Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: a handbook for Supervisors

Introduction
The above extract from a recent investigation into the pedagogy of ‘good’
PhD supervision provides a summary of the motivation behind the writing of
this book. Supervising research students who are second-language speakers of
English, whatever the language background of the supervisor, provides an
additional challenge in terms of the multiple factors alluded to in the quote.
It would appear that there is an absence of relevant material in this area that
might support supervisors of second-language speakers. A recent survey of 22
guides to supervising doctoral students and dissertation writing revealed that
only five of the books provided a comprehensive analysis of the needs of inter-
national students (Dedrick and Watson 2002).
At the same time, it is our experience that many international students,
regardless of language background, are uniquely placed to carry out and con-
tribute to important and valuable research by virtue of the diverse perspectives
that they are able to bring to the research. Not all second-language speakers of
English enrolled in research degrees are however international students: many
are citizens or permanent residents of the country in which they are studying
and the topic begs a wider investigation. Above all, our intention in writing
this book is to reduce the perception that the supervision of students from
non-English-speaking backgrounds need be an ‘additional burden’.
Chapter 2