Literacy and Disciplinary Experiences of Taiwanese/Chinese Students Learning to Write in a US Graduate TESOL Program

Oct 15, 2026

The article presents a qualitative case study exploring literacy and disciplinary experiences of four Taiwanese/Chinese students learning to write in a US graduate TESOL program. It combines writing research methods, including interviews and document collection, with discourse and text analysis through Bakhtinian perspectives on discourse socialization. Findings highlight how prior education outside the US shapes students’ reading-to-write processes, self-perception, and individual yet group-aligned strategies when interpreting and completing field-related texts, informing theory, research, and practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Background to the Study

Theoretical Framework: Discourse and Authoritative/Internal Persuasive Discourses

Research Focus and Questions

Literacy and Disciplinary Experiences of Taiwanese/Chinese Students Learning to Write in a US Graduate TESOL Program This article reports on a qualitative case study that explored the literacy and disciplinary experiences of 4 Taiwanese/Chinese students learning to write in a US graduate TESOL program. A combination of writing research methods was employed—case study techniques of interview and document collection, combined with discourse and text analysis of students’ written language—within Bakhtinian perspectives on discourse socialization (Bakhtin, 1981; Gee, 1989/2001, 1992). The findings suggest the complex interplay between students’ previous educational experiences outside the US and their current literate processes as they engage in reading-to-write, perceiving of self, and exerting strategies that show their individuality as well as group membership when interpreting and accomplishing field-related texts. Implications for theory, research, and practice are also discussed. Being somewhat an “old-timer” English learner and teacher from Taiwan, studying in the field of second language educa tion at the graduate level in the US academy, and hearing various anecdotes about colleagues and fellow students learning to write academically, I have come to understand that writing an academic paper is not an easy task for either native or nonnative English-speaking students, even in their field of study. The practice of graduate writing can mean a struggle not only with the act of writing itself, but also with other relevant literate and socialization activities: thinking and doing, communication and collaboration, and the expected conventions and conversations of a chosen field. These multiple and interrelated challenges have been addressed by established scholars, both native and nonnative researchers, who themselves learned to write as graduate students in their own discipline/field (e.g., Ackerman, 1995; Casanave, 2002; Silva et al., 2003) . 76 • The CATESOL Journal 26.1 • 2014 Recent studies following a dynamic view of academic learning and discourse socialization have called for more research examining this process in depth. Ivanič (1998), for one, suggests that in order to understand writing as a site of struggle in which writers are negotiating their participation and membership in a given discourse community, it is important to examine students’ personal life histories and experiences in relation to their current interactions with their social environments. Dantas-Whitney (2003) and Morita (2002) suggest the need for more research examining second language (L2) academic socialization in depth, oral and/or written, within specific cultural/ language and disciplinary groups. This study, therefore, took a qualitative case study approach and examined issues pertaining to writing, academic discourse, and disciplinary enculturation as they manifest themselves in the experiences of four Taiwanese/Chinese students who participated in American academic discourse through academic writing practices in an MA program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) . Background to the Study This study took a qualitative case study approach and examined issues pertaining to writing, academic discourse, and disciplinary enculturation as they manifest themselves in the experiences of four Mandarin-speaking students who participated in American academic discourse through academic writing practices in an MA program in TESOL. It adopts Gee’s concept of Discourse and Bakhtin’s of authoritative discourses and internally persuasive discourses as its theoretical framework. In order to understand how the case study students formed their attitudes and values about writing, the study examined how they developed their particular ways of viewing writing in the various D/d discourses (Gee, 1989/2001, 1992) to which they had been previously socialized. Following a Bakhtinian perspective, Gee (1989/2001, 1992), in discussin

FAQs

What research approach does the study use?

The study uses a qualitative case study design, combining interview and document collection with discourse and text analysis of students’ written language.

How does the theoretical framework explain students’ writing experiences?

It draws on Bakhtinian perspectives on authoritative and internally persuasive discourses and Gee’s concept of Discourse to examine how students negotiate participation and membership in a discourse community.

What do the findings suggest about the students’ academic writing process?

The findings emphasize a complex interplay between students’ prior educational experiences outside the US and their current literate processes, including reading-to-write, self-perception, and strategy use that reflect both individuality and group membership.

Oct 15, 2026

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