Detours Are Not Failures, but Foundational Experiences”
An Autoethnography Inquiry Into a Chinese EAL Doctoral Student's Journey of Scholarly Identity Development in Research Writing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12114232 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Qi Qi (0000-0003-0829-4624, School of Foreign Languages Dalian Maritime University Dalian China, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-19 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Applied Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0802-6106 • E-ISSN: 1473-4192 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ijal.70111 |
| OpenAlex | W7124706490 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
The construction of scholarly identities is central to successful research writing. Despite growing interests in academic identity within Applied Linguistics, the cognitive and emotional dimensions of EAL doctoral students’ scholarly identity development in research writing remain underexplored. To fill the gap, this autoethnographic self‐study, guided by the identity‐trajectory theory, examines how a Chinese EAL doctoral student's perceptions of quality research writing, sense of scholarly self, and affective experiences evolved over time and shaped her scholarly identity development in research writing experiences. Thematic analysis of reflective journals, email correspondences, research progress reports, and academic texts reveals the author's enactment of agency to manage emotional responses to negative writing experiences and establish her own academic voice in research writing through engaging with intellectual, institutional, and networking resources in the local context. Despite the initial self‐doubt about her academic competence, the author developed resilience to cope with failures in writing processes and restored confidence to engage in academic conversations. Cognitively, she enhanced her understanding of the features of high‐quality written works, reconceptualized critique as foundational to scholarly formation, and recognized her legitimacy to make novel claims. Theoretically, this study offers insights into the intricate dynamics among writing knowledge, emotions, and agency in scholarly identity construction in research writing. Practically, the research findings highlight the need to help EAL doctoral students build resilience in writing setbacks and learn to critically engage with feedback for constructing a confident scholarly identity
Academic writing · Agency (philosophy · Autoethnography · Identity (music · Psychological resilience · Reflexivity · Scholarship · Second language writing · Thematic analysis · Academic Writing and Publishing · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
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| Highly cited | No |
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