Self-representation in academic writing: a copus-based exploratory study of the College of Nursing students' academic writing

AlAjaji, Eman Abdullah (2016). Self-representation in academic writing: a copus-based exploratory study of the College of Nursing students' academic writing. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This corpus-based, exploratory study attempts to fill a gap in the realm of knowledge on writer’s self-representation in academic writing. It aims to examine the writer’s discoursal self manifested by the utilisation of first person pronouns, focusing on the functional roles they occupy in multi-genre texts (paragraphs and essays) generated by non-native, undergraduate students at different levels of the College of Nursing in the cities of Al-Ahsa (CON-A) and Jeddah (CON-J) in Saudi Arabia. The students’ texts were compiled in two sub-corpora: CON-A (27160 words) and CON-J (15413 words). The data have been analysed quantitatively and qualitatively employing a data-driven framework of writer discoursal self, which includes the categories of the roles inhabited by the writer ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ the text. The results mainly show the strong presence of writer as a person, who performs roles outside the text, and the rare use of writer as an academic, who occupies roles inside the text. A number of other observations have been made, which will help form a better understanding of students’ writing and their perception of identity in writing. Factors that appear to have influenced the students’ discoursal choices and acts have been proposed. Taking the findings into account, the thesis concludes with proposing some practical suggestions for raising awareness in L2 writing pedagogy, and identifying some future research.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

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