A Qualitative Inquiry into the Difficulties Experienced by Algerian EFL Master Students in Thesis Writing: ‘Language is not the Only Problem’

Abstract

For the last few decades, difficulties encountered by non-native English students in the process of thesis writing have attracted considerable attention from researchers. However, most of the previous research on this topic has given priority to the language-related/linguistic problems and has focused on international students studying in L1 contexts. Thus, the aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into Master students' experiences of thesis writing in a conspicuously underexplored EFL context, Algeria. Specifically, the study explored both students' and supervisors' perceptions of the difficulties and challenges encountered during the course of thesis writing, with a focus on the non-linguistic factors underlying this academic undertaking. Semistructured in-depth interviews, supported by open-ended questionnaires, were used to obtain from 30 students and six supervisors, purposely selected from English departments at eight Algerian universities. Findings indicate that the process of thesis writing is a formidable and daunting academic undertaking for Algerian EFF Master students due primarily to sociocultural challenges and then linguistic difficulties. These latter ones included students' lack of some academic writing skills and their limited knowledge about thesis writing and research whereas the identified sociocultural challenges included lack of supervisor and family support, lack of cooperation of the research sample, and insufficient academic preparation. Pedagogical implications for stakeholders and suggestions for future researchers were presented in the end of the current study.

Türki̇ye'deki̇ Bi̇r İngi̇li̇zce Öğreti̇m Programinda Tez Yazma Süreci̇ni̇n İncelenmesi̇: Danişman Desteği̇ Ve Güç İli̇şki̇leri̇

“…These areas were reported to be highly associated with the challenges experienced by the supervisees. Several similar challenging factors affecting thesis writing can be observed in the literature (Bakhou and Bouhania, 2020;Komba, 2016;Rogers et al, 2016;Yıldırım, 2020). One of the challenging factors defined by participants in several other studies was, for instance, a lack of academic writing skills (Bakhou and Bouhania, 2020;Komba, 2016;Yıldırım, 2020) or finding the time to write (Lestari, 2020;Rogers et al, 2016).…”

“…Several similar challenging factors affecting thesis writing can be observed in the literature (Bakhou and Bouhania, 2020;Komba, 2016;Rogers et al, 2016;Yıldırım, 2020). One of the challenging factors defined by participants in several other studies was, for instance, a lack of academic writing skills (Bakhou and Bouhania, 2020;Komba, 2016;Yıldırım, 2020) or finding the time to write (Lestari, 2020;Rogers et al, 2016). However, none of the participants in our study complained about personal writing styles or cultural influences as an intervening factor in the thesis writing process.…”

“…The supervisors thought that being inexperienced in supervision, dealing with huge paperwork, lack of motivation in supervisees and supervisees' personality traits were the most common factors challenging their supervision process, which was mostly in line with the study of Bakhou and Bouhania (2020). However, having good relations with supervisees and being experienced in supervision were the factors facilitating the supervision process.…”

“…Different from some study findings in the literature (Casanave and Hubbard, 1992;Fitria, 2022;Yıldırım, 2020), the supervisees in our study did not attribute their writing challenges to their limited English knowledge, mostly because they were enrolled in an English-medium program, which means they had acquired certain linguistic competencies earlier. As for the facilitating factors, the supervisees viewed supervisor support and guidance, loving the thesis topic, getting constructive feedback, supervisors' motivation, advisees' inner motivation, supervisors' personality, reading a lot and getting expert help, especially on data analysis as the most facilitating factors, which is mostly parallel with Bakhou and Bouhania's (2020) findings.…”

EFL thesis writing anxiety: Causes, effects, and coping strategies

“…Although there must be one supervisor or more who guide the thesis writing, it does not always run well as expected. There are several problems which may occur in the midst of thesis writing process coming from intrinsic or extrinsic factors that lead to the delay or non-completion of thesis writing (Bakhou & Bouhania, 2020;Essuman, 2020;Ismail & Dorloh, 2020).…”