Academic Writing Challenges and Supports: Perspectives of International Doctoral Students and Their Supervisors

Abstract

IntroductionAcademic writing is a core element of a successful graduate program, especially at the doctoral level. Graduate students are expected to write in a scholarly manner for their thesis and scholarly publications. However, in some cases, limited or no specific training on academic writing is provided to them to do this effectively. As a result, many graduate students, especially those having English as an Additional Language (EAL), face significant challenges in scholarly writing. Further, faculty supervisors often feel burdened by reviewing and editing multiple drafts and find it difficult to help and support EAL students in the process of scientific writing. In this study, we explored academic writing challenges faced by EAL doctoral students and faculty supervisors at a research intensive post-secondary university in Canada.Methods and AnalysisWe conducted a sequential explanatory mixed-method study using an online survey and subsequent focus group discussions with EAL doctoral students (n = 114) and faculty supervisors (n = 31). A cross-sectional online survey was designed and disseminated to the potential study participants using internal communications systems of the university. The survey was designed using a digital software called Qualtrics™. Following the survey, four focus group discussions (FGDs) were held, two each with two groups of our participants with an aim to achieve data saturation. The FGD guide was informed by the preliminary findings of the survey data. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) and qualitative data was managed and analyzed using NVivo.DiscussionThe study findings suggest that academic writing should be integrated into the formal training of doctoral graduate students from the beginning of the program. Both students and faculty members shared that discipline-specific training is required to ensure success in academic writing, which can be provided in the form of a formal course specifically designed for doctoral students wherein discipline-specific support is provided from faculty supervisors and editing support is provided from English language experts.Ethics and DisseminationThe general research ethics board of the university approved the study (#6024751). The findings are disseminated with relevant stakeholders at the university and beyond using scientific presentations and publications.

English additional language undergraduate students’ engagement with the academic content in their curriculum in a South African speech-language and hearing training program

“…while most of the respondents (54.2%) reported it was a challenge only to an extent, with a quarter (25.1%) solidly agreeing that proficiency affected their academic writing. These responses are consistent with Sidman-Taveau and Karathanos-Aguilar (2015), Flowerdew (2019), andGupta et al 's (2022) findings that academic writing forms an additional area of burden for additional language students. This is bearing in mind the well documented challenges with academic writing faced even by students for whom English is a native language (Tang, 2012;AlMarwani, 2020), who generally encounter challenges with generic academic writing competency.…”

“…This further shows the extent to which the SLH programs are evolving demographically, therefore raising implications for necessary intentional steps by the SLH department at the University to provide support to this group of students based on the rurality factor. This support is necessary from the students' very point of entry into the programs and throughout their studies as exemplified by Gupta et al (2022) who suggested support strategies related to academic writing. These support strategies entailed academic staff members providing training to EAL students in terms of appropriate discipline-specific writing via seminars and workshops from the first point of entry into the faculty.…”

“…This is bearing in mind the well documented challenges with academic writing faced even by students for whom English is a native language (Tang, 2012;AlMarwani, 2020), who generally encounter challenges with generic academic writing competency. These academic writing challenges are doubled for EAL students (Ip, 2017;Gupta et al, 2022). As far as the perceived impact on examinations was, similarly, only 25% of the sample reported proficiency not presenting as a challenge.…”

Challenging the Status Quo: Open Journal Systems for Online Academic Writing Course

“…Some authors discuss the creation of accessible online learning environments (O'Flaherty and Costabile, 2020), the impact of research writing tutors during revision (Cotos, Huffman and Link, 2020), problem-based learning on enhancing problem-solving and scientific writing skills (Sari et al, 2021), and how the use of learning media and pedagogical approaches can enhance the teaching of scientific writing for doctoral students (Leberecht, 2021). Additionally, other scholars explore the various challenges and supports associated with academic writing (Gupta et al, 2022); Gupta et al (2022) propose a virtual writing workshop, while Bottomley and Bourgeois (2022) suggest a similar method. Hands and Tucker (2022) advocate for writing pedagogy.…”

Writing Feedback and the Success of English as an Additional Language (EAL) Doctoral Students: The Role of Dialogue

“…Unfortunately, numerous students come into programs with inadequate writing skills and lack experience with disciplinary writing patterns (Gupta et al, 2022;Maher et al, 2014). Although students show weaknesses in their writing skills, we must also recognize the expectations for quality academic writing lack transparency (Inouye & McAlpine, 2019;Zhang & Hyland, 2021) leaving students with only vague targets to guide their writing development.…”