Zhao, Yan, Ph.D. (2011) L2 creative writers : identities and writing processes. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

L2 creative writing research is a relatively unchartered area. Pedagogical
discussions on L2 creative writing activities often focus on manifestations of L2
learners' language learning, writing improvement, or expressions of emotion. There
is a lack of research investigating the underlying identities of L2 creative writers as
social agents. The present research targets the L2 creative writers who are interested
and experienced in certain forms of creative writing. It investigates if and how L2
creative writers' emergent identities enacted in their online cognitive writing
activities under particular tasks are mediated by the writers' 'autobiographical
identities' (Clark and Ivanič, 1997) rooted in their life histories.
Fifteen L2 creative writers from diverse sociocultural and academic backgrounds
participated in the research. Firstly, the participants' 'autobiographical identities'
were explored through eliciting their retrospective life-history accounts in in-depth
interviews. Secondly, the research implemented two think-aloud story-writing
sessions (Autobiographical writing & Prompted story-continuation writing) to
capture the writers' emergent identities instantiated in their cognitive writing
processes. Subsequently, the interconnectedness between these two types of
identities was sought.
Two parallel data analyses were conducted: 1) quantitative data coding targeting
all fifteen L2 creative writers and 2) qualitative discussions concentrating on five
selected focal participants. These two levels of analyses together show that the
participants' cognitive writing processes as evinced through their engagement in
these creative writing activities (i.e. their task-situated emergent identities) are
mediated by the writers’ previous participation in multiple discourses and social
worlds up to the moment of writing (i.e. their autobiographical identities formed
throughout their life histories).
The findings suggest certain directions for theory development in L2 creative
writing research as well as in L2 writer identity research. Regarding L2 creative
writing research, L2 teachers' practice could be enhanced by a deeper understanding
of how creative writing is employed by L2 individuals not only for language or
literacy acquisition purposes, but also as a self-empowering tool to achieve particular
social positioning. Secondly, regarding L2 writer identity research, more research
needs to be done regarding this micro and dynamic view of writer identity which
resides in the movements of the writers' emerging thoughts situated in an immediate
creative writing context and mediated by the writers' previous sociocultural
experiences.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Creative writing, Autobiographical memory, Second language acquisition
Official Date:	December 2011
Dates:	Date Event December 2011 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Applied Linguistics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Ushioda, Ema ; Smith, Richard C., 1961-
Extent:	xv, 444 leaves : ill., charts
Language:	eng

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