This article tracks the socialization of a Chinese intern into a Hong Kong PR company and considers the factors that enabled her to move toward acquiring the discourse of the profession. Taking a case study approach, the research is based on a detailed daily journal written by the intern during her internship, and two interviews. Over the 3-month period of the internship, her written discourse changed considerably, revealing the extent of her socialization into the organization. Specifically, the intern’s writing changed from detailed general descriptions of her activity to discourse resembling that of PR practitioners. The study demonstrates the power of the workplace as a context for learning, yet data show that the academy, by providing tools for understanding and reflecting on organizational culture, also has a role to play in socialization processes.

This article, using data from a year-long study of writing processes in an institutional context, looks at the demands made on writers in workplace environments as they make requests of their colleagues. Building on Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, the study takes a view of context as being a key factor in framing requests, in addition subscribing to the notion of context as an ongoing dynamic, or mutually constitutive activity system. Although the variables of relative power and degree of imposition are important factors in the choices writers make, a further consideration is the need to balance their own relational needs with the expectations of the institution as they create texts for multiple audiences. In addition, the linguistic choices writers make in such contexts as they position themselves in relation to their peers and those further up the hierarchy may also serve to define and reinforce their identity within the institution.