4.3　Summary

In Section 4.1, a brief introduction has been given to the Chinese PhD dissertation proposal presentation meetings, which are the data source, and then some basic information about the data has been reported, including when and where they were recorded and how they were transcribed and translated.

Section 4.2 has provided a detailed look at data analysis, first focusing on how advising acts were identified and extracted in this study. A combined way to examine advising acts from both a micro-perspective and a macro-perspective was proposed and three general criteria to extract advising sequences were put forward. The discourse-analytic method, which was adopted to analyze identity construction, was introduced and a specific framework of the linguistic variables for identity construction was established,mainly based on the framework proposed by Oliveira et al. (2007). In addition,there has been a detailed discussion of the theoretical basis of and criteria for classifying identities constructed in institutional interactions. Finally, the contextual correlates of identity construction in academic advising interaction have been worked out for the further analysis of how identity construction is constrained by and adapts to contextual correlates, in Chapter Seven.

Based on the collected data, the linguistic variables for identity construction and the criteria for identity classification, this study will now provide a detailed description of what identities are constructed and how these identities are constructed through making linguistic choices, in Chapter Five, and of how the dynamics of identity construction is displayed in academic advising interaction in Chapter Six. Chapter Seven attempts to provide an adequate interpretation of why advice-givers construct different identities and why they make identity modification and identity shift in the current context of academic advising interaction.

【注释】

[1]The dotted lines in Figure 4.1 indicates the involvement of context.

[2]In the present study, an advising act is actually an advising sequence, but these two terms are used differently in different contexts. The former lays emphasis on treating it as a pragmatic act, while the latter lays emphasis on considering it as a discourse sequence. In addition, one advising act can comprise several head acts, which indicate the several pieces of advice.

[3]These three variables together represent a speech act or a pragmatic act. The three variables and speech acts are used in different contexts. A speech act can help an interlocutor construct certain identity. In the process of constructing this identity, the three variables,which represent the speech act, are made salient with different degrees.

[4]However, this study does not deny its social attributes.