Influence of Text Mediation Upon the Academic Identities of Novice EAP Authors: Review and Prospect

Abstract

In order to provide an overview of the research on the influence of text mediation upon the academic identity of EAP authors, this paper reviewed the available literature on academic identity, identity construction in academic writing, text mediation and its influence upon academic writing. It was found that different mediators indeed play roles in the drafting or publication of manuscripts by English for Academic Purposes (EAP) authors, especially novice ones. The final version of a manuscript was thus formulated by both the named author(s) and many unnamed others, which covers the metadiscourse employed in the very manuscript. Since metadiscourse helps to shape the identity of the author, the mediators correspondingly exert influence upon the identity construction of the academic authors. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of text mediation upon the author’s identity. In view of this, this paper proposed the prospects for further research.