Discourse Community, Legitimate Peripheral Participation, and the Nonnative-English-Speaking Scholar

This article presents a case study of a nonnative-English-speaking scholar from Hong Kong and his experience in publishing a scholarly article in an international refereed journal on his return from doctoral study in the United States. The investigation is presented as a contribution to the important study of what it means to be a non-anglophone researcher seeking international publication in English but living and researching in a non-anglophone country. The article applies elements of social constructivist theory—most importantly the notions of discourse community (e.g., Swales, 1990) and learning as peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991)—to interpret the difficulties the writer experiences. It also considers the role that TESOL may play in addressing these difficulties.