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I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum

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Abstract

Latecomers to science are students who take non-traditional routes into postsecondary science because they are initially missing prerequisites. Latecomers have a lower rate of persistence than traditional science students. This critical discourse analysis of an online forum thread uses Gee’s toolkit to explore how latecomers, who have histories of not being recognized as smart enough to do science, find new ways to identify with science. Applying a theoretical lens in which identity is viewed as a process of continual negotiation, which is constrained and afforded by the resources of the relevant figured worlds, it is shown how four latecomers shared reinterpreted histories of being recognized as not smart enough to do science and in doing so, formed solidarity. As part of this process they co-produced a new cultural model in which the ability or inability to ask questions led respectively to success (good grades) or failure (low grades) in science. Used in conjunction with their solidarity, they were not only able to successfully position themselves in the elite figured world of science, but also to reify the result in a form that could potentially support future identification with science. Aspects of the online forum that supported the co-production are explored, including its ability to help students draw on resources from outside of the science program. The importance of encouraging students to discuss their struggles with science and the accompanying construction of solidarity is also discussed. This research is of particular interest to practitioners and researchers interested in supporting non-traditional science students such as latecomers, especially those wishing to move away from deficit views of these students and towards a more complex and agentic understanding of persistence and identity in science.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 752-2009-2533).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John Abbott College, 21275 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3L9, Canada

    Phoebe A. Jackson

  2. School of Education, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Gale Seiler

Authors
  1. Phoebe A. Jackson
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  2. Gale Seiler
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Correspondence to Phoebe A. Jackson.

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Lead editor: J. Adams.

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Jackson, P.A., Seiler, G. I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 13, 761–784 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9818-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9818-0

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