Conference presentation preparation sessions as a site for academic discourse socialization in an engineering research team

Abstract

This situated case study focuses on two international doctoral students' academic socialization processes in conference presentation preparation sessions in an engineering research team at a university located in the United States. Language socialization theory (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986) and dramaturgical theory (Goffman, 1959) were utilized as conceptual lenses to examine the students' academic socialization processes. Based on ethnographic observations, videotaping of team interactions, and semi-structured interviews, the study focused on the research team's use of corrective feedback as the unit of analysis. The findings showed that the research team socialized the students into specific ways of using language on PowerPoint slides, professional vision, and oral conference performance. The study contributes to existing research by discussing 1) how academic socialization is inextricably linked with various competencies and thus is a multifaceted process, and 2) the systematic nature of academic discourse socialization in communities of practice which are located at the intersections of professional and academic interaction.