Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural,multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Writing groups for doctoral students are generally agreed to provide valuable learning spaces for Ph.D. candidates. Here an academic developer and the eight members of a writing group formed in a Discipline of Public Health provide an account of their experiences of collaborating in a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group. We consider the benefits of belonging to such a group for Ph.D. students who are operating in a research climate in which disciplinary boundaries are blurring and where an increasing number of doctoral projects are interdisciplinary in nature; in which both academic staff and students come from enormously diverse cultural and language backgrounds; and in which teamwork, networking and collaboration are prized but not always proactively facilitated. We argue that doctoral writing groups comprising students from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds can be of significant value for postgraduates who wish to collaborate on their own academic development to improve their research writing and communication skills; at the same time, such collaborative work effectively builds an inclusive, dynamic research community.     

Faculty perceptions of common challenges encountered by novice doctoral writers

Although learning to write for publication is an important outcome of doctoral education, it has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. Within a socialization and supervisor pedagogy framework, this study uses narratives of faculty who regularly write with their doctoral students for publication to expose challenges students commonly encounter in the writing process. Common challenges include international students' ‘writing problem’, misconstruing the nature of disciplinary writing and not realizing that ‘public’ is part of publication.     

Disciplining writing: the case for multi‐disciplinary writing groups to support writing for publication by higher degree by research candidates in the humanities,arts and social sciences

This article addresses multi‐disciplinary writing groups in supporting writing for publication for higher degree by research candidates in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Drawing on focus group discussions with postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Australia who participated in the writing groups, it investigates the participants’ perceptions of the multi‐disciplinary nature of the groups and some of the benefits of sharing writing with fellow postgraduate research students from different fields of study. Discussing both the strengths and weaknesses of the multi‐disciplinarity of the groups as identified by participants, the authors suggest that such groups can provide a forum for postgraduates to develop their ‘professional’ academic identity and develop their writing beyond the context of their theses and can have some unexpected benefits to participants’ sense of themselves as disciplinary proponents. The multi‐disciplinary context is thus considered as providing a level playing field in which postgraduates may approach the writing process as a shared methodology, encompassing a suite of specialised but generic skills that cross‐disciplinary boundaries.     

Students’ navigation of the uncharted territories of academic writing

Abstract

Many students enter tertiary education unfamiliar with the ‘norms and conventions’ of their disciplines. Research into academic literacies has shown that in order to succeed in their studies, students are expected to conform to these norms and conventions, which are often unrecognized or seen as ‘common sense’ by lecturers. Students have to develop their own ‘map’ of their programme's expectations in order to make sense of the seemingly mysterious practices they are expected to take on. This study, undertaken at a University of Technology in South Africa, details students’ perceptions of their writing difficulties and their attempts to navigate their way through various writing tasks. The findings reveal that students experience a range of difficulties and that the students often feel unsupported in their travails with academic writing.     

Disciplinary enculturation experiences of five East Asian doctoral students in US-based second language studies programmes

This study reports on the non-discursive aspects of the disciplinary enculturation experiences of five international doctoral students from East Asia in three Second Language studies graduate programmes in the United States. Based largely on interview data, this study examined how students participate in their graduate discourse communities and what may contribute to or hinder academic success. It appeared that the kinds of social capital accrued through social ties and networks are key to students' successful disciplinary enculturation, suggesting the importance of establishing positive personal interactions and locating oneself within supportive discourse community contexts. The present study also sheds light on the issue that disciplinary enculturation is an inherent cultural practice, which may not favour students who do not adopt mainstream socio-academic conventions.     

Writing a thesis differently

In this paper we explore the contributions that Deleuze and Guattari have made to thinking/writing language and how these ideas can be put to work in producing a doctoral thesis. We contribute to the field of work within what Patti Lather and Elizabeth St Pierre have called the “post-qualitative” movement, where researchers attempt to “imagine and accomplish an inquiry that might produce different knowledge and produce knowledge differently”. We attempt to rethink the thesis text, using a language where language always falls apart, a way of talking/writing/reading about presentation of research within a doctoral thesis that will provide the writermachine a space to “pass”. The paper will provide some ideas and ways forward for writers who are attempting to deterritorialize research, who are attempting to experiment with new representational forms.     

撰写英语学士学位论文应注意的问题

英语专业本科毕业生撰写学士学位论时，往往在论格式和字表达方面存在较大的问题。在对此进行分析的基础上，提出了改进意见，以期提高论质量，顺利通过论答辩。     

Canny Writers: Tyneside dialect and the writing of secondary school students

The issue of writing in accordance with the conventions of standard English usage is one which is becoming increasingly prominent, with changes in the National Curriculum in English reflecting concerns about correctness in language. The present study examines the writing of a group of Year 11 pupils to examine the nature of the deviance of their writing from standard English patterns and, in particular, to assess the impact of non‐standard dialect forms on their written work. Errors in writing are seen to be very largely attributable to difficulties with such aspects of the system as punctuation, spelling and other orthographic features. There is evidence of non‐standard dialect influences on grammar and vocabulary but these are relatively slight, and, it is argued, should not be the prime concern of teachers interested in meeting the demands of the National Curriculum with regard to writing.     

The play is the thing wherein we’ll catch the conscience…

This article is a piece of ‘fiction written under oath’. It reports two key findings of a doctoral research project, which investigated English teachers’ reactions to the abolition of Year 9 SATs in England and in Wales. The research showed that in both countries, English teachers’ pedagogical repertoires have widened as a result of the removal of SATs. However, in Wales, in the absence of external testing, teachers are coming under pressure to inflate assessments. The piece also engages with the theme of professional empowerment via doctoral level work and asks questions about the conventions of academic writing.     

Doctoral women: managing emotions,managing doctoral studies

This paper explores the experiences of women doctoral students and the role of emotion during doctoral candidature. The paper draws on the concept of emotional labour to examine the two sites of emotional investment students experienced and managed during their studies: writing and family relationships. Emotion is perceived by many dominant stakeholders as soft, subjective and an impediment to acquiring objective knowledge. The importance of emotion is under recognised. When it is discussed, the role of emotion in the doctoral undertaking is often subsumed in the passionless language of bureaucratic rationalisation and economic imperatives. This paper builds on a growing literature that examines students' emotions and doctoral candidature. It draws on the experiences of women undertaking their doctoral studies at a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia, to show first, how emotional labouring can enable students to channel emotions towards productive behaviours that can contribute to successful doctoral candidature, and second, that studies that attend to emotion offer more nuanced insights into students' experiences during the doctoral undertaking.     

Academic socialization of doctoral students through feedback networks: a qualitative understanding of the graduate feedback landscape

ABSTRACT

Scholars focus on the social nature of academic writing to refine an understanding of feedback interactions in higher education. However, studies on the various sources of feedback – feedback networks – have been scarce, particularly during the initial years of doctoral education. Using a qualitative case study approach, multiple sources of feedback for four students in one doctoral program in the United States were identified in line with broader trends focusing on feedback as a social practice. Informed by the academic socialization framework [Duff, Patricia A. 2012. “Second Language Socialization.” In Handbook of Language Socialization, edited by Alessandro Duranti, Elinor Ochs, and Bambi B. Schieffelin, 564–586. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell], this study aims (1) to navigate the landscape of graduate feedback, including interactions beyond class as well as oral and written feedback, and (2) to elucidate the socialization process. Findings suggest that academic writing development is defined as how feedback is situated within disciplinary, academic communities of interaction. This article describes how the larger network of feedback creates the types of interaction that characterizes the community.     

博士研究生学术研究方法教学模式探析——基于美国大学教学方法的启示

探讨适合中国博士研究生的学术研究方法教学模式。分析我国研究生学术论文写作中存在的问题;阐述美国大学研究方法教学的基本特征和实践模式。在美国大学教学模式的启发下,对教师的知识供给体系和学生科学研究能力推进模式进行深入解析。     

泰国高校汉语言专业研究生教育现状

文章主要对开设汉语言专业研究生课程的泰国高校进行介绍,并对各校毕业生学位论文进行全面的统计与分析,同时对泰国境内申办研究生课程相关规定加以说明。据研究表明,迄今有10所大学已成功开办汉语言专业研究生课程,朱拉隆功大学是全泰唯一开办博士点的高校。在泰国境内的毕业生学位论文则偏重于汉泰语言比较及汉语教学研究领域。另外,虽然许多泰国高校也相继开办了汉语言专业的硕士学位课程,但仍面临着不少问题和挑战,尤其在师资方面尤为突出。     

第二语言写作教学方法研究综述

本文着重于研究跟第二语言写作有关的主要传统的和现代的研究和教学方法,包括"受控写作"、"段落模式写作"、过程方法、学术方向写作、基于网络平台的写作教学模式等。其中有些现代写作方法的研究领域涉及项目的、语篇的、学科的、政治的、还有网络技术的问题。最后,作者指出相关领域的教育者和研究人员应考虑利用理论知识和调查结果自己判断什么是真正对学生有用的模式。     

如何利用Writing Roadmap 2.0进行在线英语写作反馈

即时全面的写作反馈有助于提高学生的语言正确率和写作水平。文章首先简要介绍了英语写作反馈类型,随后分析了我国大学英语写作反馈的现状和存在的问题,然后结合教学实例,介绍了在写作教学中如何使用Writing Roadmap 2.0自动评分系统为师生提供多元化反馈,最后阐述了该系统的优势和劣势。     

The Crisis in Doctoral Education: A sociological diagnosis

Sociological thinkers help us understand the crisis in doctoral training. Weber shows us that the crisis is the result of a clash of rationalities. Foucault shows us the highly-developed rationality of policymakers/administrators, which emerged in "disciplinary societies". I discuss the new doctoral training that reshapes subjectivity and retunes the relationship between self and education in the name of social progress. Borrowing from Rose, I stress two themes that are crucial for modern doctoral training: expertise and audit. Latour shows how this rationalisation of doctoral education occurred when it did. It had to await a series of translations--beliefs, knowledges, practices, documents, technologies and so forth, which originally arose in another language (business), and had to be packaged up in simplified forms.     

Doctoral students writing: where's the pedagogy?

Writing occupies a key role in doctoral research, because it is the principal channel students use to communicate their ideas, and the basis on which their degree is awarded. Doctoral writing can, therefore, be a source of considerable anxiety. Most doctoral candidates require support and encouragement if they are to develop confidence as writers. Drawing on interviews with two international doctoral students at an Australian university, this paper examines the writing practices the students have encountered and discusses them in the light of recent research on doctoral writing pedagogy. Analysis of the students' experiences in terms of Wenger's ‘communities of practice’ framework suggests that this perspective fails to account adequately for the power relations that impact on the students' learning opportunities. Examining the students' experiences also highlights the importance of good pedagogy in supporting the development of scholarly writing in the doctorate.     

Language,literacy, attentional behaviors,and instructional quality predictors of written composition for first graders

We had two primary purposes in the present study: (1) to examine unique child-level predictors of written composition which included language skills, literacy skills (e.g., reading and spelling), and attentiveness and (2) to examine whether instructional quality (quality in responsiveness and individualization, and quality in spelling and writing instruction) is uniquely related to written composition for first-grade children (N = 527). Children's written composition was evaluated on substantive quality (ideas, organization, word choice, and sentence flow) and writing conventions (spelling, mechanics, and handwriting). Results revealed that for the substantive quality of writing, children's grammatical knowledge, reading comprehension, letter writing automaticity, and attentiveness were uniquely related. Teachers’ responsiveness was also uniquely related to the substantive quality of written composition after accounting for child predictors and other instructional quality variables. For the writing conventions outcome, children's spelling and attentiveness were uniquely related, but instructional quality was not. These results suggest the importance of paying attention to multiple component skills such as language, literacy, and behavioral factors as well as teachers’ responsiveness for writing development.