This study investigates cross-linguistic variation of metadiscourse in the results and discussion chapters of engineering master's theses written in English and Spanish. The analysis is based on a ...corpus of 200 master's thesis results and discussion chapters: 100 written by L1 English students and 100 written by L1 Spanish students. Using Hyland's (2005a) interpersonal model of metadiscourse, the results and discussion chapters were compared to examine the influence of lingua-cultural contexts of writing on student writer's employment of metadiscoursal resources. Findings of the comparative analysis reveal significant cross-linguistic differences for overall frequency of metadiscourse as well as for most (sub-)categories. The analysis suggests that interpersonal features of writing are inexorably linked to the specific lingua-cultural contexts in which texts are produced and consumed, even within the same discipline and (part-)genre. The paper concludes with some pedagogical implications for L2 writing instruction.
Effective authorial voice in academic writing helps researchers establish the value of their scholarly contributions. However, constructing an authorial voice is challenging for many novice L2 ...writers. Through tracking multiple drafts of master’s theses written by two Chinese EFL (English as a foreign language) graduate students, this case study investigated changes in their authorial voices and the roles of advisor feedback in this process. We drew on three types of data: analysis of multiple thesis drafts for linguistic and content features of voice; advisor feedback on multiple drafts; and a questionnaire for the student writers’ understanding of authorial voice. The results indicate that the linguistic features of voice in their theses have remained largely unchanged, portraying them as unconfident student writers, but the content features have shown significant improvement, conveying authorial voices of novice researchers in the later drafts. Most of the student revisions followed their advisors’ feedback. The student participants’ questionnaire responses indicate their relative lack of awareness of the importance of language in voice construction. The results suggest that the authorial voice construction of the novice student writers is dynamic, developmental, and interactive with their advisors’ feedback over the thesis writing process. Pedagogically, other than feedback on content features of voice, classroom practitioners could also consider providing explicit instruction of and feedback on linguistic features to help students construct authoritative authorial voice in the academic context.
This paper employs an intercultural perspective to examine students' views on master's thesis supervision and the roles and responsibilities of supervisors and students. The 302 respondents who ...answered the online questionnaire were enrolled in international master's degree programmes in four Finnish universities. The study revealed asymmetric views by students regarding the division of responsibilities between themselves and their supervisors. It was found that very few students and supervisors discuss the differences in study cultures between Finland and students' countries of origin, their cultural backgrounds or the aspects of Finnish society that students do not understand. The research suggests that supervisors and students need to conduct early discussions on supervision and culture.
This article analyzes the research of 205 doctoral dissertations and masters' theses in the domain of blended learning. A summary of trends regarding the growth and context of blended learning ...research is presented. Methodological trends are described in terms of qualitative, inferential statistics, descriptive statistics, and combined approaches to data analysis. Research topics are divided into nine topics (learner outcomes, dispositions, instructional design, interaction, comparison, demographics, technology, professional development, and other), each containing several sub-topics. Patterns in these topics are analyzed to identify gaps in research and to highlight opportunities for future research as the field of blended learning continues to grow.
► More graduate research was conducted on blended learning (BL) each year. ► We see an area wide open for K-12 BL research. ► Most BL research took place at the course level in higher educational settings. ► We see a significant need for more theoretical contributions unique to BL contexts. ► Other gaps in BL research are addressed.
Student research is an important pedagogical feature across the higher education lifecycle. Postgraduate taught (PGT) student research has received limited attention in the context of the diverse ...nature of the PGT cohort. Using Activity Theory, PGT student research is explored from the perspectives of differently motivated Master's students: students studying to progress to doctoral study and students studying a professional Master's to progress in their current career path. Similarities, differences, tensions and contradictions are analysed, revealing new conceptualisations of Master's research. The outcome of student research, the Dissertation, emerges as a recurring tension within the analysis. A call for a new dialogue on the applicability of the Dissertation for a diverse PGT cohort is made, as the traditional Dissertation may not best meet the needs of professional Master's students. The need to find better ways to disseminate PGT research is identified, given the potential for contribution to knowledge and practice.
A growing body of research has investigated student perceptions of written feedback in higher education coursework, but few studies have considered feedback perceptions in one-on-one and face-to-face ...contexts such as master's thesis projects. In this article, student perceptions of feedback are explored in the context of the supervision of master's thesis projects, using review studies with respect to effective feedback in coursework situations. Online questionnaires were administered to collect data from three cohorts of master's students who were either working on their thesis or had recently finished it (N = 1016). The results of the study indicate that students perceive the focus of feedback in terms of a focus on task and self-regulation; they perceive the goal-relatedness of feedback in terms of feed up (goal-setting) and feed back-forward (how am I going and where to next?); and elaboration of feedback is perceived in terms of positive and negative feedback. Furthermore, students that perceive the feedback to be positive, and to provide information on how they are going and what next steps to take, are the most satisfied with their supervision and perceive they are learning most from their supervisor. The findings are discussed in relation to findings in coursework settings, and are explained using goal orientation theories.
The expansionist nature of the higher education sector has led to an increase in the provision of online Masters programmes. Many of these programmes are offered part-time attracting working ...professionals. The dissertation component that can be the culmination of many of these degrees is largely unexplored. A constructivist grounded theory investigation of the relationship between online Masters dissertation students and their supervisors was undertaken. Five supervisors identified a recent graduate and each were interviewed independently; interviews were undertaken online and audio-recorded. Transcripts were analysed and resultant themes considered in terms of establishing, and then maintaining, the relationship. A model of participatory alignment is proposed to describe the relationship that developed online in this group of supervisors and graduates, based on aligned expectations and behaviours, building on the idea of supervision as a partnership. We propose there is a zone of participatory alignment with both under and over-alignment becoming potentially problematic.
The Theory section of the applied master thesis is not easy to write. Research that has investigated the writing efforts and strategies for these parts is also not found. Therefore, this article ...presents a theoretical part writing model in a genre-based applied master thesis. This model is the result of research conducted with a development research approach. The result is (i) the main needs that need to be written in this section are to describe the theory so that this section needs to be written on the basis of text and report descriptions, (ii) description is the type of text that explains something as it really is; the structure of the description text is (a) something that is explained, (b) part of something described, (iii) report is a type of text that classifies something in its class; Report text structure is (a) things that must be reported, (b) classes / subclasses, (iv) description texts and report texts have linguistic characteristics that are used that need to be referenced so that the author is able to write the theory section correctly and quickly
The use of source texts in academic writing has been explored in at least two groups of EAP studies, those on the reading-writing connection in student writing and those on citation practices in ...disciplinary discourse. In recent years, there have been a growing number of studies on the rhetorical functions of intertextual links in different academic genres such as research articles and theses, and studies have also compared citation use by novice and more established writers. Following a brief analysis of citation forms, this article explores the functions of source text use in the discussion sections of master's theses and research articles from biology using two typologies, one created by Thompson (2001, 2005) and, the second, an expanded model described in this paper, which reflects the rhetorical progression of this part-genre. Previous genre studies have only referred to the use of literature in one move in discussions, “commenting on results.” However, the results of this study show that intertextual links are used for a variety of rhetorical functions throughout discussions in master's theses and journal articles. This article concludes with a discussion of implications from this study for the EAP classroom to facilitate the development of advanced second language writers.
•Examines form and function of citations in thesis and research article discussions.•Student and RA authors background previous research with non-integral citations.•Presents an expanded framework for analyzing the function of citations.•Results reveal a variety of functions for citations in student and published texts.
This study explores how master’s students perceive their research experiences and interpret the concept of research. Master’s education has been regarded as a steppingstone for doctoral study for ...several decades in many higher education systems; however, the meaning of ‘master’ has transformed academically and socially. Accordingly, the research requirement in many master’s programmes has become flexible or been replaced by other learning outcomes. This raises the question: what meanings do ‘thesis’ and ‘research’ have in the context of master’s education? In this study, we interviewed 73 master’s students from various universities and fields of study in Hong Kong to explore their perceptions of research. The thematic analysis showed that research was interpreted via multiple perspectives among the master’s students, such as learning outcomes, learning processes, and separate tasks. Three themes, namely eligibility, accountability, and agency, were identified as key elements of writing a thesis and understanding the research. The interpretations of research varied according to aspects of the students’ backgrounds, such as their academic discipline and work experience. Most importantly, research supervision was found to play a central role in shaping the students’ perceptions of research. This study suggests how research can be meaningfully integrated into today’s master’s education.
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