The oral academic discourse socialization of doctoral students at a Northern Cyprus University

This study explored oral academic discourse socialization experiences of doctoral students at an English-medium tertiary institution in Northern Cyprus. It was a qualitative study involving audio-recording of a graduate class oral academic discourse and conducting interviews with the graduate candidates. Analysis of the oral academic discourse data showed that through participation in academic discussions the students negotiated their knowledge, constructed identity and agency. Analysis of the interview data also suggested the graduate candidates’ identity and agency co-construction as well as the novelty of the graduate candidates’ challenging socialization experiences over their academic studies in the graduate context. Overall, the study seemed to indicate that the participants’ socialization experiences facilitated their academic learning and development of academic discourse competence. The results of the present study are discussed in relation to the pertinent research to date.

Re-examining "silence"

As part of a larger study exploring academic discourse socialization of a group of students from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds in an international TESOL graduate program in a Canadian university focusing on how they participate in class, how they perceive different modes of participation of other students in the class, and how this affects their academic discourse socialization process, this study explores 12 EAL students’ “silence”/non-oral participation. The study finds that EAL students’ “silence” or non-participation was reflection of different factors such as language related issues, concerns about other students, lack of content knowledge, and personality. It was often the case that students’ “silence” and/or non-oral participation was a result of combination of those factors. Implications for classroom practices and for meeting EAL students’ needs are also discussed.

Academic Discourse Socialization, Scaler Politics of English, and Racialization in Study Abroad: A Critical Autoethnography

In this age of rising animosity to newcomers in host societies, study abroad students are often reported to receive maltreatment and discrimination. To this end, I conducted a critical autoethnographic study that responds to the trajectory of my English language learning in the UK and explores my adjustment difficulties and factors such as racialized linguistic discrimination. It also reveals the types of agency that I employed in the process of academic discourse socialization and unpacks causes and processes of renegotiating and reconstructing my identity as a learner and user of the English language. The data for this study was gathered from Facebook posts, written assignment feedback, and my personal narratives and memory. The study reveals that upon finding myself in a community different from what I had imagined prior to my sojourn and with contested power dynamics between local peers and international students in classroom discourse socialization, I became disappointed and stressed and that, in turn, obstructed my learning process. However, my personal investment and agency later led me to develop my own community of practice with those who shared similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Meanwhile, I received what seemed to me to be racial discrimination based on my identity as a non-native speaker of English, which was the result of a scaler politics of English and perhaps blatant racism toward a student of a third-world country that saw my use of English as inferior. Therefore, the study invites institutions in host countries to reflect on their language orientation and how it is responsive (not responsive) to newcomers.