Graduate-level thesis writing in a second language:Perspectives of students and advisors

This study explores (1) the difficulties experienced by graduate students in writing their thesis, (2) perceptions of students and advisors regarding responsibilities in thesis supervision and (3) the expectations of graduate students and thesis advisors from each other and from the university in this writing process. The participants were master's students and thesis advisors in social sciences disciplines at an English-medium state university in Turkey. Data of the study was obtained from surveys and semi-structured interviews. Sixty-three students and 35 advisors completed the surveys and a subset from each group (n=16 and n=9, respectively) were interviewed subsequently. The findings indicate that students experience major writing problems related to English language, rhetorical organization and functions of thesis genre and its chapters. Perceptions of students and advisors with respect to their responsibilities converge largely on various aspects such as finding a research subject or adopting a systematic study approach, but for a better time management, students expect more meeting initiation, frequent feedback and guidance from their advisors. Furthermore, advisors do not consider dealing with language-related problems of students as a part of advisor responsibilities. The findings of the study reveal that second language graduate student writers need urgent support in their thesis writing processes and that both students and advisors agree on the need for opportunities such as an academic writing center or an academic writing course for graduate students.