lst (print) issn 2051-9699 lhs (online) issn 1743–1662 lst vol 2.1 2015 25–50 ©2015, equinox publishing doi : 10.1558/lst.v2i1.24977 Article Reframing graduate student writing strategies from an Activity Theory perspective Ji-Hyun Park and Peter De Costa Abstract his study adopts a sociocultural approach, more speciically, an Activity heory (Leont'ev, 1978, 1981; Engestrȍm, 1987, 1999) framework, to explore an inter- national graduate student’s use of writing strategies. Using a case study design, we investigate how an MA student from Nepal learns to write academic papers that meet the academic norms of a US graduate school. hrough the analysis of course materials, the participant’s written work, stimulated recall, and interview, we examine what strategies the participant used, and how she developed them over her irst semester in graduate school. Findings indicate that the participant used various tool-mediated, rule-mediated, and community-mediated strategies. Her mediated actions were driven by her goals and motives that were understood within her social and cultural environments, and interacted with each other in a dynamic and con- structive manner. In addition, contradictions between the strategies used by the par- ticipant and between the participant and the contextual factors were found; these contradictions, in turn, acted as sources of the development and the change of her writing activity. Keywords: academic writing; Activity Theory; ESL learners in graduate schools; sociocultural approach; writing strategy Ailiation Michigan State University, MI, USA. email: parkji36@msu.edu (corresponding author)