Language regulation in collaborative student writing: a case study

Abstract

The article provides a micro-analytical perspective on processes of collaborative writing among university students at an international BA program in Denmark, investigating the extent to which language regulation takes place as part of the students’ joint writing activities and exploring the language ideological underpinnings of such regulatory practices. Four overall analytical observations are made concerning the practices of the group: (1) Writing is a multilingual process; (2) Written products are monolingual; (3) Language regulation rarely concerns form; (4) Getting the message across is key. These findings are discussed in relation to existing findings in the literature and related to the topic of university language policy.

Keywords:

• language regulation
• language ideology
• collaborative student writing
• university internationalization

Acknowledgments

The article has benefited from insightful comments and suggestions made by Niina Hynninen, two anonymous reviewers, and Hartmut Haberland. I am immensely grateful to them all. Tusind tak. Any remaining shortcomings remain my responsibility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Kristiansen (2017) uses different pseudonyms for the group members (Louise = Sif, Marie = Ann, Jesper = Lars, Ernst = Jens).