Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes
Vol. 4:2 (2023) ► pp.164–188

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

A four-year trajectory of development from student to published researcher

Learning to collaborate in the research article genre

 | San Diego State University
Published online: 19 December 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jerpp.00015.sha
Abstract
This case study tracks a multilingual writer’s academic writing, in particular her engagement in the research article (RA) genre, over the course of four years as she moved along a trajectory from a novice graduate student to a confident disciplinary writer. The theoretical framework draws from academic literacies (Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (1998). Local literacies: Reading and writing in one community. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), highlighting practice and disposition ( (1990). In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Trans. Matthew Adamson. Stanford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) as a way of understanding engagement with the RA genre. The findings, based on an analysis of interviews conducted with the participant, reveal three stages of the participant’s development in her disposition toward the RA genre, all interspersed with affect. Each stage is illustrated through examples from the interviews. The study’s longitudinal design provides a novel perspective that brings out a dynamic picture of the development of a graduate student writer. The findings are discussed in light of previous research and pedagogical implications are set out.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research into graduate students writing RAs
  • 3.Theoretical framework
    • 3.1The multiplicity of practices and writer dispositions
    • 3.2Academic networks
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1The participant and data collection
    • 4.2Data analysis
  • 5.Findings
    • 5.1Stage 1: RA writing is about one’s command of English
    • 5.2Stage 2: RA writing is about communication and compensatory collaboration
    • 5.3Stage 3. RA writing is positively contributing to a collaborative process of co-construction
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (62)
References
Aitchison, C., Kamler, B., & Lee, A. (Eds.). (2010). Publishing pedagogies for the doctorate and beyond. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (1998). Local literacies: Reading and writing in one community. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Literacy Practices. In D. Barton, M. Hamilton, & R. Ivanic (Eds.), Situated Literacies: Reading and Writing in Context (pp. 7–15). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bazerman, C. (2004). Speech acts, genres, and activity systems: How texts organize activity and people. In C. Bazerman & P. Prior (Eds.), What writing does and how it does it: An introduction to analyzing texts and textual practices (pp. 309–339). Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Belcher, D. D. (2009). How research space is created in a diverse research world. Journal of Second Language Writing, 18(4), 221–234. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Trans. Richard Nice. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1990). In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology. Trans. Matthew Adamson. Stanford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canagarajah, A. S. (1996). “Nondiscursive” requirements in academic publishing, material resources of periphery scholars, and the politics of knowledge production. Written Communication, 13(4), 435–472. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cargill, M., & Burgess, S. (Eds.) (2017). Publishing research in English as an additional language: Practices, pathways and potentials. University of Adelaide Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casanave, C. P. (2005). Writing games: Multicultural case studies of academic literacy practices in higher education. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Dovetailing under impossible circumstances. In C. Aitchison, B. Kamler, & A. Lee (Eds.), Publishing pedagogies for the doctorate and beyond (pp. 47–63). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casanave, C. P., & Li, X. (2008). Learning the literacy practices of graduate school: Insiders’ reflections on academic enculturation. University of Michigan Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cho, S. (2004). Challenges of entering discourse communities through publishing in English: Perspectives of nonnative-speaking doctoral students in the United States of America. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 3(1), 47–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. M. (2010). Academic research networks: Accessing resources for English-medium publishing. English for Specific Purposes, 29(4), 281–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahl, T. (2004). Textual metadiscourse in research articles: A marker of national culture or of academic discipline? Journal of Pragmatics, 36(10), 1807–1825. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duff, P. (2007). Case study research in applied linguistics. New York.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferenz, O. (2005). EFL writers’ social networks: Impact on advanced academic literacy development. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 4(4), 339–351. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flowerdew, J. (2019). The linguistic disadvantage of scholars who write in English as an additional language: Myth or reality. Language Teaching, 52(2), 249–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González-Ocampo, G., & Castelló, M. (2019). How do doctoral students experience supervision? Studies in Continuing Education, 41(3), 293–307. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gosden, H. (1995). Success in research article writing and revision: A social-constructionist perspective. English for Specific Purposes, 141, 37–57. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1996). Verbal reports of Japanese novices’ research writing practices in English. Journal of Second Language Writing, 51, 109–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Habibie, P. (2016). Writing for scholarly publication in a Canadian higher education context: A case study. In C. Badenhorst & C. Guerin (Eds.), Research literacies and writing pedagogies for masters and doctoral writers (pp. 51–67) (Vol. 311). Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Habibie, P. & Hyland, K. (Eds.) (2019). Novice writers and scholarly publication: Authors, mentors, gatekeepers. Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horta, H., & Li, H. (2023). Nothing but publishing: The overriding goal of PhD students in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Studies in Higher Education, 48(2), 263–282. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, J. C. (2010). Publishing and learning writing for publication in English: Perspectives of NNES PhD students in science. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9(1), 33–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyland, K. & Jiang, F. K. (2018). “In this paper we suggest”: Changing patterns of disciplinary metadiscourse. English for Specific Purposes, 511, 18–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. University of Michigan Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1996). Writing without conviction? Hedging in scientific research articles. Applied Linguistics, 17 (4): 433–454. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lea, M. R., & Street, B. V. (2006). The “academic literacies” model: Theory and applications. Theory into practice, 45(4), 368–377. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, E. & Canagarajah, S. (2018). The connection between transcultural dispositions and translingual practices in academic writing. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 14(1), 14–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lei, J., & Hu, G. (2019). Doctoral candidates’ dual role as student and expert scholarly writer: An activity theory perspective. English for Specific Purposes, 541, 62–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leonard, R. L. (2014). Multilingual writing as rhetorical attunement. College English, 76(3), 227–247.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lei, S. A., & Chuang, N. (2009). Research collaboration and publication during graduate studies: Evaluating benefits and costs from students’ perspectives. College Student Journal, 43(4), 1163–1168.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Y. (2006). A doctoral student of physics writing for publication: A sociopolitically-oriented case study. English for Specific Purposes, 251, 456–478. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Apprentice scholarly writing in a community of practice: An intraview of an NNES graduate student writing a research article. TESOL Quarterly, 41(1), 55–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). “Publish SCI papers or no degree”: Practices of Chinese doctoral supervisors in response to the publication pressure on science students. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 36(4), 545–558. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2006). Reframing notions of competence in scholarly writing: From individual to networked activity. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 531, 63–78.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillis, T. (2008). Ethnography as Method, Methodology, and “Deep Theorizing”: Closing the Gap Between Text and Context in Academic Writing Research. Written Communication, 251, 353–388. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillis, T. & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing in a global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lillis, T. & Scott, M. (2007). Defining academic literacies research: Issues of epistemology, ideology and strategy. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(1), pp. 5–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linell, P. (2009). Rethinking language, mind, and world dialogically: Interactional and contextual theories of human sense-making. Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, N. A., & Hyland, K. (2021). International publishing as a networked activity: Collegial support for Chinese scientists. Applied Linguistics, 42(1), 164–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luzón, M. J. (2018). Constructing academic identities online: Identity performance in research group blogs written by multilingual scholars. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 331, 24–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Merga, M. K., Mason, S., & Morris, J. E. (2020). ‘What do I even call this?’ Challenges and possibilities of undertaking a thesis by publication. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(9), 1245–1261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2018). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Sage publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Newton, D. P. (2011). Teaching for understanding: What it is and how to do it. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prior, P. (2003). Tracing process: How texts come into being. In C. Bazerman & P. Prior (Eds.), What writing does and how it does it (pp. 173–206). RoutledgeGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998). Writing/disciplinarity: A sociohistoric account of literate activity in the academy. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rabbi, S., & Canagarajah, A. S. (2017). Socialization in the neoliberal academy of STEM scholars: A case study of negotiating dispositions in an international graduate student in entomology. Humanities, 6(2), 39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ren, J. (2021). Variability and functions of lexical bundles in research articles of applied linguistics and pharmaceutical sciences. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 501. 100968-. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Samraj, B. (2002). Introductions in research articles: Variations across disciplines. English for Specific Purposes, 211, 1–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). An exploration of a genre set: Research article abstracts and introductions in two disciplines. English for specific purposes, 24(2), 141–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sheldon, E. (2018). Dialogic spaces of knowledge construction in research article conclusion sections written by English L1, English L2, and Spanish L1 writers. Ibérica, 351, 13–40. [URL]
Simpson, S. (2013). Systems of writing response: A Brazilian student’s experiences writing for publication in an environmental sciences doctoral program. Research in the Teaching of English, 48(2), 228–249.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Street, B. (2003). What’s “new” in New Literacy Studies? Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5(2), 77–91.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tardy, C. M. (2005). “It’s like a story”: Rhetorical knowledge development in advanced academic literacy. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 4(4), 325–338. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Building genre knowledge. Parlor Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tardy, C. M., Sommer-Farias, B., & Gevers, J. (2020). Teaching and researching genre knowledge: Toward an enhanced theoretical framework. Written Communication, 37(3), 287–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, S. (1994). Frameworks and contexts: A genre-based approach to analysing lecture introductions. English for specific purposes, 13(2), 171–186. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue