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

Junior researchers
Narrow
English
Proficiency
(NEP)
Broad
English
Proficiency
(BEP)
Senior researchers
Needs academic English 
and academic literacy
support, especially for 
thesis writing
May benefit from explicit 
thesis writing support
Could benefit from  
academic writing support
Should not need
additional support
Figure 2.1 Interrelationships between level of English language proficiency and research
status

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Working with second-language speakers of English
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typically have greater difficulty in establishing an academic identity in
an era when English (however unfortunately) has come to occupy an
increasingly dominating position.
(Swales 2004: 57)
We believe that supervisors of junior researchers who are located further
towards the BEP end of the continuum may also find the book helpful. Our
own experience of working with a wide range of research students has
shown us that the majority of students will benefit from a more explicit
induction into research writing.
For all students, writing a thesis is a challenge; for those writing in
English whose first language is not English, the challenges are even greater.
However, as a second-language PhD student of Cadman’s (1997: 11) con-
cluded, ‘cross-cultural differences are a matter of degree not kind’.
Whereas 20 to 30 years ago the issue for ‘western’ universities was how
second-language students, particularly international students, would adjust
or acculturate to the ‘host’ English-speaking country, there is now a growing
recognition that they are part of the global movement of people whose iden-
tities, perhaps through the very fact of sojourning elsewhere to study and
work, are less linked to a specific community and more to cultural globaliza-
tion (Bradley 2000: 419). Becoming ‘more Western’ is certainly not the
desired outcome (Kiley 2003: 354). However, some students will feel more
easily ‘at home’ in the new academic community than others for whom the
‘costs’ involved are substantial – not solely in financial terms but in terms of
the struggle to cope successfully in an environment which presents linguistic,
educational and cultural challenges (Banerjee 2003). Surviving and writing a
thesis in a ‘foreign’ environment in a second or third language may take its
toll on student and supervisor. Supervisors, for example, consistently indicate
that they spend more time assisting second-language students with drafting
their work (Sinclair 2005).
In the next section, we consider some of the potential ‘costs’ that the sec-
ond-language student may bear and, in the section that follows, we discuss
ways in which supervisors may attempt to minimize these costs to the stu-
dent and their impact on the student–supervisor relationship. Not all the
issues that affect second-language speakers can be resolved at the
student–supervisor level, however. We are fully aware that institutions and
overly enthusiastic recruiters may unduly raise student expectations of what
is available to them in terms of resources and achievable in terms of their lan-
guage proficiency. The high fees that international students pay may also
create a climate of expectation that can impact on the student–supervisor
relationship. The individual supervisor should always look to departmental
colleagues and to the institution for support as it appears to be the case that
support initiatives are increasing (see Chapter 12 for a list of additional
resources that may help supervisors).

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Working with second-language speakers of English