2.1　Introduction

The multiplicity of identity has inspired an increasing number of researchers in social science to look into its construction and application.This is largely because people are constantly confronted with social changes and cultural diversity.The term ‘identity’ has been referred to with many different constructs in scholarly work, either from social, psychological or sociopsychological perspectives.In this study, ‘identity’ refers to a social construct that is created, performed and negotiated in the use of language and context.Despite the enquires on identity holding different theoretical and methodological understandings, it is undeniable that the idea of identity powerfully guides and explains people’s personal life paths and negotiation of belonging in and out of social groups embedded with both individual and social resources and processes.

This study is particular interested in the individuals’ disciplinary identities construction mediated in and through discursive participation in groups in a given context.It is believed that the students’ disciplinary identities are observable and interpretable in the process of performing and negotiating linguistic and interactional resources with other group members.Subsequently, these students gain group identities through positive discursive participation and increased sense of belonging in a community of discipline.Group identities in turn affect their individual identities and possible selves.The current study advocates treating the dynamic construction of disciplinary identities as an analytical lens to explore the interrelation between the individual and the context.The model of analysis will help not only understand the development of the students’ participation roles in a specific discipline-related situation but also inform the function of language use for both teaching and learning.In order to avoid the breadth of conceptualising the concept, it is necessary to view the construct via certain core issues addressed by the interrelation of social and linguistic phenomena.

Before conceptualising the above-mentioned approach, one cannot ignore the extensive literature on identity regarding the classification and identification of multi-faceted identities.Also, as the current identity study takes an SFL and sociocultural orientation, the relation between language, context and identity has to be addressed.To give an overview of the organisation of this chapter, the following sections review the prominent perspectives on identity in linguistics, conceptualise the construction of disciplinary identities in the community of discipline, and finally propose a need for seeking explanatory and analytical frameworks of disciplinary identities construction in a given context.