Linguistic insecurity and doctoral persistence: A mixed method study of the impact of metapragmatic discourses on the persistence of multilingual doctoral students
Abstract
Higher education curricula and practices often assume that linguistic challenges diminish as students advance academically. However, multilingual students frequently struggle to reconcile institutional expectations of standardized linguistic performance with their actual linguistic practices in environments that favor monolingual knowledge production. This study problematizes the (mis)alignment between institutional and personal linguistic expectations by investigating the metapragmatic discourses of Multilingual Doctoral Students (MDS) and their impact on doctoral persistence. I describe and attempt to predict how linguistic insecurity – feelings of inferiority or inadequacy regarding one’s language skills – affect students’ cognitive load, writing processes, knowledge production, and, ultimately, their likelihood of persistence. The quantitative phase uses correlational and logistic regression analyses to examine the relationship between linguistic insecurity (LI), inhibition costs, writing time, knowledge production, and MDSs’ persistence, as well as the extent to which these variables can predict MDSs’ persistence. The qualitative component provides insights into how MDSs navigate and interpret transient metapragmatic discourses of linguistic (in) competence in relation to their persistence trajectory. Preliminary analyses suggest that the relationship between linguistic insecurity, inhibition costs, writing time, knowledge production, and doctoral persistence varies between STEM and non-STEM MDSs. Emerging patterns from correlational and logistic regression analyses, supported by initial qualitative insights, indicate distinct effects across these groups, underscoring the need for further investigation into disciplinary-specific linguistic embodiments. By examining the metapragmatic discourses and linguistic struggles lived by multilingual doctoral students, this study disrupts the dominant narrative that linguistic challenges dissipate with academic progression, as well as discourses asserting either the coloniality of monoglossic approaches to language use or the liberating power of diglossic approaches. It argues for a “virtuous circle of linguistic security” in academic environments where multilingual and monolingual scholars alike can authentically engage in knowledge creation without feeling constrained by monolingual or translingual expectations.
Presentation Description
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Location
Room 1
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Tondji, Germaine, "Linguistic insecurity and doctoral persistence: A mixed method study of the impact of metapragmatic discourses on the persistence of multilingual doctoral students" (2025). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 16.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2025/2025/16
Linguistic insecurity and doctoral persistence: A mixed method study of the impact of metapragmatic discourses on the persistence of multilingual doctoral students
Room 1
Higher education curricula and practices often assume that linguistic challenges diminish as students advance academically. However, multilingual students frequently struggle to reconcile institutional expectations of standardized linguistic performance with their actual linguistic practices in environments that favor monolingual knowledge production. This study problematizes the (mis)alignment between institutional and personal linguistic expectations by investigating the metapragmatic discourses of Multilingual Doctoral Students (MDS) and their impact on doctoral persistence. I describe and attempt to predict how linguistic insecurity – feelings of inferiority or inadequacy regarding one’s language skills – affect students’ cognitive load, writing processes, knowledge production, and, ultimately, their likelihood of persistence. The quantitative phase uses correlational and logistic regression analyses to examine the relationship between linguistic insecurity (LI), inhibition costs, writing time, knowledge production, and MDSs’ persistence, as well as the extent to which these variables can predict MDSs’ persistence. The qualitative component provides insights into how MDSs navigate and interpret transient metapragmatic discourses of linguistic (in) competence in relation to their persistence trajectory. Preliminary analyses suggest that the relationship between linguistic insecurity, inhibition costs, writing time, knowledge production, and doctoral persistence varies between STEM and non-STEM MDSs. Emerging patterns from correlational and logistic regression analyses, supported by initial qualitative insights, indicate distinct effects across these groups, underscoring the need for further investigation into disciplinary-specific linguistic embodiments. By examining the metapragmatic discourses and linguistic struggles lived by multilingual doctoral students, this study disrupts the dominant narrative that linguistic challenges dissipate with academic progression, as well as discourses asserting either the coloniality of monoglossic approaches to language use or the liberating power of diglossic approaches. It argues for a “virtuous circle of linguistic security” in academic environments where multilingual and monolingual scholars alike can authentically engage in knowledge creation without feeling constrained by monolingual or translingual expectations.
