Language Socialization into Academic Discourse Communities

Abstract

Although much has been written about academic discourse from diverse theoretical perspectives over the past two decades, and especially about English academic discourse, research on socialization into academic discourse or literacies in one's first or subsequently learned languages or into new discourse communities has received far less attention. Academic discourse socialization is a dynamic, socially situated process that in contemporary contexts is often multimodal, multilingual, and highly intertextual as well. The process is characterized by variable amounts of modeling, feedback, and uptake; different levels of investment and agency on the part of learners; by the negotiation of power and identities; and, often, important personal transformations for at least some participants. However, the consequences and outcomes of academic discourse socialization are also quite unpredictable, both in the shorter term and longer term. In this review I provide a brief historical overview of research on language socialization into academic communities and describe, in turn, developments in research on socialization into oral, written, and online discourse and the social practices associated with each mode. I highlight issues of conformity or reproduction to local norms and practices versus resistance and contestation of these. Next, studies of socialization into academic publication and into particular textual identities are reviewed. I conclude with a short discussion of race, culture, gender, and academic discourse socialization, pointing out how social positioning by oneself and others can affect participants’ engagement and performance in their various learning communities.

Yours, Mine and Ours: Theorizing the Global Articulation of Qualitative Research Methods and Academic Disciplines

“…For our purposes, this collection of perspectives usefully focuses on academic-disciplines as communities that are centrally -perhaps even obsessively -organized around the phenomena of discursive / textual production and interpretation (Duff, 2010). It depicts ongoing opportunities and dilemmas created for professional socialization by members' learning about preferred strategies for interpreting canonical texts, and their assimilation of complex rules for designing and performing associated communication (e.g., stance-taking in relation to intellectual controversy).…”

Commentary on research into learning in physical education: towards a mature field of knowledge

“…as sociologists, as physiologists or whatever). It is during that training that one learns not only the content of the discipline, but also the rules of the game and to 'speak the discourse' (Duff, 2010). It is during this time of socialization that one develops a certain investment in the ways of thinking that characterize the discipline.…”

Language Socialization Across Learning Spaces

“…Because it views the development of communicative and interactional competence through the lens of language in context (Gumperz 1968;hymes 1972), LS research focuses on language use within interaction as the main symbolic tool for developing linguistic and cultural compe tence. Moreover, linguistic and cultural competence are conceptualized as being co-con structed, highlighting the individual agency of the participants involved (Duff 2010). LS originated as a response to the narrowness of child language acquisition models that focused strictly on structural forms and psychological processes of language development without consideration of the sociocultural contexts of learning (Watson-Gegeo 1992).…”

“…Although most LS studies are more concerned with processes than outcomes (Duff and Talmy 2011), Shirley Brice heath's (1983) highly influential ethnographic study power fully illustrates the relationship between the two, comparing language socialization practices in three different communities to show how differences in communicative repertoires and expectations between home and schools can negatively affect a child's academic performance and trajectory. Thus, scholars of LS understand development as culturally situated in and mediated through social and political meanings and ideologies that are reflected and reproduced in language structure and use (Duff 2010).…”