A Corpus-driven Study on Identity Option Depicted in the Academic Essays Written by University Students: A Transformative Mixed-Method Design

Abstract

Authorial identity is a notion refers to the way an author expresses their sense of self, employs their agency, and develops their academic discourse. Following a transformative mixed-method design, and by adopting Fairclough's (1992) Discourse as Text, Interaction, and Context framework, authorial identity option was investigated among university students. To this end, 540 essays written by university students were examined in terms of identity-related factors, i.e. social factors", "agency", "knowledge & discourses", "gender", "group", "education", as well as "disciplinary group" and "presentation or non-presentation of authorial identity". The results of the study showed that authorial identity is a complex process restructured through the process of negotiation with various individual, discoursal, sociocultural, and demographic characteristics. It was concluded that those identity-related factors may develop individuals to consider self-legitimacy in employing authorial identity, though it is also rooted in epistemological preferences of their disciplines.