A new breed of universities equipped with studentcentered education programs and advanced digital technologies is changing the face of higher education. “Flipped learning” is heralded as a new model of education, yet its effect is underexplored. The purpose of this study is to provide evaluation criteria to assess and understand the merit of studentcentered education programs and apply them to actual cases. Discussion on the nature of knowledge, its production mechanism and system, and possible contribution of digital technology to usercentered programs are discussed to produce five key criteria; initiative of students, interaction in class, interaction in field, customization of courses, and automated personal service. They are applied to evaluation of Minerva and Ecole 42.
영어교육연구 제24권 1호 2012년 봄 L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions Kyungja Ahn (Seoul National University of Education) Ahn, Kyungja (2012) L2 writer identity: A college student’s multiple identities revealed in English compositions English Language Teaching, 24(1), 1-21 This case study examines diverse identities that an EFL student exhibited as she participated in a composition class at a South Korean university The data include her writing assignments, peer reviews, final portfolio, an interview with her, and surveys as well as the course materials The findings indicate that over the semester, the participant displayed her voice actively and invoked several identities as an English language explorer, language advice-giver, selfexpresser, and researcher Among these identities, self-expresser and researcher emerged most frequently The results show that EFL writers should not always be considered as deficient and in need of help, but rather as able to legitimately use English for their own purposes and to help others use English more appropriately The findings imply that critical awareness of EFL writer identity issues is needed for teachers and students in EFL composition pedagogy The results also suggest that L2 classes should provide students with ample opportunities to use the L2 for various communicative purposes and to reveal their multiple selves and voices Further important pedagogical implications for L2 teachers and teacher educators as well as L2 students are discussed I INTRODUCTION Being distant, objective, and impersonal has been considered a norm which academic writers should pursue in order to obtain membership into the community of academic discourse (Clark, 1992) However, it has been claimed that written texts inevitably project the writer’s multiple personal voices (Bakhtin, 1986) Researchers have also suggested that any form of writing displays the writer’s identity (Ivanič, 1998; Tang & John, 1999) The issue of how writers create their personal voices and multiple identities in their writings has thus emerged as an area worthy of exploration Recently, the conception of writer identity has been studied in the area of second or foreign language (L2) writing as well (Fernsten, 2008; Harris, 1997; Ivanič & Camps, 2001; Lee, 2007; Tang & John, 1999), as there has been increasing interest in how L2 writers learn to write, how L2 composition is taught, and how L2 writers’ composition ability can be Kyungja Ahn developed L2 writing research has frequently pointed out the differences between native speaker norms and L2 writers’ work, often assuming that L2 learners whose written language does not fit the standard are typically labeled as incompetent or even wanting in cognitive ability (Fernsten, 2008; Harris, 1997) Moreover, as non-native speakers have been considered as taking a lower position than native speakers due to their seemingly less real or authentic language use (Kramsch, 1997, 1998), L2 writers have been primarily regarded as deficient in comparison to native-speaking writers However, more recently, as L2 learners have been viewed as ones with multi-competence (Belz, 2002; Cook, 1991, 1999) and as intercultural speakers (Kramsch, 1998), perspectives about L2 writers have changed The issue of L2 writing and identities has been explored in previous studies about ESL (Fernsten, 2008; Ivanič & Camps, 2001; Tang & John, 1999) and EFL writers (Lee, 2007) In particular, several studies have focused on diverse ways in which the first person singular pronoun (“I”) is used in academic writing (Ivanič & Camps, 2001; Lee, 2007; Tang & John, 1999) However, the area of L2 writer identity has not been studied thoroughly in EFL contexts such as in South Korea In-depth analysis of the process and products of an EFL writer’s composition over a period of time and investigation into the positioning of EFL writers in relation to others such as the audience might need to further address the identity issue in EFL composition and to develop EFL writing pedagogy Such research on EFL writer identities can contribute to recognizing how to help writers represent their selves in their writing and develop themselves as effective writers of English In addition, studies on EFL writer identities in South Korea may foster a more profound understanding of EFL composition instruction as well as EFL writers’ perceptions about themselves and English writing Thus, this case study explores one EFL writer’s identities through her writings in a college composition course in South Korea II L2 WRITING AND IDENTITIES Conceptions of identity have gained acceptance in the fields of anthropology, sociology, and related fields such as general education and language education According to Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, and Johnson (2005), identity is conceptualized around certain central ideas First, identity is multiple, shifting and in conflict, not a unitary, fixed, and coherent phenomenon (Norton Peirce, 1995) Second, identity is formed, maintained, and negotiated to a significant extent through language L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions and discourse (Gee, 1996; MacLure, 1993) Lastly, identity is related to the social, cultural, and political context such as interlocutors and institutional contexts rather than being context-independent (Duff & Uchida, 1997) Similarly, Holland and Lave (2001) proposed the “identity as position” metaphor, viewing identity as positional, relational, and thus multiple and initiated in interaction The discoursal construction of writer identity draws on Bakhtin’s (1986) view of the socio-cultural nature of language (See Ivanič, 1998) It has been proposed that writers invoke their different identities or their selves in their texts in order to plan rhetorical moves (Bakhtin, 1981) In particular, addressivity (Bakhtin, 1986) of texts has been regarded important because it is essential for examining how writers reveal their identities in their writing since investigation of whom they are addressing allows us to understand which part of themselves they were invoking to better address the audience An analytical framework of identity construction in academic texts was established by Ivanič (1998) She proposed that several aspects of self exist in any type of written text: autobiographical self, discoursal self, and self as an author First, autobiographical self is “the identity which people bring with them to any act of writing.” It refers to the self that is socially situated and that the writer brings in out of his or her own social and autobiographical background Discoursal self is the image that the writer projects in the writing and the image of the author that readers construct through reading the texts Thus, it is the identity which “the writer constructs in the act of writing.” Self as an author indicates “a writer’s relative authoritativeness” and the self which creates a position in the writing and conscientiously uses authoritativeness in the construction of texts Ivanič (1998) mentioned that these three identities are interrelated, shaping and being shaped by “possibilities for self-hood” which are situated in the writer’s socio-cultural and institutional setting (p 24) One qualitative study that revealed how differently self is positioned in academic writing is Ivanič and Camps (2001) They examined how six Mexican graduate students negotiated representations of themselves as they participated in new discourse communities in British universities, engaging in discursive practices that positioned them in different ways They argued that writers’ lexical, syntactic, and rhetorical choices construct identity in the same way that speakers’ phonetic and prosodic aspects of speech and that the writer’s self is always presented in his or her writing Three types of positioning were found in the participants’ writing, relating to Halliday’s (1994) three macro-functions of language: positioning with respect to the writers’ ways of representing the world (ideational positioning), positioning with respect to the writers’ relationships with their audiences (interpersonal positioning), and positioning with respect to the writers’ favored ways of converting meanings into text (textual positioning) 4 Kyungja Ahn More specifically, different writer identities behind the first person singular pronoun have been explored, showing the multi-dimensional aspects of “I” in L2 academic discourse Tang and John (1999) maintained that the first person pronoun in academic writing is used to represent diverse identities of the writers The researchers examined writer identities of 27 freshmen in a Singaporean university, focusing on their use of the first person pronoun “I” in their academic essays They found six different uses of the first person pronoun including representative (representing a large group of people), guide (showing the reader through the essay), architect (organizing and structuring the essay), recounter (describing or recounting the research process), opinion-holder (sharing a view on information or facts), and originator (creating new ideas and claiming authority) These identities represent a range from a weak authorial presence (representative) to a strong authorial presence (originator) Similarly, in Korean undergraduate students’ academic writing, Lee (2007) found diverse writer identities of “I.” In the analysis of 31 students’ essays (one piece per student), she found 92 instances of “I,” which show a very low average frequency of 2.97 per writing sample She found six different writer identity types: opinion-holder (sharing opinions), which was the most used type (37%); followed by architect (structuring writing); recounter (describing writing process); originator (creating ideas/knowledge claims); guide (leading the reader); and existentialist (having social roles), which was the least used (6.5%) The aforementioned studies show that a writer invokes multiple identities and locates himself/herself differently depending on the context in which he or she is situated In this way, these studies provided insights about L2 writer identity and L2 instruction However, they mainly focused on the use of only one pronoun (“I”) in one type of writing (essay) by multiple students More in-depth investigation of L2 writers’ series of writings over a certain period of time might be needed to see how they construct their identities Thus, this study examines how an EFL writer displays her identities and positions herself in relation to the audience in the series of compositions she wrote over the semester III METHODOLOGY Setting and Participant The data of this study were collected from an academic English class taught by the researcher in the fall semester of 2009 The class met twice a week over the semester, for 75 minutes per meeting A cyber class was also provided primarily for students’ L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions submission of their writing assignments and peer feedback The main goals of this beginning and intermediate composition class were to help students improve their overall English writing skills, to help students understand the composing process, and to provide them with plenty of practice in writing different types of paragraphs The students participated in a variety of activities in order to understand the basic structure and key elements of diverse kinds of paragraphs such as narrative, descriptive, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect and finally wrote an essay The students also engaged in different genres of writing including an email, a cover letter, a resume, and five personal journal entries Topics for approximately half of the writing assignments were given by the instructor, and the other half were chosen by the students When the instructor assigned a topic for a certain writing assignment, the students were allowed to select a sub-topic and the specific content Using a process-based approach to writing, for each written assignment the students kept track of their writing process including brainstorming, writing drafts, incorporating feedback from peers and the instructor, self-editing, and revising their compositions Each student was requested to give written feedback about paragraphs by three peers assigned by the instructor or chosen by themselves As students engaged in the writing process, the composition class also covered useful grammatical patterns and expressions for each paragraph type At the end of the term, the students gave oral presentations about their essays and submitted final writing portfolios in which they documented all the artifacts that they had produced throughout the course and reflected on their development as writers over the semester The subject of the study is Jiwon1, a female student majoring in English language and literature At the time of the study, she was a junior, and the writing class was her first English composition class Of the sixteen students enrolled in the course, she was selected as the participant for this study due to her talent and passion for English composition: She participated in class activities very actively, carefully followed the steps for process-based writing, and revised each of her compositions from two to seven times In her final portfolio, she documented her writing process for each of her compositions in more detail than any of the other students did She was considered one of the top students in class in terms of her use of the writing process and the quality of her finished assignments Methods of Data Collection and Analysis The data for this study include Jiwon’s drafts for each writing assignment and her The names of people and the titles of institutions are pseudonyms 6 Kyungja Ahn final writing portfolio Her reviews of her classmates’ writing as well as the feedback from her peers and instructor about her writing were also collected Like all the other students, Jiwon was interviewed in order to identify her overall responses to the writing class Additionally, surveys of all the students were conducted at the beginning and end of the semester The first survey was to investigate the students’ experiences with learning in English and English writing and their specific goals for the class The second survey asked about their reflections on the class and their self-assessment as writers of academic English Course materials and the course syllabus were also gathered as data The data were analyzed through grounded content analysis (Bogdan & Biklin, 1998; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) They were carefully and repeatedly reviewed and specifically coded into the instances related to the participant writer’s identities As data were coded, salient and recurring patterns were identified and then relationships among these patterns were investigated in order to create tentative conceptual categories (Bogdan & Biklin, 1998) Final themes emerged from further iterative and refining processes of data reduction, verification, and further data analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994) The themes identified in the analysis largely represent Jiwon’s four different identities: language explorer, language advice-giver, self-expresser and researcher In addition, textual analysis of her writings was conducted, focusing on (1) when, where, and how she revealed different aspects of her selves into her writing, and (2) specific textual features such as pronouns and language patterns that she used in her texts In order to heighten the trustworthiness of the study, data triangulation, thick description, and peer debriefing were employed (Creswell, 2003; Lincoln & Guba, 1985) Multiple data sources including not only her written assignments but also the surveys, the interview, and other written and oral data were triangulated Using these data, the final copies of her writings, her composition process, her experiences in writing, and related contexts were described in detail A peer debriefer who is an experienced teacher and researcher in L2 writing and applied linguistics examined the analyses and interpretations of this study and provided feedback IV FINDINGS The results of the analysis show Jiwon’s multiple identities as L2 writer: as a language explorer, language advice-giver, self-expresser, and researcher The following table summarizes the identities represented in each of her writings The table above shows that Jiwon produced seven different types of writing during the semester As to her identities, she mostly took a self-expresser identity, while she also revealed researcher, language advice-giver, and language explorer identities Her L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions TABLE Summary of Jiwon’s Writing (Composition Type) No of drafts Topic Primary Genre/Writing Type Date of Topic Selection Identity Completion* Self-introduction Instructor Self-expresser Email 9/9 (w/c)** Applying for a Job Instructor Self-expresser Cover Letter/Resume 9/14 Writing a Narrative Instructor -2 Narrative 9/28 Paragraph (w/c) My Dream Rambler Jiwon Self-expresser Descriptive 10/21 Paragraph Writing Comparison/ Tolstoy versus Jiwon Researcher Contrast 10/28 Dostoyevsky Effects of Korea’s Low Instructor Researcher Cause/Effect 11/18 Birth Rate History of Korean Hip Jiwon Researcher Essay 12/14 Hop Music Language (w/c) History of My English Instructor Journal explorer 10/16 Learning Effective Ways to Enjoy Instructor Advice-giver Journal 10/30 English Journal Meanings of My Name Jiwon Self-expresser Journal 11/13 Happy Together, the Best Jiwon Self-expresser Journal 11/27 Movie of My Life My Dream Comes True Jiwon Self-expresser Journal 12/11 Peer Review More than 10 Evaluations/Suggestions Instructor/ Advice-giver Feedback over semester on Peers’ Writings Jiwon Language Development as an Instructor Portfolio Cover Page 12/16 explorer English Writer * “Date of completion” refers to the date when the final version of each piece of writing was submitted ** “w/c” means writing center visit, indicating that Jiwon visited the university writing center for assistance with this assignment language explorer identity emerged when she described her English-learning activities (Journal 1) and English writing development (Portfolio Cover Page) The language Unlike the other writing assignments, the narrative writing was an exercise in which the students were to number a set of sentences in correct time order and write a paragraph using appropriate time signals and combining sentences Since the ideas were not her own, identity was not analyzed 8 Kyungja Ahn advice-giver identity was displayed when she gave advice about English learning and study methods (Journal 2) as well as assessed and made suggestions for her peers’ writing (Peer Review) She also revealed her identities while expressing her thoughts on herself or topics related to her (self-expresser) and doing research on specific topics (researcher) In the essay and the comparison/contrast and cause/effect paragraphs, she, as a researcher, wrote about her ideas based on reference materials In the rest of the writings, as a self-expresser, she introduced herself to classmates (Email Writing) and to a future employer (Cover Letter/Resume Writing) and described the meaning of her name (Journal 3) and her favorite things such as garden ramblers (Descriptive), a movie (Journal 4), and Mr Right (Journal 5) TABLE Summary of Jiwon’s Writing (Date of Completion) Date of Completion Genre/ Writing Type 9/9 Email Cover Letter/Resume 9/14 10/16 Journal 10/21 Descriptive Comparison/ Contrast 10/28 Topic Topic Selection Self-introduction Instructor Self-expresser Applying for a Job Instructor Self-expresser History of My English Learning My Dream Rambler Tolstoy versus Dostoyevsky Effective Ways to Enjoy English Meanings of My Name Effects of Korea’s Low Birth Rate Happy Together, the Best Movie of My Life Primary Identity Jiwon Language explorer Self-expresser Jiwon Researcher Instructor Advice-giver Jiwon Self-expresser Instructor Researcher Jiwon Self-expresser Instructor 10/30 Journal 11/13 Journal 11/18 Cause/Effect 11/27 Journal 12/11 Journal My Dream Comes True Jiwon Self-expresser 12/14 Essay History of Korean Hip Hop Music Jiwon Researcher 12/16 Portfolio Cover Page Development as an English Writer Instructor Language explorer Peer Reviews Feedback on Peers' Writing - - Advice-giver Note Jiwon started her writing as a self-expresser and frequently displayed this identity over the semester Her language explorer identity appeared both at the beginning and the end of the semester During the semester, her identity as a language advice-giver was revealed several times in her comments on her peers’ writing assignments, and her researcher identity emerged a few times L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions As indicated in the table, whereas the primary identity that emerged in each assignment is noted, another identity often appeared For example, in the cover page of her final portfolio, Jiwon revealed language explorer and self-expresser identities: She wrote about her development as a learner of English writing and at the same time, she expressed her thoughts and feelings about her development More prominently, the following table shows that Jiwon’s identities did not emerge sequentially Jiwon as a Language Explorer Jiwon’s identity as a language explorer emerged when she wrote about her English learning experiences before she took the writing class Her learner identity also appeared in the composition about her English writing development over the semester In her writing, she revealed her various English learning experiences at the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels In the first journal, she described her positive English learning experiences as noted below Excerpt Journal (History of My English Learning)3 I have learned English for about fifteen years and English has always been my favorite subject … Looking back … there were some chances that made me interested in English and encouraged me to improve my English ability… I started to learn English at the age of eight through [a] popular English tutoring program I remember my teacher, an energetic woman She visited my house every other week to check my stud… What I really liked about studying English at that time was singing chants… // After several years I got an opportunity to talk with native English speakers for the first time in my life and it served as a momentum to stimulate me to study English very hard Entering my senior year in the elementary school, I started to attend an English language institute for elementary school students There were many native teachers… // Entering the middle school… my humorous teacher helped me to feel English [was] interesting… His strategy for teaching English reading was not only funny, but also truly helpful for students to read and understand meanings of passages As shown above, Jiwon recollected that she started learning English when she was an elementary school student through private supplementary education including an English home schooling tutor (hagsupji) and private institutes (hagwon) She recalled several native and nonnative English teachers who motivated her in her English study through fun, useful, and/or communicative activities such as chants, communicating in English, In all the excerpts, statements are in boldface to focus the readers’ attention Content in brackets adds information or indicates intended meanings which are clear from the context but are not explained in the excerpt They are at times located next to the actual utterances “//” refers to beginning a new paragraph 10 Kyungja Ahn and learning about English reading strategies in an enjoyable way In this excerpt, as she revealed her language explorer identity, she used many time expressions to specify her English learning experience: the duration and/or passage of time (for about fifteen years, after several years) and specific points of time (at the age of eight, my senior year in the elementary school, entering the middle school) The time expressions are frequently observed in her autobiographical memory as learners Even when Jiwon had difficulty enjoying learning English at her high school due to the burden of studying for the test (the college entrance exam), she reflected that she revived her interest in English through extracurricular activities Excerpt Journal (History of My English Learning) In high school days… I almost [had] lost my interest about English… because there was so much pressure from [the] college entrance examination Then one of my friends suggested that I should join [the] English literature club As a member of the club, I read some poems and novels with the help of our guidance teacher [club advisor] What I first read in that club was O! Me! O! Life! by Walt Whitman [The] last two lines of the poem were really touching to me in [at] that time, so I copied it by hand and put it up on my desk: That you are here ㅡ that life exists, and identity; // That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse (9-10)//Leaves of Grass (1900) // Reading literature works… served as good diversion for me I read English novels whenever I was worn out mentally The club activities… were really helpful to sustain my interest about English and affected the decision to decide my [choice of] major as well The journal entry above shows that Jiwon’s participation in the literature club helped her enjoy reading novels and poems and maintain her interest in English, which was close to disappearing due to the pressure of learning English for the college entrance exam In particular, the lines of the poem that highly impressed her indicate her awareness of herself, her life, and her identity As she gained true interest in English from reading literary pieces in English, she matured to become able to endure difficult times and chose her career Jiwon’s identity as a language explorer also emerged in her reflections on the writing class In particular, in her writing portfolio, she reflected on her performance and development over the semester She also suggested skills that she would like to continue to improve, as shown below: Excerpt Final Portfolio Cover Page … at the beginning of this semester, I felt a little bit nervous as signing [nervous signing] up for college English writing class That was because I had never taken a formal English writing course and writing assignments in the syllabus seemed too difficult and burdensome to a beginner But I [have] finish[ed] all the assignments now and feel a sense of satisfaction for having completed this semester successfully I think that I have learned L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions 11 a lot about English writing through this class and become a better English writer than I used to be // … my development can be found in my writing process… // I also made a much [made much] progress in English grammar… // Last, I think that the greatest development I achieve[d] in this semester is becoming familiar with writing in English…// But … many points that I need to continue developing still remain Sentence variety, accurate paraphrasing, presenting a clear purpose for writing are they [the ones]… Even if this class is finished, I want to improve my English continuously by visiting [the] writing center and writing many English paragraphs In this excerpt, when evaluating her development over the semester of the writing class, Jiwon compared her feelings and writing abilities at the beginning of the semester to those at the end Even when the class was ending, she revealed her wish to continue to develop her English writing skills by writing on her own She also wanted to seek assistance through a program of the university, the writing center (Interview, Dec 16) Overall, Jiwon considered her life-long learning experiences in English language and composition very positive and over time became more confident in her ability to write in English This development was revealed as she constructed her writing using time order signals and other mechanisms In the compositions in which she displayed her language explorer identity, she frequently used “I” as the agent of her experience and development, exposing her autobiographical self (Ivanič, 1998) She mentioned several English teachers as significant influences who had helped her grow as an English learner Assisted by the teachers, she became more of a self-directed English learner Jiwon as a Language Advice-Giver Jiwon’s identity as a language advice-giver was displayed when she suggested efficient English learning methods to her classmates and/or other English learners When she commented about her clasmates’ compositions, her advice-giver identity was also exhibited The following excerpt indicates that Jiwon confidently recommended effective ways to study English to her classmates, drawing on what she had discovered from her own experience Excerpt Journal (Effective Ways to Enjoy English) … For you who have a hard time with English, here some suggestions are proposed Let’s enjoy English with the following three instructions // First, read compelling novels written in English… You can start with easy novels like fairy tales which are made for children… for instance, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, and The Emperor's New Clothes are there [some] If you gain confidence in reading these easy novels, you can move on to the advanced level of reading There are some classic novels [that] controlled their number of 12 Kyungja Ahn words which appears in the text for students in bookstores // Second, watch English and American TV dramas… // Lastly, talk with English speakers … // At the first time [beginning], you may hesitate to these things and doubt the effectiveness of these activities But you can find yourself more confident in English and have some pleasure with it by keeping these useful ways in mind and trying to practice… In this excerpt, Jiwon described three important strategies to improve English abilities In addition, she discussed resource materials to use, effective steps to take (e.g., from easy to more complex novels), and positive results to be gained from using these strategies Taking an advice-giver identity, she frequently addressed her audience as “you” as she wrote about efficient English learning strategies In this excerpt, “you” might refer to her peers as well as English language learners in general Jiwon often used directives4 to recommend her studying methods to her peers and/or other English learners It is known that directives can be expressed through a wide variety of grammatical forms and a speaker may lessen or heighten the force of a directive by using varied lexico-grammatical means (Reinhardt, 2007) For example, Jiwon used imperative sentences without any modal operators when she introduced the three major learning strategies (i.e., read compelling novels written in English, watch English and American TV dramas, and talk with English speakers) It shows that she felt confident as an advice-giver about the central recommendations and that this could be applied to most English learners She also used conditionals and modals to reveal her readers’ potential and encourage them (e.g., If you gain confidence in reading these easy novels, you can move on to the advanced level of reading) When she presented steps to take, she mitigated the degree of directives perhaps because she thought that her suggestions could be applied to some of the learners who felt confident in reading easier novels and she might not have wanted to hurt people at a lower proficiency level (e.g., beginning level learners who could not move up to the next level quickly) Jiwon’s presence as an English language advice-giver was also evident in her peer review feedback on her classmates’ writing She made suggestions and comments, using her knowledge about the English language and writing Excerpt Peer Feedback on Sumi’s Compare/Contrast Paragraph (1st Draft)5 Directives refer to pragmatic speech acts such as suggestions, requests, and rejections (Bardovi-Harlig & Hartford, 1993) More specifically, Searle (1976) defines a directive speech act as "attempts (of varying degrees……) by the speaker to get the hearer to something They may be very modest ‘'attempts’', as when I invite you to it or suggest that you it, or they may be very fierce attempts as when I insist that you it” (p 355) Sumi’s final draft shows revisions regarding the first sentence of this paragraph: “Kim-chi stew and soy-bean stew, my favorite Korean foods, are similar in five ways.” She added “my favorite Korean foods” instead of “which are familiar to us”, which is what Jiwon had suggested L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions 13 I suppose if I am to give advice, I would say that the writer can revise the topic sentence to be a little more natural way [more natural] The first sentence, ‘Kim-chi stew and soybean stew similar in five ways, can be seen [as] a little bit sudden to readers It can be changes to this: ‘Kim-chi stew and soy-bean stew which are familiar to us have something in common with each other.’ Just a suggestion for helping [the] revision process It is good as it is This excerpt shows how Jiwon suggested that her classmate, Sumi, revises her topic sentence In her response, Jiwon considered Sumi’s feelings and made evaluations and suggestions regarding Sumi’s composition very politely Later in this peer review, she suggested revisions in terms of ideas and language using the comment and track changes functions of a word processor In her feedback, she used her directives in a greatly mitigated way partly because both she and her peers knew who had commented on each person’s writings Thus, considering the relationship with her peers, she chose her language carefully in order not to hurt her classmate’s feelings and not to give a tooforceful impression Overall, in writing, Jiwon revealed her self as an English advice-giver by projecting her discoursal self (Ivanič, 1998) as authoritative and persuasive, using somewhat strengthened (e.g., imperatives without modals) or mitigated directives (e.g., using modals) depending on the context Jiwon as a Self-Expresser When Jiwon expressed her feelings and thoughts in several paragraphs and journal assignments, her identity as a self-expresser emerged In the writings at the beginning of the class, she introduced herself to classmates (Email) and to a potential supervisor of a job she hoped to have in the future (Cover Letter/Resume) She also wrote about her personal belongings and issues that had special meanings to her: the origin and meanings of her name (Journal 3), her favorite film (Journal 4), and her ideal boyfriend/husband (Journal 5) as well as a plant in her garden (Descriptive Paragraph) as shown below Excerpt Descriptive Paragraph (My Dream Rambler) Everyone has his or her own precious things To me, the beautiful rambler in my garden is truly precious I have heard that my father wanted to celebrate for having [celebrate having] me, so he planted this lovely rose beside the garden wall It has grown up, and now there are many bines [vines] which look like long, knotty, and skinny fingers … In May, among these fresh leaves and prickles, hundreds of red roses bloom … Its leaves [are] deep green and its roses are dark red When it comes into full bloom, the contrast of two vivid colors makes my garden splendid My family used to take pictures with this glamorous scene as a background Also the fragrance of gorgeous roses is particularly 14 Kyungja Ahn strong in still air In days of May, the fascinating scent fills the whole garden… In a breeze, trembling roses and leaves make some rustling sound as if the rambler whispers some merry melodies in my ears Though I cannot see it often because I live in a different house in Seoul, I always remember my rambler and love it so much; this is why the rambler is so dear to me In this excerpt, Jiwon used English to describe how one of the plants in her garden is meaningful to her and her family Using English, she also gave detailed descriptions about the plant in terms of visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile senses (e.g., vivid color, rustling sound, fascinating scent, trembling roses) In this writing, she included a variety of sensory details so as to generate powerful impression in the audience’s minds Jiwon’s identity as a self-expresser also emerged in another journal entry The topic she chose was her favorite movie, and she expressed her feelings and opinions about it Excerpt Journal (Happy Together, the Best Movie of My Life) I am a big movie fan and there are so many movies I really like… But if I have to choose only one out of them, it would be probably Happy Together, the best and most beautiful movie for me.//What makes this movie special to me is its heartbreaking story… //Moreover, beautiful visual style is also one of the things I like with [about] Happy Together This movie was directed by the legendary director Wong Kar-wai And the impression of the colors in his work is always wonderful… The best part showing its marvelous visual style is in the beginning and ending of the movie In those scenes, Iguazu Waterfalls which serves as a leitmotif appears on the screen, and the colors make a grandeur sight //Background music in Happy Together is also remarkable When I watched this movie first time, I thought that its background music was really plaintive and moving After a long time, I came to know that the music was composed by Astro Piazzolla, a composer I really like… //For these reason[s], Happy Together is the best movie of my life since I watched it … I hope you all have a chance to watch it! Here, Jiwon introduced the movie that she liked the best and described the reasons such as the storyline, visual aspects, and background music Her writing has vivid words to describe them effectively (e.g., heartbreaking story, grandeur sight, plaintive and moving) She carefully selected descriptive words that create strong and intense images in the reader’s mind Likewise, in other writings that revealed her self-expresser identity, Jiwon used language to describe objects related to the topic (Journals 3, 5), show her experience and ability (Email, Cover Letter/CV), and release her feelings In so doing, she clearly and effectively expresses herself and her reflections and feelings about her belongings and favorites to the audience As a self-expresser, she used language that indicates sensory details including visual and tactile sensations, sounds, and smells In order to make meaning when describing personal matters, she frequently used “I,” displaying self as an L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions 15 author (Ivanič, 1998) Jiwon as a Researcher Jiwon revealed her researcher identity when she examined specific topics selected by the instructor or by herself In these compositions, she wrote about social and cultural dimensions in local and international contexts: renowned international novelists (Comparison/Contrast Paragraph), Korea’s low birth rate (Cause/Effect Paragraph), and a localized musical genre that originated from western culture (Essay) The excerpt below displays Jiwon’s researcher identity in a Cause and Effect Paragraph that she wrote about the effects of South Korea’s low birth rate Excerpt Cause and Effect Paragraph (Effects of Korea’s Low Birth Rate) Korea’s birth rate is constantly dropping, and this low birth rate can cause serious social problems First, it has an adverse effect on business activities As people not have babies, there will be an inevitable shortage of labor According to report, labor demand will be almost equal to supply in 2010 and begin to surpass it thereafter By then, Korea will be turned into a labor-short society… Also a decrease of the number of potential consumers is quite obvious This makes [will make] consumer markets weaker… Second, low birth rate also has a negative influence upon our nation’s competitive power As the absolute number of people decreases, the number of taxpayers also dwindles… Meanwhile, the low birth rate accelerates the rate of becoming a super-aged society Korea was already defined as an aging society in 1999 as people aged sixty five and over exceeded seven percent of its total population And, by 2026, the number of elderly people will have passed twenty percent of the population This makes nation’s burden of welfare budgets heavier, and, consequently, the nation power will wane As we have seen so far, Korea’s low birth rate can bring about critical problems in the future, so we need to find some solutions to solve it In this excerpt, Jiwon presented the effects of Korea’s birth rate drop logically, responding properly to the topic assigned by the instructor: Korea’s birth rate is constantly dropping What you think are the effects of this phenomenon? She wrote the topic sentence and two different effects of the low birth rate in South Korea based on her thoughts and sources: negative impact on business activities and on the national power She also gave more details about the two effects: labor shortage and reduction of consumption; decrease in tax revenues and increase in welfare budget As a researcher, to support her arguments, she showed specific data in specific years and used the related terms (e.g., labor-short society, super-aged society) based on sources Then the paragraph ends with a concluding remark Another excerpt below is from Jiwon’s essay about a topic that she was interested in and investigated thoroughly 16 Kyungja Ahn Excerpt Essay (History of Korean Hip Hop Music) The hip hop music is a peculiar music genre developed among the African Americans in the black ghettos during the 1970s …This unique music became popular in the United States in the late 1980s and worldwide in the 1990s… It has been about fifteen years since the hip hop music first arrived in Korea… By tracing the history of Korean hip hop music and looking at the main events in it, this essay will show you how Korean hip hop music has advanced // It is generally accepted that the early 1990s was the dawning of Korean hip hop music In 1990, Jin Young Hyun released his first album which followed the hip hop trend at that time, and the rap music was introduced in Korea for the first time… In 1992, as Seotaiji and Boys’ famous song I Know which included the rap part was released and became a huge hit, rap started to attract the attention of the general public.// The late 1990s was often called as a depressed [called a depressed] period of the hip hop music // The 2000s has been literally [a] ‘new millennium’ for Korean hip hop; it is the time of the great development of Korean hip hop music beyond doubts…//… Korean hip hop music has great possibilities in itself, and it is advancing in big strides at this moment So we should be concerned about this powerful music and watch how it will develop in the future In this excerpt, Jiwon started the essay with the background of the hip-hop music: its history in the U.S and its popularity in the U.S., in the world, and in Korea Then she presented the reason for examining this specific topic and the purpose of the essay Next, she explained the history of Korean hip hop music chronologically, describing the renowned musicians of each important period, commenting on their music, and presenting their contributions to this specific music genre in Korea In this essay, she used specific terms such as the dawning of Korean hip hop music, the depressed period of the hip hop music, and new millennium for Korean hip hop in order to characterize each period She concluded the essay with the summary and hopeful remarks about Korean hip hop music Jiwon, as a researcher, referred to sources and presented her findings in a logical and structured way Also, in order to support her arguments and main ideas, she provided details properly, using specific related terms In another piece of writing (Comparison/Contrast Paragraph about two famous Russian writers, Tolstoy versus Dostoyevsky), she also positioned herself as a researcher to explain what she had found about the topic she had selected When she presented herself as a researcher and as self as an author (Ivanič, 1998) in these writings (Excerpts 8-9, Comparison/Contrast Paragraph), she hid herself as the author by not explicitly using “I.” L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions 17 V DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The findings of this study demonstrate the multi-aspects and dynamics of an EFL writer’s identities The participant of this study, Jiwon, presented her identities of a language explorer, advice-giver, self-expresser and researcher As Ivanič and Camps (2001) found in their study, the identities did not always appear exclusively but frequently emerged at the same time Jiwon was a language explorer in her academic English writing, and at the same time she helped her peers using her knowledge of English writing Furthermore, she expressed her ideas in English effectively to achieve the assigned goals of the writing tasks and/or her own composition objectives Textual analysis of Jiwon’s writing revealed that linguistic choices such as pronouns were related to her construction of her identities The analysis of pronouns (e.g., you, I) specifically indicated the addressivity (Bakhtin, 1986) of her texts, and it shows how she positions herself in relation to the audience in her language explorer, advice-giver identities Her directive usage also shows how she made language choices considering the relationship between her and her readers (a specific classmate, classmates, and English learners in general) as a language advice-giver Furthermore, in order to express her ideas and feelings effectively, Jiwon, as a self-expresser, used strong and vivid descriptive words indicating various senses including visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile aspects The results confirmed that the findings related to identity issues in other fields are also true in L2 writing pedagogy (Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson, 2005) This study shows that the L2 writer’s identities are diverse, changing, and sometimes overlapping (Norton Peirce, 1995) Also, her identities were constructed and negotiated through her language choice (Gee, 1996; MacLure, 1993) Finally, her identities relied on the contexts in which she was situated (Duff & Uchida, 1997) as a college student in an L2 composition class: an L2 learner, a classmate/more expert L2 speaker, an L2 user who could express her feelings and ideas using the L2, and a researcher to present in-depth analysis of a topic The findings of the study imply that L2 teachers should always be aware that their students not come to the L2 classrooms as blank slates ready to obtain new identities as L2 learners In the case of L2 composition classes, students bring with them their identities, which construct and are constructed by their L2 writing L2 teachers should be careful to not always construct their students’ identities as those of learners; they should not assume that their students are continually struggling with language problems In fact, learners project various identities in their texts as evidenced in this study In this respect, L2 writers ought not to be considered so much as deficient and passive L2 learners as legitimate and active L2 users, having their own voices The results also suggest that L2 composition pedagogy should include the writer 18 Kyungja Ahn identity issue and help students acknowledge that they can represent different aspects of their selves through L2 writing and that their language choices reveal who they are in their writing (Tang & John, 1999) In many cases, Jiwon’s identities were based on the characteristics of the writing genres and/or assignments For example, for the topic of Journal 1, “My English Learning Experience,” she put forth her identity as a language explorer On the other hand, when she wrote about effective English study methods in Journal 2, she revealed her English advice-giver identity In many other cases where she was supposed to express her ideas and show her research findings, she functioned as an effective self-expresser and researcher As a successful L2 writer, she was able to display different identities depending on the context Inclusion of writer identity issues in L2 pedagogy may allow students to consider how to present themselves effectively in their writing It may also promote students’ awareness of the audiences that their writing intends to address As Ivanič and Camps (2001) also recommend, this study suggests that teachers raise critical awareness about voices to help learners maintain control over the identities they project in their compositions In this study, multiple identities and voices of the successful student were revealed inductively through the analysis of her writing texts These analytic findings, in turn, can be used deductively to develop effective L2 writing instruction In L2 writing classrooms, as Ivanič (1998) suggests, teachers need to provide varied writing activities and assignments so that students have opportunities to project themselves in more diverse discourse contexts As shown in this study, the participant was allowed to reveal her different selves through various writing genres and tasks The writer’s awareness of revealing different selves depending on the writing context and of the presence of the audience might help students make themselves understood This should be prioritized, since without it, there is no real communication between the writer and the reader This study’s perspectives on L2 writers offer some interesting insights that broaden our understanding of L2 writer identities and writing instruction in EFL instructional contexts However, since this study only dealt with one English writer, the results may not be generalizable Thus, this initial characterization must be followed by continued studies into the nature of identities of different L2 writers situated in different instructional settings In particular, as the participant in this study was a high-achieving and strongly motivated English learner, there is a need to examine students with different proficiency and motivational levels Moreover, empirical research is needed to examine how explicit instruction on raising L2 learners’ awareness of writer identities influences the development of these learners’ writing ability This can be achieved through interviewing participants in various levels about their awareness of their own identities and L2 writing abilities as well as through closely tracing their development in L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions 19 representing multiple selves and in writing 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Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Norton Peirce, B (1995) Social identity, investment, and language learning TESOL Quarterly, 29, 9–31 Reinhardt, J S (2007) Directive usage in office hours contexts by pre-service ITAs: An applied learner corpus analysis Unpublished doctoral dissertation The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA Searle, J (1976) A taxonomy of illocutionary acts In K Gunderson (Ed.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Volume VII, Language, Mind, and Knowledge (pp 344-369) Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Tang, R., & John, S (1999) The ‘I’ in identity: Exploring writer identity in student academic writing through the first person pronoun English for Specific Purposes, 18, s23-s39 Varghese, M., Morgan, B., Johnston, B., & Johnson, K A (2005) Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4, 21-44 L2 Writer Identity: A College Student’s Multiple Identities Revealed in English Compositions Applicable levels: tertiary education Key words: L2 writer identity, EFL writer identity, second language writing, writing instruction Kyungja Ahn Department of English Education Seoul National University of Education 1650 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-742, Korea Tel: 02-3475-2565 Fax: 02-3475-2263 E-mail: kjahn@snue.ac.kr Received on December 31, 2011 Reviewed on February 10, 2012 Accepted on March 5, 2012 21 ... the multicompetent self in foreign language study Journal for Language, Identity, and Education, 1, 13-39 Bogdan, R B., & Biklin, S K (1998) Qualitative research for education: An introduction... through a wide variety of grammatical forms and a speaker may lessen or heighten the force of a directive by using varied lexico-grammatical means (Reinhardt, 2007) For example, Jiwon used imperative... characteristics of the writing genres and/or assignments For example, for the topic of Journal 1, “My English Learning Experience,” she put forth her identity as a language explorer On the other