Thesis Writing Challenges for Non-Native MA Students

Autor/inn/en	Sadeghi, Karim; Shirzad Khajepasha, Arash
Titel	Thesis Writing Challenges for Non-Native MA Students
Quelle	In: Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 20 (2015) 3, S.357-373 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1359 6748
DOI	10.1080/13596748.2015.1063808
Schlagwörter	English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Language Teachers; Masters Theses; Foreign Countries; Academic Discourse; Statistical Analysis; Language Styles; Writing (Composition); Computational Linguistics; Graduate Students; Writing Difficulties; Interrater Reliability; Qualitative Research; Iran + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Ausland; Discourse; Diskurs; Statistische Analyse; Sprachstil; Schreibübung; Linguistics; Computerlinguistik; Graduate Study; Student; Students; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Studentin; Schreibstörung; Interrater-Reliabilität; Qualitative Forschung
Abstract	Writing in a second (L2)/foreign language is generally a challenging activity, and writing an MA thesis, as an example of academic enterprise, can be daunting when done in a language in which the writer is not fully competent. The challenge such a genre of writing poses for L2 writers has not been properly addressed. To fill in the gap in this area, the present study aimed at comparing Master's theses written by Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students in three Iranian universities in terms of the challenges such academic writing poses for student-writers. The corpus comprised 60 randomly selected theses from those universities submitted to English as a Foreign Language departments between the years 2010 and 2012. A series of one-way ANOVAs were employed to compare the means of obtained frequencies across the theses. Results revealed that, except for organisational problems, theses varied in terms of language, style, content and methodological problems. It was also found that theses mainly suffer from style and language problems. The study sheds light on the extent to which L2 writers are aware of the structure of MA theses, reveals the challenges common to most students in this particular type of academic writing and offers advice on improving the quality of thesis-writing. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01