---
_id: '61165'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Building on and methodologically extending conceptual metaphor theory,
the article examines how personal agency as a discursively produced sociopsychological
phenomenon can be studied in elicited metaphors through a discourse-analytical
approach. More concretely, the study illustrates how early-career researchers
experience and express their agency in research writing through personal metaphors
of academic writing such as riding a roller coaster or baking a wedding cake.
A two-step discursive analysis adapts Hopper and Thompson's multidimensional approach
to linguistic transitivity to study agency in language. The analytical approach
involves both an in-depth parametrized analysis of all metaphors in the sample
and a qualitative cross-analysis of the data. The results show that the participants'
metaphors reflect both nuanced personal experiences and cultural expectations
of academic writing, the writer, and the text. This emphasizes that research writing
is not only a highly subjective practice but also one that is socially and culturally
influenced. The article argues that research on agency thus needs elaborate methodological
tools to trace discursive and sociopsychological trajectories of complex socio-cognitive
practices like academic writing. This has implications not only for the nexus
of research writing, identity, and academic enculturation but also for other fields
focusing on agency in language.
article_number: '1567498'
author:
- first_name: Andrea
full_name: Karsten, Andrea
last_name: Karsten
citation:
ama: Karsten A. Understanding personal agency through metaphor, or Why academic
writing is (not) like a roller-coaster ride. Frontiers in Language Sciences.
2025;4. doi:10.3389/flang.2025.1567498
apa: Karsten, A. (2025). Understanding personal agency through metaphor, or Why
academic writing is (not) like a roller-coaster ride. Frontiers in Language
Sciences, 4, Article 1567498. https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2025.1567498
bibtex: '@article{Karsten_2025, title={Understanding personal agency through metaphor,
or Why academic writing is (not) like a roller-coaster ride}, volume={4}, DOI={10.3389/flang.2025.1567498},
number={1567498}, journal={Frontiers in Language Sciences}, publisher={Frontiers
Media SA}, author={Karsten, Andrea}, year={2025} }'
chicago: Karsten, Andrea. “Understanding Personal Agency through Metaphor, or Why
Academic Writing Is (Not) like a Roller-Coaster Ride.” Frontiers in Language
Sciences 4 (2025). https://doi.org/10.3389/flang.2025.1567498.
ieee: 'A. Karsten, “Understanding personal agency through metaphor, or Why academic
writing is (not) like a roller-coaster ride,” Frontiers in Language Sciences,
vol. 4, Art. no. 1567498, 2025, doi: 10.3389/flang.2025.1567498.'
mla: Karsten, Andrea. “Understanding Personal Agency through Metaphor, or Why Academic
Writing Is (Not) like a Roller-Coaster Ride.” Frontiers in Language Sciences,
vol. 4, 1567498, Frontiers Media SA, 2025, doi:10.3389/flang.2025.1567498.
short: A. Karsten, Frontiers in Language Sciences 4 (2025).
date_created: 2025-09-10T10:51:29Z
date_updated: 2025-09-10T10:55:20Z
doi: 10.3389/flang.2025.1567498
intvolume: ' 4'
language:
- iso: eng
project:
- _id: '120'
name: 'TRR 318: Project Area RTG - Integriertes Graduiertenkolleg'
publication: Frontiers in Language Sciences
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 2813-4605
publication_status: published
publisher: Frontiers Media SA
related_material:
link:
- relation: confirmation
url: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/flang.2025.1567498/full#supplementary-material
status: public
title: Understanding personal agency through metaphor, or Why academic writing is
(not) like a roller-coaster ride
type: journal_article
user_id: '53917'
volume: 4
year: '2025'
...
---
_id: '50009'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: In the past decades, the notion of voice in the theorizing and teaching
of academic writing has been the subject of much debate and conceptual change,
especially concerning its relation to writer identity. Many newer accounts of
voice and identity in academic writing draw on the dialogical concept of voice
by Bakhtin. However, some theoretical and methodological inconsistencies have
surfaced in the adaptions of the concept. Working from a refinement of the dialogical
notion of voice based on the concepts of polyphony and interiorization, this article
presents a methodological approach for analyzing voice(s) in writing. The article
presents material around the evolution of an early-career researcher’s dissertation
synopsis. The material is multilayered, including the writer’s text, transcripts
from an interdisciplinary peer-feedback conversation with two colleagues, and
a video-stimulated interview with the writer. Excerpts of the material were analyzed
to trace the polyphony of interiorized voices that influenced the writing. This
focus revealed the multivoicedness of academic texts as an effect of their history
of coming into being. This article contributes to the question of voice and identity
in academic writing from a dialogical psycholinguistic perspective by presenting
a de-reifying notion of voice grounded in an understanding of writing as a polyphonic
activity, which also feeds into the formation of a writer’s self.
author:
- first_name: Andrea
full_name: Karsten, Andrea
id: '53917'
last_name: Karsten
orcid: 0000-0003-0194-2000
citation:
ama: 'Karsten A. Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic Writing Seriously.
Written Communication. 2024;41(1):6-36. doi:10.1177/07410883231207104'
apa: 'Karsten, A. (2024). Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic Writing
Seriously. Written Communication, 41(1), 6–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/07410883231207104'
bibtex: '@article{Karsten_2024, title={Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic
Writing Seriously}, volume={41}, DOI={10.1177/07410883231207104},
number={1}, journal={Written Communication}, publisher={SAGE Publications}, author={Karsten,
Andrea}, year={2024}, pages={6–36} }'
chicago: 'Karsten, Andrea. “Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic Writing
Seriously.” Written Communication 41, no. 1 (2024): 6–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/07410883231207104.'
ieee: 'A. Karsten, “Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic Writing Seriously,”
Written Communication, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 6–36, 2024, doi: 10.1177/07410883231207104.'
mla: 'Karsten, Andrea. “Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic Writing
Seriously.” Written Communication, vol. 41, no. 1, SAGE Publications, 2024,
pp. 6–36, doi:10.1177/07410883231207104.'
short: A. Karsten, Written Communication 41 (2024) 6–36.
date_created: 2023-12-21T08:15:03Z
date_updated: 2025-09-10T10:49:58Z
doi: 10.1177/07410883231207104
intvolume: ' 41'
issue: '1'
keyword:
- Literature and Literary Theory
- Communication
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
oa: '1'
page: 6-36
project:
- _id: '120'
name: 'TRR 318 - RTG: TRR 318 - Project Area RTG - Integriertes Graduiertenkolleg'
publication: Written Communication
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 0741-0883
- 1552-8472
publication_status: published
publisher: SAGE Publications
status: public
title: 'Voices in Dialogue: Taking Polyphony in Academic Writing Seriously'
type: journal_article
user_id: '53917'
volume: 41
year: '2024'
...
---
_id: '45862'
author:
- first_name: Ingrid
full_name: Scharlau, Ingrid
id: '451'
last_name: Scharlau
orcid: 0000-0003-2364-9489
- first_name: Andrea
full_name: Karsten, Andrea
id: '53917'
last_name: Karsten
citation:
ama: 'Scharlau I, Karsten A. Schreibfokussierte Graduiertenförderung: Reflexive
Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre Forschungskontexte. In: Berendt B, Fleischmann
A, Salmhofer G, et al., eds. Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre. Vol 111. G
4.18. DUZ medienhaus; 2023:17-35.'
apa: 'Scharlau, I., & Karsten, A. (2023). Schreibfokussierte Graduiertenförderung:
Reflexive Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre Forschungskontexte. In B. Berendt,
A. Fleischmann, G. Salmhofer, N. Schaper, B. Szczyrba, M. Wiemer, & J. Wildt
(Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre (Vol. 111, pp. 17–35). DUZ medienhaus.'
bibtex: '@inbook{Scharlau_Karsten_2023, series={G 4.18}, title={Schreibfokussierte
Graduiertenförderung: Reflexive Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre Forschungskontexte},
volume={111}, booktitle={Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre}, publisher={DUZ medienhaus},
author={Scharlau, Ingrid and Karsten, Andrea}, editor={Berendt, Brigitte and Fleischmann,
Andreas and Salmhofer, Gudrun and Schaper, Niclas and Szczyrba, Birgit and Wiemer,
Matthias and Wildt, Johannes}, year={2023}, pages={17–35}, collection={G 4.18}
}'
chicago: 'Scharlau, Ingrid, and Andrea Karsten. “Schreibfokussierte Graduiertenförderung:
Reflexive Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre Forschungskontexte.” In Neues
Handbuch Hochschullehre, edited by Brigitte Berendt, Andreas Fleischmann,
Gudrun Salmhofer, Niclas Schaper, Birgit Szczyrba, Matthias Wiemer, and Johannes
Wildt, 111:17–35. G 4.18. DUZ medienhaus, 2023.'
ieee: 'I. Scharlau and A. Karsten, “Schreibfokussierte Graduiertenförderung: Reflexive
Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre Forschungskontexte,” in Neues Handbuch
Hochschullehre, vol. 111, B. Berendt, A. Fleischmann, G. Salmhofer, N. Schaper,
B. Szczyrba, M. Wiemer, and J. Wildt, Eds. DUZ medienhaus, 2023, pp. 17–35.'
mla: 'Scharlau, Ingrid, and Andrea Karsten. “Schreibfokussierte Graduiertenförderung:
Reflexive Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre Forschungskontexte.” Neues
Handbuch Hochschullehre, edited by Brigitte Berendt et al., vol. 111, DUZ
medienhaus, 2023, pp. 17–35.'
short: 'I. Scharlau, A. Karsten, in: B. Berendt, A. Fleischmann, G. Salmhofer, N.
Schaper, B. Szczyrba, M. Wiemer, J. Wildt (Eds.), Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre,
DUZ medienhaus, 2023, pp. 17–35.'
date_created: 2023-07-04T13:10:22Z
date_updated: 2023-12-20T13:33:02Z
department:
- _id: '424'
editor:
- first_name: Brigitte
full_name: Berendt, Brigitte
last_name: Berendt
- first_name: Andreas
full_name: Fleischmann, Andreas
last_name: Fleischmann
- first_name: Gudrun
full_name: Salmhofer, Gudrun
last_name: Salmhofer
- first_name: Niclas
full_name: Schaper, Niclas
last_name: Schaper
- first_name: Birgit
full_name: Szczyrba, Birgit
last_name: Szczyrba
- first_name: Matthias
full_name: Wiemer, Matthias
last_name: Wiemer
- first_name: Johannes
full_name: Wildt, Johannes
last_name: Wildt
intvolume: ' 111'
language:
- iso: ger
page: 17-35
project:
- _id: '120'
name: 'TRR 318 - RTG: TRR 318 - Project Area RTG'
publication: Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre
publication_identifier:
unknown:
- 2198-5693
publisher: DUZ medienhaus
series_title: G 4.18
status: public
title: 'Schreibfokussierte Graduiertenförderung: Reflexive Spezialisierung für interdisziplinäre
Forschungskontexte'
type: book_chapter
user_id: '451'
volume: 111
year: '2023'
...