L2 Writers Construct Identity through Academic Writing Discourse Socialization.

TLDR: This article explored the impact of English ideologies and unequal power relations on L2 students' identity construction through examining their academic writing socialization with their writing instructor, teaching assistants, peers, and their professors of other disciplines.

Abstract: In the past decades, interests in L2 (English as a second language) students’ language socialization in academic communities have increasingly grown since more and more L2 students have enrolled in universities in the Western world. Previous studies centered on L2 students’ attempts to obtain academic discourses as well as linguistic and cultural repertoire to establish their membership in new academic communities. This study took the sociolinguistic lens to explore the impact of English ideologies and unequal power relations on L2 students’ identity construction through examining their academic writing socialization with their writing instructor, teaching assistants, peers, and their professors of other disciplines. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was employed to analyze the collected data to recognize the ideological nature of language practices and to uncover power relationships between mainstream academic communities and L2 students. The findings indicated that the English ideologies held by the L2 students and academic community members shaped their understandings of linguistic varieties and language practices as well as their attitudes to language users. Accordingly, these L2 participants’ identities were constructed and co-constructed as insiders, outsiders, and commuters in relation to other members in this academic community. Finally, this article concluded with pedagogical suggestions regarding resisting inequality and bias against L2 writers in educational practices as well as how to help L2 students construct their identities and establish their membership in western academic communities. This study does not mean to generalize its findings to other contexts or language learners. Instead, it contributes to current conversations by reflecting L2 students’ voices and perceptions of socializing with various academic community members under the influence of the macro-level English