L2 academic and disciplinary discourse socialization in a short-term study abroad context: An autoethnographic inquiry

Abstract

In this qualitative study, I scrutinize my second language (L2) academic and disciplinary discourse socialization (ADS) as a U.S.-based language educator leading a study abroad (SA) program in Germany in the context of an interview interaction with Meike, a language educator and coordinator of the host site’s summer language course. I recruit a reflexive approach to the examination of the interview and a reflexive researcher identity memo that I wrote immediately afterward (Maxwell, 1998). The macroanalysis shows that I experience significant affective responses around three themes: Auslandsgermanistik (i.e., international German studies), L2 pronunciation in SA, and SA as “entertainment.” The microanalysis shows that instead of revealing my affective reactions, I cooperate structurally, or facilitate the relevant interactional roles (e.g., interview and interviewee), with Meike when these themes emerge in the interview interaction. Taken together, the results reveal that my emotions enter into the interview interaction in very minimal ways because I pursue the maintenance of my role as interviewer and my/our SA program’s partnership with Meike/the host site. The results of this project remind us that interviewers are situated, socializing agents who make coordinated choices with their participants due to the need to negotiate multiple identities and expertise. This project lends strong support to scholarship that understands interviewers as non-neutral bodies (McGregor & Fernández, 2019; Prior, 2017; Talmy, 2011) and compels practitioners to consider the consequences of their ongoing L2 ADS for their students as well as their own language teaching and programs.