Writing and Writing Instruction in Different Academic Contexts
OUTSIDERS/INSIDERS: STUDENTS NEGOTIATING THEIR POSITION(S) IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE USING DIALOGUE JOURNALS
Ingunn Ofte
SørTrøndelag University College, Trondheim, Norway
The act of writing involves interaction between writers and readers of texts. Interaction involves taking a stance in relation to the issues discussed, and to the other participants holding opinions on those issues (Hyland, 2005: 175). This is referred to as “positioning”. Within academia, positioning entails mastering the culturally recognized ways of writing about and presenting disciplinary knowledge. Novice students adopt the practices and values acknowledged by the desired discourse community in an effort to position themselves as “disciplinary insiders” (Hyland, 2005: 175). This presentation builds on a longitudinal study that investigates the role of metacognitive skills in the development of L2 written academic proficiency in higher education. Over a period of three semesters, Norwegian teachertraining students wrote dialogue journals about their experiences with writing academic texts in English, to which the tutor responded briefly. A total of 42 dialogue journals written by 18 students were analyzed. The presentation sheds light on the extent to which the students used the dialogue journals as a space to negotiate their position(s) in relation to and within the discourse community. The analysis shows that the students used the dialogue journals to voice insecurities and frustrations relating to L2 academic writing, evaluate and question the practices of the discourse community and suggest improvements to them, ask for tutor guidance, and so on. Consequently, the analysis indicates that the students used the dialogue journals as a space to negotiate their position(s) as outsiders and, to a certain extent, insiders in relation to the discourse community.
References
Hyland, K. (2005) ‘Stance and engagement: a model of interaction in academic discourse’. Discourse Studies 7 (2), 173192