온라인 커뮤니티에서의 수험생 정체성 : 수능 영어 절대평가 정책에 대한 스탠스 분석

Abstract

This study examines how South Korean test-takers construct identities in online communities in response to the absolute assessment policy for the English section of the College Scholastic Ability Test. Drawing on the sociolinguistic concept of stance, this study analyzes how participants evaluate the policy, mobilize linguistic and discursive resources, and discursively align with others. 475 postings from two online student forums were collected and analyzed in terms of epistemic and affective stance, investment, and alignment. The analysis shows that three types of identities were constructed in discourse: beneficiaries, victims, and strategists. Beneficiaries legitimize the policy through appeals to fairness, normalization, or personal advantage. Victims emphasize unfairness, mismatches between policy and test difficulty, or distortions in the university entrance system. Strategists treat the policy as a tool for test planning, analysis, or alternatives. In performing such constructed identities, participants vary in their strategic uses on multiple stance devices. The analysis of interactions in online postings reveals that distinctive types of stance and identities are negotiated to produce intersubjectivity. This study suggests that by recontextualizing the policy in online discourse, test-takers perform shared yet fluid identities.