Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 33:1 (2023) ► pp.23–48

An empirical study of Chinese university student advisors’ dynamic identity construction in the context of individual consultation

| Nanjing University,
| Nanjing University,
While extensive research has been done on pragmatic identity construction in various contexts by various social groups, little is known about how and why university student advisors may dynamically construct their pragmatic identity in their interaction with their students. Based on the analysis of naturally-occurring data about 5 student advisors’ consultation, this article explores the various pragmatic identities constructed by Chinese university student advisors as well as their underlying motivations. It finds that the identities constructed by the student advisors can be non-professional (such as a student, an individual, a friend, and a family member) and professional (such as an administrator, a tutor and a teacher). It suggests that their pragmatic identity construction may signify their effort to balance their various communicative needs in the educational contexts. Such balance may serve to meet their goal of constructing a new type of Chinese advisor-student relation characterized by equality, democracy, and harmony.
Keywords: student advisor, consultation, pragmatic identity, identity construction, Chinese university students
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Research background
    • 2.1Pragmatic identity
    • 2.2Studies on advisor-student individual consultation
  • 3.Research design
    • 3.1Research questions
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Data collection
    • 3.4Data analysis
  • 4.Results of the study
    • 4.1Student advisors’ construction of non-professional identities in the individual consultation
      • A student
      • An individual
      • A friend
      • A family member
    • 4.2Student advisors’ construction of professional identities in the individual consultation
      • An administrator
      • A tutor
      • A teacher
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 19 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.21005.che
References (70)
References
Anderson, Eugene M., and Anne Lucasse Shannon. 1988. Toward a Conceptualization of Mentoring. Journal of Teacher Education 391: 38–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Archakis, Argiris, and Villy Tsakona. 2012. The Narrative Construction of Identities in Critical Education. Hampshire: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, Michael, Anna De Fina, and Deborah Schiffrin. 2011. “Discourse and Identity Construction.” In Handbook of Identity Theory and Research, ed. by Seth J. Schwartz, Koen Luyckx, and Vivian L. Vignoles, 177–199. Berlin/New York: Springer Verlag. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barber, Bernard. 1983. The Logic and Limits of Trust. New Brunswick, Canada: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Barone, M. Susan, and Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar. 2015. “‘Forty Bucks is Forty Bucks’: An Analysis of a Medical Doctor’s Professional Identity.” Language & Communication 43 (6): 27–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bates, Carolina Figueras. 2021. “Mitigation in Discourse: Social, Cognitive and Affective Motivations When Exchanging Advice.” Journal of Pragmatics 1731: 119–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bradley, Greta. 2000. “Responding Effectively to the Mental Health Needs of International Students.” Higher Education 391: 417–433. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brunner, Jon L., David Wallace, L., Linda S. Reymann, Jes-Jams Sellers, and Adam G. McCabe. 2014. “College Counselling Today: Contemporary Students and How Counselling Centres Meet Their Needs.” Journal of College Student Psychotherapy 281: 257–324. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall. 2005. “Identity in Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach.” Discourse Studies 7 (45): 584–614. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. “Locating Identity in Language.” In Language and Identities, ed. by Carmen Llamas, and Watt Dominic, 8–28. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Charmaz, Kathy. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Chang, Tai and Robert Chang. 2004. “Counselling and the Internet: Asian American and Asian International College Students’ Attitudes Toward Seeking Online Professional Psychological Help.” Journal of College Counselling 7 (2): 140–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Jing. 2017. “Pragmatic Identity: A New Perspective for Research on Student Advisors’ Identity.” Higher Education in Jiangsu 121: 64–67.Google Scholar
. 2018. “Student Advisors’ Identity Positioning as Family Members.” Journal of Henan Science and Technology College 381: 105–109.Google Scholar
. 2019. “Investigating Student Advisors’ Choices of Non-professional Identities and Their Underlying Motivations in Individual Consultations.” Journal of Zhejiang International Studies University 51: 39–44.Google Scholar
Chen, Rong, and Xinren Chen. 2020. “Introduction.” East Asian Pragmatics 51: 1–8. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Xinren. 2013. “Pragmatic Identity: Dynamic Choice and Discursive Construction.” Foreign Languages Research 41: 27–112.Google Scholar
. 2014. “Current Research on Identity from the Pragmatic Perspective: Key Issues and Main Approaches.” Modern Foreign Languages 37 (5): 702–710.Google Scholar
. 2018. Pragmatic Identity: How to Do Things with Words of Identity. Beijing, China: Beijing Normal University Press.Google Scholar
. 2019. “Family-culture” and Chinese Politeness: An Emancipatory Pragmatic Account.” Acta Linguistica Academica 66 (2): 1–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. “Identity Work and Politeness Evaluation.” Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages 43 (2): 1–10.Google Scholar
. 2021. “Identity Metadiscourse: Metadiscursive Representation of Pragmatic Identity Awareness.” Linguistic Research 11: 6–17.Google Scholar
. 2022. Exploring Identity Work in Chinese Communication. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Day, Christopher, Alison Kington, Gordon Stobart, and Pam Sammons. 2006. “The Personal and Professional Selves of Teachers: Stable and Unstable Identities.” British Educational Research Journal 32 (4): 601–616. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Fina, Anna. 2011. Discourse and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dolón, Rosana, and Julia Todolí. 2008. Analysing Identities in Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dong, Jie. 2018. “Language and Identity Construction of China’s Rural-urban Migrant Children: An Ethnographic Study in an Urban Public School.” Journal of Language, Identity & Education 17 (5): 336–349. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elmir, Rakime, Virginia Schmied, Debra Jackson, and Lesley Wilkes. 2011. “Interviewing People about Potentially Sensitive Topics.” Nurse Researcher 191: 12–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Feng, Wenjing, and Xinren Chen. 2020. “Identity (Self-)deconstruction in Chinese Police’s Civil Conflict Mediation.” Pragmatics 30 (3): 431–457. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gao, Yihong, Zengyan Jia, and Yan Zhou. 2015. “EFL Learning and Identity Development: A Longitudinal Study in 5 Universities in China.” Journal of Language, Identity & Education 141: 137–158. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, John, Laura Behan, Ding Kelly, Karen McCarthy, and Aine Horgan. 2016. “Help-seeking Behaviors and Mental Well-being of Frst Year Undergraduate Students.” Psychiatry Research 2461: 129–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hecht, Michael L., Maryjane Collier, and Sideny Ribeau. 1993. African American Communication: Ethnic Identity and Cultural Interpretation. Newbury Park: Sage.Google Scholar
Ho, Victor. 2010. “Constructing Identities through Request E-mail Discourse.” Journal of Pragmatics 421: 2253–2261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet. 2005. “Story-telling at Work: A Complex Discursive Resource for Integrating Personal, Professional and Social Identities.” Discourse Studies 7 (6): 671–700. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, Hsiu Fang, and Sarah E. Shannon. 2005. Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis. Qualitative Health Research 15 (9): 1277–1288. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, W. Brad. 2003. A Framework for Conceptualizing Competence to Mentor. Ethics Behaviour 13 (2): 127–151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, Rodney. 2016. Spoken Discourse. London: Bloomsbury. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kahn, Jeffrey H. 2006. “Factor Analysis in Counselling Psychology Research, Training, and Practice: Principles, Advances, and Applications.” The Counselling Psychologist 341: 684–718. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kanno, Yasuko. 2003. “Imagined Communities, School Visions, and the Education of Bilingual Students in Japan.” Journal of Language, Identity and Education 21: 241–249. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kelchtermans, Geert, and Roland Vandenberghe. 1994. “Teachers’ Professional Development: A Biographical Perspective.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 261: 45–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuang, Winnie. 2004. “Cultural and Practical Barriers to Seeking Mental Health Treatment for Chinese Americans.” Journal of Community Psychology 321: 27–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Rong, and Qiang Yang. 2011. “On Communication Skills between College Counselors and Students.” Journal of Huainan Vocational & Technical College 5 (11): 46–48.Google Scholar
Ma, Danmeng, and Qiuyu Ren. 2019. “Depression and Anxiety on the Rise in China.” Society & Culture, retrieved from [URL]
Ma, Lihong, Xiaofeng Du, Kit-Tai Hau, and Jian Liu. 2018. “The Association between Teacher-student Relationship and Academic Achievement in Chinese EFL Context: A Serial Multiple Mediation Model.” Educational Psychology 38 (5): 687–707. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mao, Yansheng, and Xin Zhao. 2019. “I am a Doctor, and Here Is My Proof: Chinese Doctors’ Identity Constructed on the Online Medical Consultation Websites.” Health Communication 34 (13): 1645–1652. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mistry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. 2006. Provisions on the Construction of the Student Advisors in Higher Education. Retrieved form [URL]
Morse, Janice M. 1991. “Approaches to Qualitative Quantitative Methodological Triangulation.” Nursing Research 401: 120–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norton-Pierce, Bonnie. 2000. Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational Change. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Ochs, Eleanor. 1990. “Indexicality and Socialization.” In Cultural Psychology: Essays on Comparative Human Development, ed. by R. Shweder Stigler and G. Herdt, 287–308. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qin, An. 2006. The Professional Identity of College Counsellor. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology 14 (2): 203–206.Google Scholar
Redden, Elizabeth. 2019. International Student Well-being. Retrieved from [URL]
Ren, Yuxin. 2014. Constructing Identities in Academic Advising Interaction. Tianjin: Nankai University Press.Google Scholar
Renga, Ian Parker, Frederick Peck, Ricela Feliciano-Semidei, David Erickson, and Ke Wu. 2020. “Doing Math and Talking School: Professional Talk as Producing Hybridity in Teacher Identity and Community.” Linguistics and Education 551: 1–13. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah. 1994. Approaches to Discourse. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Shan, Ying. 2011. “College Student Advisors’ Communicative Strategies with College Students.” China Electric Power Education 111: 56–57.Google Scholar
Schubert, Christoph. 2010. “Narrative Sequences in Political Discourse: Forms and Functions in Speeches and Hypertext Frameworks.” In Narrative Revisited: Telling a Story in the Age of New Media, ed. by Christian R. Hoffmann, 143–162. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shen, Xingchen. 2019. “Medical Experts as Health Knowledge Providers: A Case Study of Nutritionists’ Identity Construction in ‘Wemedia’.” East Asian Pragmatics 4 (2): 263–291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Strauss, Anselm L., and Juliet M. Corbin. 1990. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. New York: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Tanaka, Lidia. 2015. “Advice in Japanese Radio Phone-in Counselling.” Pragmatics 25 (2): 251–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tracy, Karen. 2002. Everyday Talk: Building and Reflecting Identities. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Urzúa, Alfreso, and Camilla Vásquez. 2008. “Reflection and Professional Identity in Teachers’ Future-oriented Discourse.” Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (7): 1935–1946. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yan. 2012. “Improving the Quality of Communication between College Student Advisors and Students: A Pragmatic Study of Ideological and Political Education.” China Education of Light Industry 31: 73–75.Google Scholar
Wedin, Asa. 2020. “Negotiating Identities through Multilingual Wring: Local School Policy Opens Up Spaces for Students’ Diverse Languages.” Linguistics and Education 551: 1–8. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Shijing, and Dianne E. Stevens. 2005. Living in Stories through Images and Metaphors: Recognizing Unity in Diversity. McGill Journal of Education 40 (2): 305–309.Google Scholar
Yip, Jesse W. C. 2020. “Directness of Advice Giving in Traditional Chinese Medicine Consultations.” Journal of Pragmatics 1661: 28–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, Zhoumin. 2020. “Identity Rhetoric in Chinese Radio-Mediated Medical Consultation.” East Asian Pragmatics 11: 41–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Xin, and Yansheng Mao. 2019. “Trust Me, I Am a Doctor: Discourse of Trustworthiness by Chinese Doctors in Online Medical Consultation.” Health Communication 36 (3): 372–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhong, Xiyun, and Yantao Zeng. 2020. “‘Guess Who I Am: Constructing False Identities for Fraudulent Purposes in the Chinese Context.” East Asian Pragmatics 51: 100–122. DOI logoGoogle Scholar