Most L2 writing studies with Korean ESL or EFL students to date have been limited to processes and products of specific genres, and research called for more attention to the practices and activities in which students interact within a broader sociocultural context. The present study investigated nine Korean graduate students' L2 writing socialization experience at a mid-western U.S. university and explored the problems that they encountered during their L2 writing socialization process. The study also examined the roles that the resources played and scrutinized the assistance that ESL writing courses, a writing center, and academic research courses in particular provided for Korean L2 graduate students in socializing into their new academic culture.
The findings indicate that the students in this study attempted to socialize into their L2 academic discourse through many different venues such as ESL writing courses, writing center tutorials, discipline-specific academic courses, and interactions with peers. However, they were not active users of those resources and their overall resource utilization was limited. It was found that the participants' lack of L2 proficiency inhibited them from active use of the resources and further posed challenges in articulating their needs for more than basic services to the resource providers.
The study points to a need to develop a university-wide support network to assist L2 students' smoother transition into their new academic community. It also suggests that employing different and additional theoretical perspectives may bring about different but more comprehensive results. More suggestions for future research and implications for pedagogy are provided.