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Article published In: The dynamics of academic knowledge production: Text histories and text trajectories
Edited by Theresa Lillis and Mary Jane Curry
[Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes 3:1] 2022
► pp. 51–77

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Academic texts in motion

A text history study of co-authorship interactions in writing for publication

 | Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
 | Birkbeck, University of London, UK
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

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This article was made Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 license through payment of an APC by or on behalf of the authors.

Published online: 2 June 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jerpp.22001.khu
Abstract
Knowledge production in collaborative writing for publication has tended to be studied as fixed in time and place; few studies have focused on the drafting and redrafting of texts and the interactions among the co-authors involved. Using a text history approach to a research article co-authored by an exiled academic and his two more experienced co-authors, all using English as an additional language, this study investigates the impact of interactions during text production on the focal academic’s understanding of writing for English-medium international publication. We analysed the co-authors’ comments on the academic’s drafts, examining their Intervention Levels (levels of directness and explicitness) and Intervention Areas (disciplinary, writing, and publishing conventions) and the academic’s responses to these interventions. Analysis focused on interaction episodes (written interactions relating to a specific point in the text and relevant textual changes throughout drafts). Findings revealed that interventions focused on multiple areas, with the co-authors acting as knowledge brokers in all domains. The interaction dynamics changed across the drafts, in the focus of interaction episodes and the levels of co-authors’ interventions provided to the academic, which created a space to negotiate interventions and, consequently, to enrich his understanding of writing practices for international publication in English.
الملخّص
عادة ما يتم دراسة الإنتاج المعرفيّ الذي ينشأ عن عملية الكتابة المشتركة بصفتها عملية ثابتة في الزمان والمكان. لكن قليلةٌ هي الدراسات التي ركزت على كيفية صياغة النصوص الأكاديمية أو البحث في عملية التواصل المعرفي بين الكتاب المشاركين في الأبحاث، وبناءً على ذلك تعمد هذه الدراسة للبحث في تأثير مساهمات الكتاب المشاركين الهادفة لتطوير المحتوى المعرفي المعدّ للنشر والمقدم من قبل الكاتب الرئيسي أثناء كتابة نصٍ أكاديمي باللغة الإنكليزية، وذلك عن طريق دراسة منهجية لتاريخ النص لمقالِ شارك في كتابته أكاديمي سوري مُهجّر وكاتبين آخرين خبيرين.
قمنا بتحليل التعليقات التي أجراها الكاتبان المشاركان على أسلوب كتابة الأكاديمي السوري لدراسة مستويات التدخل (مستوى المباشرة والوضوح) ومجالات التدخل (أعراف الفرع المعرفي والكتابة والنشر) كما حللنا استجابة الأكاديمي السوري لهذه التدخلات من خلال دراسة حلقات التفاعل (التعليقات والمداخلات المُجراة على نقطة محددة في النص والتغييرات النصيّة استجابةً لهذه التعليقات والتدخلات).
كشفت النتائج أن التدخلات ركّزت على مجالات متعددة وأن الكتّاب المشاركون لعبوا دور وسطاء المعرفة في جميع المجالات. تغيّرت ديناميكيات التفاعل عبرالمسودّات فيما يتعلّق بتركيز حلقات التفاعل ودرجات تدخّل الكتاب المشاركين، مما خلق للأكاديميّ السوري مجالًا لمناقشة هذه التدخلات وزاد من إثراء فهمه لممارسات الكتابة الأكاديمية المعدة للنشر باللغة الإنكليزية.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.English for research publication purposes
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Methods
      • 3.1.1Interaction episodes
      • 3.1.2Interviews
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Overview of textual interventions in the TH
      • 4.1.1Interaction episodes concerning disciplinary conventions
      • 4.1.2Interaction episodes concerning writing conventions
      • 4.1.3Interaction episodes concerning publishing conventions
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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