Non-native student and supervisor expectations during the process of completing a graduation thesis: A case study

Ene Alas, Suliko Liiv

Abstract


The article reports on a case study that investigates challenges related to writing a graduation thesis as reported by non-native students of English in one Bachelor of Arts (BA) and one Master’s (MA) programme in Estonia, comparing the needs outlined by the students to the perception of those described by their non-native supervisors. The study highlights a number of important academic writing process challenges that need to be considered in an inter-disciplinary context. It also echoes the significance of the interpersonal relationship between the student and the supervisor, voiced in respective research literature worldwide. On the institutional level, a need for discussion emerged among graduation paper supervisors for a more unified understanding of the requirements set for graduation papers. The information obtained allows a more informed approach to the process of supervision on the one hand and academic writing instruction on the other hand. 

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Juhendaja ja üliõpilase ootused ingliskeelse lõputöö kirjutamise protsessis: juhtumiuuring

Artikkel kajastab uurimust, mis võrdles inglise keeles lõputööd kirjutavate üliõpilaste ja neid võõrkeeles juhendavate õppejõudude poolt väljatoodud probleeme ühes bakalaureuse ja ühes magistriprogrammis Eesti kontekstis, keskendudes üliõpilaste väljendatud vajadustele ja võrreldes neid juhendajapoolse nägemusega üliõpilaste akadeemilist kirjutamist puudutavatest vajadustest. Uuringust osa võtnud üliõpilaste ootused juhendamisele sõltusid mõningal määral sellest, millisele tasemele oma akadeemilises karjääris üliõpilane jõunud oli. Ilmnenud vajadused jagunesid mitmesse gruppi: otseselt teksti loomisega seotud probleemid, mida akadeemilise kirjutamise õpetamise raames on oluline vaadelda interdistsiplinaarsest aspektist; isikuomaduste ja isiksuste vahelise suhtlemisega seotud probleemid; ning institutsionaalne tasand, st asutusesisene hoiak lõputöödele esitatavate nõuete suhtes. 


Keywords


text linguistics, thesis supervision, supervisor role, feed- back, feedforward, academic writing in the humanities

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5128/ERYa14.01

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Copyright (c) 2018 Ene Alas, Suliko Liiv

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ISSN 1736-2563 (print)
ISSN 2228-0677 (online)
DOI 10.5128/ERYa.1736-2563