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Identity in Academic Discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2015

John Flowerdew  and
Simon Ho Wang
John Flowerdew
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kongenjohnf@cityu.edu.hk
Simon Ho Wang
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kongsimon.wang@my.cityu.edu.hk
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Abstract

This review article is concerned with the construction of identity in academic discourse. It examines recent journal articles and monographs in applied linguistics and considers various perspectives on the issue. After a brief introduction and review of the theoretical background relating to identity, followed by a characterization of academic discourse and how it relates to identity theory, the article explores the following topics: linguistic resources for audience engagement; voice and academic identity; disciplinary identity; identity in peripheral academic genres; academic identity development over time; academic identity and English as a lingua franca; power, ideology, and critical language awareness in academic identity construction; language reuse, intertextuality, and academic identity; pedagogically oriented studies and academic identity construction; and methodological diversity and innovation in the study of academic identity. The article concludes with suggestions for future work in the field of academic identity research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 35 , March 2015 , pp. 81 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gotti, M. (ed.). (2009). Commonality and individuality in academic discourse. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang.

This edited collection focuses on the relationship between shared disciplinary norms and individual traits in academic discourse (spoken and written). The volume highlights how, despite the standardizing pressure of cultural and language-related factors, academic communication remains in many ways a highly personal business, with participation in a disciplinary community requiring a multidimensional discourse that combines professional, institutional, social, and individual identities.

Hyland, K. (2012a). Disciplinary identities: Individuality and community in academic discourse. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

This monograph explores the tension between the desire of individuals to claim their personal identities, on the one hand, and the pressure to conform to institutional and communal expectations in discursive practices, on the other. It synthesizes a number of studies focusing on identity construction in different genres such as representational essays, academic bios, undergraduate reports, research articles, and book reviews. Aspects of identity in this monograph include gender, professional status, and culture. Corpus-based approaches are used throughout, thereby demonstrating the value of the corpus method in studying the discursive construction of identity.

Kirkup, G. (2010). Academic blogging: Academic practice and academic identity. London Review of Education, 8 (1), 75–84.

Concerned with a relatively underexplored genre, the academic blog, the study investigates, by means of interviews with a small sample of academic bloggers, the audience for academic blogs and the motivations and costs of blogging. This book argues that academic blogs can be regarded as an academic genre for scholars to establish their identity as public intellectuals through discussing their ideas in a more concise and accessible way.

Lorés-Sanz, R. (2011). The construction of the author's voice in academic writing: The interplay of cultural and disciplinary factors. Text & Talk: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language, Discourse & Communication Studies, 31 (2), 173–193.

This study is motivated by the need to help Spanish authors make informed decisions in identity construction when using personal pronouns in writing research articles in English. Using a corpus approach based on texts collected in the field of business management, the author compares the use of personal pronouns by L1 English authors and Spanish authors of English research articles and explains the divergence in terms of both linguistic (cultural) and disciplinary factors.

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