5.4　Summary

This chapter has provided a detailed description of the various identities constructed by advice-givers in their advising sequences. It has found that two general categories and several sub-categories of identities are locally and temporarily constructed by advice-givers. The default identity is the expert identity, which can be constructed as the identity of a knowledgeable,authoritative, modest and amiable expert. In addition to these different images of an expert shaped in dynamic interaction, some other identities are also constructed, which are less expected or not expected at all in this type of community of practice. They are called deviational identities in this study,which include the teacher identity, the identity of a collegial researcher, the identity of a novice researcher, the identity of a virtual advice-receiver and the identity of a layperson.

At the same time, linguistic choices, which can be summarized as linguistic forms, discourse contents and discourse styles, made by advice-givers to construct different identities, have been examined in detail.The identity of a knowledgeable expert is often constructed through demonstrating the rich knowledge in certain research fields or subjects and showing familiarity with and the expertise on certain research fields or subjects, which are mainly realized by discourse contents. The linguistic choices made by advice-givers to construct their identity of an authoritative expert include the use of intensifiers, certain discourse styles and the demonstration of high commitment to what they are saying, which is mainly realized by discourse contents. The identity of a modest expert can be constructed through the use of hedges expressing personal views and formulaic expressions for showing modesty. The teacher identity is often constructed through the use of a heuristic discourse style and the explicit use of “学生” (‘student’) to refer to the advice-receiver.

The identity of a collegial researcher is mainly constructed through the use of the plural form of the first person pronoun “我们” (‘we’). The identity of a novice researcher is mainly constructed by advice-givers through mentioning problems encountered or mistakes made in their own early academic research experience. The identity of a layperson is mainly constructed through showing the lack of knowledge of certain research fields or subjects. The linguistic choices for constructing these two identities are mainly reflected in discourse contents.

The identity of a virtual advice-receiver is mainly constructed through the change of pragmatic stance or perspective, which can be realized by two specific ways of linguistic choice-making. One is the use of the singular form of the first person pronoun “我” (‘I’) to replace the singular form of the second person pronoun “你” (‘you’) when giving advice. The other is the use of the subjunctive mood when giving advice.

It should be noted here that there is no clear-cut demarcation between the identities and they form a continuum, with the expert identity as the most expected one and the layperson identity as the least expected. Figure 5.1 is a rough picture showing their relationship in the degree of expectedness.

Figure 5.1　The expectedness of various identities

However, how are these identities interrelated to each other in the dynamic process of academic advising interaction? Why do advice-givers construct different identities in their advising sequences? These two questions will be dealt with in detail in the next two chapters respectively.