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

Abstract

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.