Writing and Identity: The Discoursal Construction of Identity in Academic Writing

388 Pages·1998·37.28 MB·English

by  Roz Ivanič

WRITING AND IDENTITY
STUDIES IN WRITTEN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
EDITORS
BRIAN STREET LUDO VERHOEVEN
University of Sussex Tilburg University
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
FLORIAN COULMAS DANIEL WAGNER
Chuo University, Tokyo University of Pennsylvania
EDITORIAL BOARD
F. Niyi Akinnaso (Temple University, Philadelphia)
David Barton (Lancaster University)
Paul Bertelson (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Claire Blanche-Benveniste (Université de Provence)
Chander J. Daswani (India Council of Educational Research and Training)
Emilia Ferreiro (Instituto Polytecnico México)
Edward French (University of the Witwatersrand)
Uta Frith (Medical Research Council, London)
Harvey J. Graff (University of Texas at Dallas)
Hartmut Günther (Universität zu Köln)
David Olson (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto)
Clotilde Pontecorvo (University of Rome)
Roger Säljo (Linköping University)
Michael Stubbs (Universität Trier)
AIM AND SCOPE
The aim of this series is to advance insight into the multifaceted character of written language, with
special emphasis on its uses in different social and cultural settings. It combines interest in
sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic accounts of the acquisition and transmission of literacy. The
series focusses on descriptive and theoretical reports in areas such as language codification,
cognitive models of written language use, written language acquisition in children and adults, the
development and implementation of literacy campaigns, and literacy as a social marker relating to
gender, ethnicity, and class. The series is intended to be multi-disciplinary, combining insights from
linguistics, psychology, sociology, education, anthropology, and philosophy.
Volume 5
Roz Ivanič
Writing and Identity
WRITING AND
IDENTITY
THE DISCOURSAL CONSTRUCTION OF
IDENTITY IN ACADEMIC WRITING
ROZ IVANIC
Lancaster University
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ivanič, Roz.
Writing and identity : the discoursal construction of identity in academic writing / Roz
Ivanič
p. cm. - (Studies in written language and literacy, ISSN 0929-7324 ; v. 5)
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
1. English language-Rhetoric-Study and teaching--Psychological aspects. 2. English
language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching--Great Britain. 3. Academic writing--Study and
teaching-Psychological aspects. 4. Discourse analysis--Psychological aspects. 5. English
language--Discourse analysis. 6. English language--Written English. 7. Identity (Psychol­
ogy) I. Title. II. Series.
PE1404.19 1997
808'.04207--dc21 97-23076
ISBN 90 272 1797 1 (Eur.) / 1-55619-322-X (US) (Hb; alk. paper) CIP
ISBN 90 272 1798 X (Eur.) / 1-55619-323-8 (US) (Pb; alk. paper)
© Copyright 1998 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
For my family:
John and Eve Sutton,
Murray, Molly and Annabel Sutton,
and
Milan, Tim and Suzanna Ivanič

Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction 1
PART ONE
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO WRITING AND IDENTITY
CHAPTER 2
Discourse and identity 37
CHAPTER 3
Literacy and identity 57
CHAPTER 4
Issues of identity in academic writing 75
PART TWO
THE DISCOURSAL CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN ACADEMIC WRITING:
An investigation with eight mature students
CHAPTER 5
Introduction to Part Two 109
CHAPTER 6
Rachel Dean: A case study of writing and identity 125
CHAPTER 7
The origins of discoursal identity in writers' experience 181
CHAPTER 8
The sense of self and the role of the reader in the discoursal
construction of writer identity 215
Viii Contents
CHAPTER 9
The discoursal construction of academic community membership 255
CHAPTER 10
Multiple possibilities for self-hood in the academic discourse
community 281
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 11
Writer identity on the agenda in theory and in practice 327
REFERENCES 347
INDEX 363
List of Figures
2.1 Discourse as text, interaction and context
3.1 The effects of different aspects of context on spoken and written language
3.2 Literacy in context
4.1 The Biff cartoon about plagiarism
4.2 A 'process' view of writer and reader as doing something
4.3 A 'social' view of writer and reader as both doing something and being
represented in the text
5.1 Some characteristics of my eight co-researchers at the time when they
wrote the essays
5.2 Potential aims of consciousness-raising activities
6.1 Outline of Rachel's essay: Family Case Study
Appendix to Chapter 6: Rachel's essay
7.1 The effect of past experience on writing
7.2 Valerie's source
9.1 A sample of approximately 50 words from an essay by each writer
9.2 Lexical density of the extracts in Figure 9.1
10.1 Some lexico-syntactic characteristics associated with sociology
10.2 Some lexico-syntactic characteristics associated with literary and related
studies
10.3 Some lexico-syntactic characteristics associated with natural sciences
10.4 Some alternative ideologies of knowledge-making in higher education
10.5 Attributions of knowledge-making activity, knowledge or belief to
different sources