Expanding International Students' Communicative Repertoires in Disciplinary Literacy

• In Event: Language, Literacy, and Disciplinary Practices

Abstract

Taking a language socialization approach, this study addresses how L2 students appropriate discursive practices in the design field and how that process differs from that of their domestic peers. This semester-long video-based ethnographic study focuses on desk critiques or repetitive one-to-one instructional conversations about student design. Using multimodal interaction analysis, I analyze a series of conversations where people configured diverse semiotic resources (words, drawings, models, and gestures) to communicate their imaginative design ideas. Employing the notion of repertoire, this study illustrates how L2 students re-used instructor’s words and representational practices with transformation to make visible their design to their instructors. I argue that L2 students creatively use repertoires available at the table and in doing so, expand their communicative competence.

Author

• Min-Seok Choi, University of Louisiana at Lafayette