| In recent years,researchers have started to address the under-researched issues of academic discourse socialization.The core theoretical premise of academic discourse socialization is academic language is learnt through interactions with others who are more proficient and who provide novices with explicit or implicit mentoring or evidence about normative uses of academic language,as well as about worldviews,ideologies,values and identities of community members(Duff 2010b).Based on the ethnographic method,scholars have investigated domestic and international students’ socialization into academic discourse including both written and oral mode discourse in postsecondary English learning contexts.These studies have covered various issues like interactions between novices and experts(e.g.Morita 2000;Zappa-Hollman&Duff 2015),the process of academic publications(Flowerdew 2000;Li 2007)and the role of identity(Morita 2009;Atkinson 2003).However,few studies have investigated the developmental changes of words,grammar and structure in the process of academic discourse socialization from a micro perspective.Furthermore,the traditional ethnographic methods and the qualitative perspective adopted in these studies have been criticized as lacking contrastive examples,an analytical framework and associated discourse data to support their analysis(WatsonGegeo&Nielsen 2003).Another problem is that most studies have placed an emphasis on the L2 postgraduate students in the English-speaking contexts such as the U.S.or Canada.Whereas,inquiries into Chinese students’ academic discourse socialization in their home country are almost nonexistent.Although some scholars in China are successfully selfengaged(socialized)into the global academic community despite poor mentorship and inadequate academic writing instruction,most of MA(Master of Arts)and PhD(Doctor of Philosophy)students are struggling to find support in linguistic mentorship for academic success.They have been reported to have difficulties and problems in technical words(e.g.Evans&Green 2007;Evans&Morrison 2012),grammatical metaphor(Jiang 2015;He&Yang 2018)and discourse structure(e.g.Gao 2012;Wei 2016).Therefore,based on the evidence from a cross-sectional analysis and a longitudinal analysis of the English abstracts in two different disciplines of linguistics and physics representing soft and hard science,the present study aims to explore Chinese scholars’academic discourse socialization from the perspective of Power Trio which includes categories of Power Words,Power Grammar and Power Composition.It focuses on one specific genre—English abstracts due to its important role in global knowledge dissemination in the so-called era of information explosion.The following research questions were addressed:1)What are the features of English MA,PhD abstracts written by Chinese students and those abstracts published in high-ranking journals from the perspective of Power Trio?2)What are the developmental changes in terms of Power Trio in the process of academic discourse socialization?3)What are the factors that might impede Chinese scholars’process of academic discourse socialization?4)What are the external and internal sources contributing to Chinese scholars’ academic discourse socialization?The cross-sectional study is based on a 74,058-word corpus consisting of 60 research article abstracts accompanying journal articles and 120 dissertation abstracts published between 2007 and 2018.The longitudinal corpus was a compilation of 27 abstracts written by the two participants(referred to as ’Lin’ from linguistics and ’Phy’from physics)over a period of more than ten years to identify and measure the linguistic features and the macro-structure that index the dynamic shift.In addition to text analysis,to give a broader picture of this dynamic shift,the participants’ external and internal sources of socialization,difficulties,coping strategies,and progress were also explored through semi-structured interviews,submitting e-mails and curriculum vitae.The developmental process from academic writings in MA to those in PhD and to those published in international high-ranking journals represents a Chinese scholar’s general academic discourse socialization trajectory from an early stage of socialization to a more mature stage of socialization.The cross-sectional study and the longitudinal study are independent but related,complementary and lend support to each other.The cross-sectional analysis revealed that MA,PhD and international journal article abstracts were characterized by different preference tendencies towards the same linguistic recourses in Power Trio.Both MA and PhD abstracts written by Chinese graduate students in the two disciplines exhibited an overuse of Textual Themes,especially those signaling apposition,modal adjuncts in Interpersonal Themes,Marked Themes and Constant Progressions and underuse of Power Words and Power Grammar.International journal article abstracts,however,were characterized by high frequency of Power Words and Power Grammar,indicating a high level of technicality and abstractness.For Power Composition,international journal abstracts were characterized by high frequency of Derived and Linear Progressions but low frequency of Textual Themes.It indicates that international expert writers prefer to use implicit logic relations and semantic coherence between clauses rather than linguistically-marked textual cohesion.Furthermore,they tended to use less informal language resources like Marked and Interpersonal Themes in their abstracts.The language features and problems in MA and PhD abstracts in comparison to international journal abstracts are mainly caused by disciplinary(lack of disciplinary knowledge),linguistic(lack of genre awareness;incompetence in condensing and abstracting information),psychological(insecurity and lack of confidence for the disadvantageous identities of being a non-native English speaker and a novice),and sociocultural factors(first language transfer;inadequate academic English instructions;improper teaching materials).These features showed a general trend of moving from being less technical to more technical,from being less abstract to more abstract and from being less formal to more formal from MA and PhD abstracts written by Chinese graduate students to international journal article abstracts published in high ranking journals.There were five patterns of language developments from MA to PhD and to international journal article abstracts:1)A direct increasing trend from MA,to PhD and to international j ournal article abstracts(i.e.Power Words;Derived Progressions in linguistics;Topical Themes and Linear Progressions in physics);2)A decreasing trend from MA to PhD abstracts but a sheer increasing trend from PhD to international journal article abstracts(i.e.Power Grammar);3)An increasing trend from MA to PhD abstracts but a decreasing trend from PhD to RA abstracts(i.e.Textual Themes;Topical Themes and Marked Themes in linguistics;Constant Progressions in physics);4)An increasing trend from MA to PhD abstracts but a sheer decreasing trend from PhD to international journal article abstracts(i.e.Textual Themes in physics;Marked Themes and Interpersonal Themes in linguistics);5)A direct decreasing trend from MA to PhD and to international journal article abstracts(i.e.modal adjuncts in Interpersonal Themes;Constant Progressions and Linear Progressions in linguistics;Marked Themes in physics).The varieties of developmental patterns indicate that academic discourse socialization is an unpredictable and conflictual process.Based on a discourse analysis of the longitudinal corpus,it was found there were not any clear developmental changes of Power Words or Power Grammar.However,some noticeable language developments have been identified in Power Composition including an increasing use of Linear Progressions and a decreasing use of Constant Progressions after his PhD in Lin’s case and an increasing amount of self-mentions,a decreasing use of passive voices and more complete sequences of moves after his PhD in Phy’s case.In spite of the language progress,Lin still had some linguistic problems in academic writing including overuse of Marked Themes signaling Angle which is very typical in Chinese graduate students’ abstracts and persistence on formality realized by agentless passive voice and invisibility of self-mentions.These features have been shown to be overused by Chinese linguistics graduate students in the cross-sectional study.It indicates that Lin’s socialization is still constrained in the domestic academic community after more than 10 years’ apprenticing in linguistics.Based on the qualitative data,it was found there were both external and internal sources that contribute to facilitating the progress in the process of academic discourse socialization and difficulties that impede the progress.External sources included selfreading and practice,expert assistance(i.e.academic writing teachers,supervisors,committee members,journal reviewers),academic conferences,lectures on academic writing,peer assistance and L1 support.Internal sources mainly included self-mediating and self-motivating.Some sources which seemed to be very supportive and effective in Lin’s case were considered as ineffectual in Phy’s case and vice versa.However,these sources finally contributed to their progress,which was reflected in linguistic,disciplinary,psychological and sociocultural aspects.Despite these contributing sources,the two participants have reported some difficulties including Power Words,discourse structure and logicality between sentences.In general,these results reveal that academic discourse socialization is a dynamic,socially and culturally situated process with unpredictable uptake,intentions,investment on the part of learners,and outcomes.The findings should provide useful insights for language and learning practitioners who regularly negotiate meanings in unfamiliar disciplinary territory in their work supporting novices’ academic writing.Specifically,by using the analytical framework of Power Trio,this study will empower students and teachers with a holistic view of how to learn and teach explicitly at both linguistic and discoursal levels.The comparative features of how Chinese MA students,PhD students and international experts display and construe disciplinary knowledge and how they become a competent member when participating in academic writing might be able to help teachers know in what ways novices and experts are different,thus to scaffold students in a more systematic and dynamic way. |
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