Returning to Graduation Project: Attitudes and Perceived Challenges of Students and Staff at a Libyan EFL Department

Abstract

In 1997, the Department of English (Faculty of Languages, University of Tripoli) canceled Graduation Project (GP) as a graduation requirement primarily due to growing student plagiarism. Two decades on, the Department decided it is time for Returning to Graduation Project (RGP). In preparation for this, a Research Methods (RM) module was delivered to students, and an intense 'research design and methodology' course was taken by the staff. In this exploratory mixedmethods case-study research, the main question focuses on attitudes and perceived challenges facing students and staff concerning RGP. The aim is to tackle negative attitudes and perceived obstacles in anticipation of a successful RGP, which spells out the significance of the research. Data were collected through a questionnaire (n=52) and a focus group discussion with seventhsemester students (10); semi-structured interviews with staff (13). A small majority of students (54%) supported RGP; the remaining 46% raised two kinds of concerns: realistic challenges of lacking resources, inadequate RM skills, and supervisor issues; unrealistic challenges involved time constraints, fear of presenting, and problems of determining research topics. Staff members were receptive to RGP but raised numerous concerns. Whereas experienced members expressed cynicism due to low students competencies and lacking resources, others saw RGP as an opportunity for students to gain practical research experience ahead of postgraduate study. Several challenges were perceived, chief among them are students lack of research skills, inexperienced supervisors, inadequate resources, and an everlasting concern with plagiarism. New staff reported the need for tuition in 'data analysis and interpretation', and 'supervision practice'. Peculiarities characteristic of the case milieu emerged.

Conducting Undergraduate Research: EFL Students’ Perceptions and Practices

“…Instead, many of the students thought that research was interesting and showed very moderate interest in engaging in research as a student researcher. This finding is similar to that found by Elmabruk and Bishti (2020). In addition, most of the students agreed that undergraduate research experience influences their self-perception as graduate students in the future.…”

“…Conducting research on current issues in the EFL fields has been introduced and encouraged among undergraduate students. Despite a large volume of studies investigating EFL students' perceptions of doing research in various contexts (e.g., Elmabruk & Bishti, 2020;Qasem & Zayid, 2019;Yeh, 2009), there has been a dearth of research focusing on this topic in the Vietnamese setting until recently. Even though there have been significant contributions of findings from previous studies in this research strand, it has been long overdue for an in-depth study of the EFL students' perspectives on the necessity of undergraduate research together with their practices.…”

Undergraduate Research Projects Supervision at the University of Namibia’s Rundu Campus: Supervisors’ Stances

“…Research supervision of students' research projects in the final year has been a responsibility of every lecturer at the University of Namibia. For this to work, students are assigned to supervisors who are entrusted with the responsibilities of supervising students throughout the process of the project, and undergraduate students are obliged to undertake a research project to demonstrate writing skills and independence as researchers (Elmabruk & Bishti, 2020). Despite all these, it appears to be a rapid increase in the number of undergraduate students researching at the University of Namibia (UNAM).…”

“…Whilst there is a plethora of literature about undergraduate research supervision internationally (Olsson & Hallberg, 2018;Winchester-See, Rowe & Mackaway, 2016;Reguant, Martínez-Olmo, & Contreras-Higuera, 2018); Lee, 2007;Roberts & Seaman, 2018;Muthanna & Alduais, 2021;Vereijken, van der Rijst, van Driel & Dekker, 2018) and nationally (Elmabruk & Bishti, 2020;Makoni, 2021;Mushoriwa & Nyakutse, 2014;) there seems to be a dearth of literature in the local context which is Namibia, specifically at the University of Namibia's Rundu Campus. Little is known about what may seem to be an ambivalence among lecturers about how to support the writing aspects during a program of a research project in their role as supervisor.…”