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

Access to research culture and social networks
Several studies (e.g. Casanave 1995; Deem and Brehony 2000; Dong 1998)
suggest that second-language and international students’ access to the acade-
mic research culture of their field of study, to student peer culture and to
research training is generally not equal to that of local, native-English-speaking
students, despite the students’ strong desire to access these. Academic research
cultures include disciplinary or interdisciplinary ideas and values, particular
kinds of expert knowledge and knowledge production, cultural practices and
narratives, departmental sociability and intellectual networks (Deem and
Brehony 2000). Student access to these cultures and to research training
appears to depend, particularly in the social sciences and humanities, on
‘chance and supervisors’ (Deem and Brehony 2000: 158). Much of the knowl-
edge of these practices is tacitly known to those who are successful ‘insiders’
and is therefore not easily articulated by supervisors to newcomers. Social
sciences and humanities students moreover lack the team-based environ-
ments and the opportunities for ad hoc interactions with the supervisor and

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Working with second-language speakers of English
33
colleagues which the sciences and engineering provide. It appears that sec-
ond-language speakers may be less able to access the informal learning
opportunities which are important for postgraduate socialization. Deem and
Brehony (2000) found that international students mentioned informal acade-
mic networks and encouragement to attend seminars and conferences much
less often than did local students and concluded that implicit exclusion may
be marginalizing international and second-language students. Sung (2000)
identified a cluster of factors as contributing to the ‘rounded socioacademic
success’ of a group of Taiwanese doctoral students. These included relation-
ships with supervisors and fellow students as well as an active role in
presentations and in departmental activities and social events.
Dong’s (1998) survey of over 100 first- and second-language students
writing their master’s or doctoral dissertation at two large US research uni-
versities revealed that social isolation was more of an issue for the
second-language speakers than for their native speaker peers, despite the stu-
dents typically working in a team or laboratory environment. Just over half of
the second-language students stated that they talked to staff and other stu-
dents about their theses/dissertations either infrequently or had not yet done
so as compared with only 37 per cent of the native English speakers who had
a similar response. Nearly half of the second-language writers reported hav-
ing no help with their writing other than from their supervisor, although
many expressed a desire for native speaker help with their writing. Close to
one in five of the second-language students stated they had no interaction
with their peers or other staff at all in regard to their writing. Dong found
that the students tended to rely on students from their home countries for
assistance and generally demonstrated little uptake of available resources. She
concluded that a lack of social networks disadvantaged second-language stu-
dents in terms of access to helpful resources and development opportunities
such as publication and that the lack might be due to the poor communica-
tion skills of the second-language speakers as well as to native speakers’
reluctance to interact with non-native speakers, possibly because of perceived
communication difficulties.
Sung (2000) found that the English language proficiency of the
Taiwanese doctoral students she studied most directly influenced their acad-
emic performance in terms of being able to secure teaching or research
positions, and also affected their interactions with their advisors and peers.
Students’ willingness to improve their English was a factor in their academic
success. Those who cited time and workload pressure as the reason for not
pursuing English support were often the students who most needed to work
on their language and their poor language was hindering their progress.
Dai’s story outlined in Box 2.1 (on p.34) highlights the vicious circle
that the challenges of being a second-language student in an unfamiliar
context can lead to.

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34
Working with second-language speakers of English
While it may seem self-evident that second-language students should seek
to maximize their opportunities to interact in English with both native and
non-native speakers, within the university and without, research into accul-
turation suggests that being supported by a community of co-nationals,