Positioning Patterns and L2 Students’ Genre Performance in Source-Based Argumentative Writing

Abstract

This study examines positioning patterns and their impact on genre performance in Chinese L2 students’ source-based argumentative writing. Drawing on positioning theory and analytical frameworks for source-based argumentation, analysis of 26 undergraduate English majors’ essays, stimulated recall interviews, and reflective journals revealed three overarching positioning patterns (single, negotiated, and simultaneous) and dynamic positioning shifts across essay segments. These patterns significantly influenced rhetorical move production: single and negotiated positioning led to constrained genre performance, while simultaneous positioning facilitated expected or partially identifiable moves depending on alignment. Dynamic positioning shifts further accounted for segment-level variability in rhetorical effectiveness within individual essays. The findings extend positioning theory beyond conversational dynamics to written discourse, demonstrating how positioning operates through momentary decisions and multiple engagement layers. This study reconceptualizes L2 genre performance as emerging from writers’ dynamic negotiation of positioning demands rather than stable capabilities. These insights suggest pedagogical shifts toward positioning-conscious revision strategies and temporal positioning scaffolds, contributing to both positioning theory and L2 writing research by elucidating how various factors materialize in student writing through positioning’s mediating role.

Keywords

positioning theory genre analysis rhetorical move source-based argumentative writing

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arkoudis

Tran

L. T.

(2007). International students in Australia: Read ten thousand volumes of books and walk ten thousand miles. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 27(2), 157–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188790701378792

Barratt-Pugh

Zhao

Zhang

Wang

(2019). Exploring current Chinese higher education pedagogic tensions through an activity theory lens. Higher Education, 77, 831–852. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0304-8

Cheong

C.-M.

Zhu

(2021). Source-based argumentation as a form of sustainable academic skill: An exploratory study comparing secondary school students’ L1 and L2 writing. Sustainability, 13(22), 12869. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212869

Chuang

P.-L.

Yan

(2022). An investigation of the relationship between argument structure and essay quality in assessed writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 56, 100892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2022.100892

Chuang

P.-L.

Yan

(2023). Connecting source use and argumentation in L2 integrated argumentative writing performance. Journal of Second Language Writing, 60, 101003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2023.101003

Fan

Frost

Liu

(2020). Teachers’ involvement in high-stakes language assessment reforms: The case of test for English majors (TEM) in China. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 66, 100898. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100898

Harré

(2012). Positioning theory: Moral dimensions of social-cultural psychology. In Valsiner

(Ed.), The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 191–206). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195396430.013.0010

Harré

Moghaddam

(2003). Introduction: The self and others in traditional psychology and in positioning theory. In Harré

Moghaddam

F. M.

(Eds.), The self and others: Positioning individuals and groups in personal, political, and cultural contexts (pp. 1–12). Praeger.

Harré

Van Langenhove

(1991). Varieties of positioning. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 21(4), 393–407. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1991.tb00203.x

10.

Hyland

(1990). A genre description of the argumentative essay. RELC Journal, 21(1), 66–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/003368829002100105

11.

Hyland

(2002). Authority and invisibility: Authorial identity in academic writing. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(8), 1091–1112. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00035-8

12.

Hyland

(2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16(3), 148–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2007.07.005

13.

Ivanič

Camps

(2001). I am how I sound: Voice as self-representation in L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 10(1–2), 3–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1060-3743(01)00034-0

14.

Jacobson

(2024). Social positioning and learning opportunities in one student’s textual transition to college writing. Written Communication, 41(2), 290–318. https://doi.org/10.1177/07410883231222954

15.

Kayı-Aydar

(2019). Positioning theory and discourse analysis. In Kayı-Aydar

(Ed.), Positioning theory in applied linguistics (pp. 27–40). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97337-1_2

16.

Knoch

Sitajalabhorn

(2013). A closer look at integrated writing tasks: Towards a more focused definition for assessment purposes. Assessing Writing, 18(4), 300–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2013.09.003

17.

Martin-Beltrán

(2013). “I don’t feel as embarrassed because we’re all learning”: Discursive positioning among adolescents becoming multilingual. International Journal of Educational Research, 62, 152–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2013.08.005

18.

McVee

M. B.

Silvestri

K. N.

Barrett

Haq

K. S.

(2019). Positioning theory. In Alvermann

D. E.

Unrau

N. J.

Sailors

Ruddell

R. B.

(Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of literacy (7th ed., pp. 381–400). Routledge.

19.

McVee

M. B.

Silvestri

K. N.

Schucker

K. A.

Cun

(2021). Positioning theory, embodiment, and the moral orders of objects in social dynamics: How positioning theory has neglected the body and artifactual knowing. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 51(2), 192–214. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12289

20.

Miller

R. T.

Mitchell

T. D.

Pessoa

(2016). Impact of source texts and prompts on students’ genre uptake. Journal of Second Language Writing, 31, 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2016.01.001

21.

Miller

R. T.

Pessoa

(2016). Where’s your thesis statement and what happened to your topic sentences? Identifying organizational challenges in undergraduate student argumentative writing. TESOL Journal, 7(4), 847–873. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.248

22.

Pessoa

Mitchell

T. D.

Miller

R. T.

(2017). Emergent arguments: A functional approach to analyzing student challenges with the argument genre. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 42–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.013

23.

Pessoa

Mitchell

T. D.

Miller

R. T.

(2018). Scaffolding the argument genre in a multilingual university history classroom: Tracking the writing development of novice and experienced students. English for Specific Purposes, 50, 81–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2017.12.002

24.

Plakans

Ohta

(2021). Source-based argumentative writing assessment. In Hirvela

A. R.

Belcher

(Eds.), Argumentative writing in a second language: Perspectives on research and pedagogy (pp. 64–81). University of Michigan Press.

25.

Evans

(2019). Critical thinking in the context of Chinese postgraduate students’ thesis writing: A positioning theory perspective. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 32(1), 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2018.1442473

26.

Radia

Stapleton

(2008). Unconventional internet genres and their impact on second language undergraduate students’ writing process. Internet and Higher Education, 11(1), 9–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2007.12.004

27.

Saldaña

(2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage.

28.

Swales

(1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press.

29.

Van Langenhove

. (2017). Varieties of moral orders and the dual structure of society: A perspective from positioning theory. Frontiers in Sociology, 2, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2017.00009

30.

Van Steendam

Vandermeulen

De Maeyer

Lesterhuis

Van den Bergh

Rijlaarsdam

. (2022). How students perform synthesis tasks: An empirical study into dynamic process configurations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 114(8), 1773–1800. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000755

31.

Wette

(2020). Writing using sources for academic purposes: Theory, research and practice. Routledge.

32.

Xie

(2023). Assessing source use: Summary vs. reading-to-write argumentative essay. Assessing Writing, 57, 100755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2023.100755

33.

Yoon

H.-J.

Tabari

M. A.

(2023). Authorial voice in source-based and opinion-based argumentative writing: Patterns of voice across task types and proficiency levels. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 62, 101228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2023.101228

34.

Zhang

(2018). An investigation into the development of structure and evidence use in argumentative writing. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(11), 1441–1448. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0811.08

35.

Zhang

Hyland

(2022). Responding to supervisory feedback: Mediated positioning in thesis writing. Written Communication, 39(2), 171–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/07410883211069901

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.03 MB