The Reconstruction of Identities: A Membership Categorization Analysis of International Students' Identity Reconstruction in the Process of Academic Literacy Acquisition

Abstract

This study examines how international students construct and negotiate their identities and voices in the process of academic literacy acquisition. The data consists of twenty-seven hours of naturally occurring conversation among three international students who were enrolled in a North American university, and the selected data were analyzed using the framework of conversation analysis (CA) and membership categorization analysis (MCA). By comparing the two segments where participants display different sets of identities, the analysis shows how international students - as newcomers and peripheral participants - have gradually resisted the imposed discourses, such as native speakerism, developed their ideological selves, and come to authorize their positions in the new academic discourse community. © Common Ground Research Networks, Lee Jin Choi, All Rights Reserved.