Supervisors’ views of the generic difficulties in thesis writing of Chinese EFL research students

Abstract

The present study was a part of a larger investigation which was chiefly conducted in 2010 in one leading mainland Chinese university of foreign studies. It explores the generic difficulties in thesis/dissertation writing perceived by the graduate supervisors of their research students in their advanced academic literacy process. The data was chiefly based on in-depth interviews. The results reveal that the thesis/dissertation writing generic difficulties demonstrated by the research students related to narrative literature review and lack of conceptual framework. The possible causes were examined. The results imply that Chinese EFL graduate students rely academically heavily on their supervisors in writing a thesis/dissertation regardless of how they perform on the graduate entrance examination. Pedagogical implications are offered.