7.2.3 Identity construction adapting to the physic...
Figure 7.2 The physical positions of participants in a PhD dissertation
proposal presentation meeting[5]
The academic event of a Chinese PhD dissertation proposal presentation meeting often takes place in a relatively small conference room containing about 20-30 people. The members of the committee and the PhD candidate sit at the table. A secretary is often needed to record the academic event, who also sits at the table and usually sits beside the PhD candidate. Other participants as audience, who are usually PhD or MA students, often sit on the chairs behind the members of the committee and/or the PhD candidate.Figure 7.2 shows the positions of the participants of the meetings.The identity of a teacher is sometimes constructed to adapt to the correlate of the audience in the physical setting of dissertation proposal presentation meetings in a Chinese context. For example,
(7-12) PhD DPPM-4:
→ 1 T3：如果你没有，那你就不是解释。(1.5)其实我觉得你可能，现在就是，我倒有个就说，可操作性对你们学生来讲说始终会有这样一个模式，就是说，你把你的书，你把你的文章，你的书和文章都蛮新的。
‘If you haven’t (kept the consistency), then it will not be an interpretation. Actually, I think there will always be an operable model for all you students. That is to say, since the books and the articles in your references are very new, you(could write an overview).’
2 S： 嗯嗯。
‘Mm Mm.’
3 T3：先写一个文献综述去发表。
‘First write an overview of the relevant literature to publish.’
4 S： 嗯。
‘Mm.’
5 T3：你自己先写一个文献综述，你把它弄懂、弄清楚。
‘You first write an overview of the relevant literature. Make out what you’ve read and make it clear what you’ve read.’
6 S： 嗯。
‘Mm.’
7 T3：就是人家说的什么弄清楚。
‘That is, make out what others have said.’
8 S： 嗯。
‘Mm.’
As discussed in Section 5.2.1, T3 constructs himself an teacher identity by explicitly using “对你们学生来讲” (‘for you students’). Although “对你们学生来讲” (‘for you students’) is mainly used to refer to the advice-receiver,other students participating in this academic event can also be included because the plural form of the second person pronoun “你们” (‘you’) is used here, which makes salient the group of students. Moreover, this piece of advice given by T3 may also benefit other students, who are the major audience in this context. Therefore, the identity of a teacher is constructed to adapt to the correlates in the physical world, especially the correlate of the audience in the institutional interaction in question.