belcher (2001) “architecture of voice” – “person
behind the text” L2 students need more help
learning to navigate between L1 voice and L2 voice
Voice and writer identity of Voice and writer identity of
Asian Americans in higher edAsian Americans in higher ed
Chiang and Schmida (1999) College Writing Program at UC
Berkeley Language use, language identity,
and language ownership as English users
Evidence of conflict between linguistic identity and linguistic ability
Role of racial and language Role of racial and language
ideologiesideologies
Liu and Tannacito (2013) Taiwanese language learners in an
IEP in U.S. university Qualitative research framework Elements of resistance to dominant
discourse depending on their level of investment
International International Education and DesireEducation and Desire
Chowdhury and Phan (2014) Exploration of power structures
and discourses that influence students to study abroad
Focus on TESOL graduate students in Australia
Link between power relations and identity formation
Purpose: Small-Scale Purpose: Small-Scale Ethnographic InquiryEthnographic Inquiry
To explore Chinese attitudes towards academic writing instruction within a U.S. university introductory composition classroom designated for international students
To explore identity investment in Western academic writing practices
Research QsResearch Qs How do Chinese undergraduate English L2
writers at a Midwestern U.S. university negotiate their writing identity in the context of an introductory composition course designed for international students?
Is there any evidence of resistance to academic writing conventions or an “inferiority of identity”?
SettingSetting Introductory “freshman” composition course
titled “Reading, Writing, and Inquiry”
Gate-keeping course for Kelley Business School
Course focuses on a sequenced writing project where students choose an issue, conduct research using secondary sources, and write an argument paper
Focal class taught by an international graduate student who understood spoken Chinese
13 Chinese, 2 Koreans
Two Focal StudentsTwo Focal Students Kelvin
3 years of HS in California (1 yr public, 2 yrs private)
Fiona (native Cantonese speaker) 2yrs British intl middle
school in Beijing and 2yrs British HS in Shenzhen + 1 year of Chinese public middle school in Shenzhen (Mandarin)
Data CollectionData Collection 2-3 semi-structured 30 minute interviews
with focal students
10 classroom observations (50 minutes each)
Semi-structured 30 minute interview with the teacher
Analysis of class papers
Data AnalysisData Analysis Grounded Theory Approach:
Comparative analysis of emerging themes from coding of interview transcripts and observation field notes
Common Themes-Common Themes-writing identitywriting identity
Awareness of style differences
Negotiating writing identity
English as the dominant discourse
Importance of socio-cultural environment
Awareness of style Awareness of style differences differences
“Chinese writing is more focused on description to describe the emotion of people, the facial expression, or the poster, or the weather, or any other stuff. And for the American the academic writing, it's like you need to write the topic sentence, it's like you are going to support something or you going to against something.”-Fiona
“I’m just saying that in Chinese writing you don’t focus too much on grammar …You can just compose your words, combine your words in different ways, they all make sense.” -Kelvin
Negotiating writing Negotiating writing identityidentity
“I can write in Chinese, but if you ask me to write a paragraph or write some papers, I probably need to take more time than English because I probably have to switch back to the Chinese. Because with typing a lot now and you ask me to write some Chinese word, I cannot actually think about it.”-Fiona
“Well, learn writing in English make me change my thoughts sometimes. Like when you write, you don’t think Chinese way. You think Western way like how Western people may see these Qs. Like you just write down. Like you don’t have Chinese in your thoughts and then translate to English. You don’t do that. You will look at the problem in an American way.”-Kelvin
English as the English as the dominant discoursedominant discourse
“English is best to communicate with others.”-Kelvin
On discussing what motivates her to improve her English writing:
“To explain to outsider the certain policies for China. The culture of China. The history of China.”-Fiona
Importance of socio-Importance of socio-cultural environmentcultural environment
“Yes, cause since you living in that environment. Uh like my host family was Catholic too and they go to church and in our school we pray every classes. I mean it affects you ..um like um how to say substantially? Or…subconsciously, yeah subconscious. You don’t feel about it, but it really affect you in some ways.”-Kelvin
“Last semester I lived in that student dormitory and I contact nearly all of my friend were native speaker and the more that I contact with them I feel like, yeah, the way I'm living is more like the American style.”-Fiona
ConclusionConclusion Chinese students studying in U.S.
environments need to be recognized for their individual identities
More consideration of “inferiority of identity” due to the dominance of academic English
Considerations of factors outside the classroom that affect students’ feelings about academic writing
ReferencesReferencesBartholomae, D. (1985). Inventing the university. In E. Cushman, E.R.
Kintgen, B.M. Kroll, & M. Rose (Eds.), Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook (pp. 511-524). New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Canagarajah, S. (2004). Multilingual writers and the struggle for voice in academic discourse. Negotiation of identities in multilingual contexts, 45, 266.
Chowdhury, R. & Phan, L.H. (2014). Desiring TESOL and international education: market abuse and exploitation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Chiang, Y. & Schmida, M. (1999). Language identity and language ownership: Linguistic conflicts of first-year university writing students. In P.K. Matsuda, M. Cox, J. Jordan, & C. Ortmeirer-Hooper (Eds.), Second language writing in the composition classroom: A critical sourcebook (pp. 89-102). Urbana, IL: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
ReferencesReferencesHirvela, A., & Belcher, D. (2001). Coming back to voice: The multiple
voices and identities of mature multilingual writers. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(1), 83-106.
Ivanič, R. (1998). Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing (Vol. 5). John Benjamins Publishing.
Lea, M. R., & Street, B. V. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in higher education, 23(2), 157-172.
Liu, P. H. E., & Tannacito, D. J. (2013). Resistance by L2 writers: The role of racial and language ideology in imagined community and identity investment. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22(4), 355-373.
Norton, B. (1997). Language, identity, and the ownership of English. Tesol Quarterly, 31(3), 409-429.
