Abstract
This qualitative study drew on a larger study which was to explore and understand the experiences of non-native speaker postgraduate students in writing dissertations at one university in the United Kingdom. In this qualitative study, we interviewed four international students from different countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan. We identified two main themes pertaining to the challenges in writing dissertations. The first included student-related challenges (technical writing matters, thinking in English, identifying research topics, writing literature review, lack of communicative competence and boredom) and the second focused on s-related challenges (meeting supervisor). To cope with those challenges, the participants have applied a multitude of strategies, such as self-management strategies (reading articles/books, translation strategy, key-point drafting and entertainment) and getting-help strategies (asking supervisor[s], hiring proof-readers and online proofreading service). As an implication of this study, we suggest that the postgraduate students could identify their own challenge as non-native English speakers in writing a good quality dissertation in English and find their own effective strategy to overcome it.
Author Bio(s)
Mukhlash Abrar is an Assistant professor at Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Jambi, Jambi, Indonesia and has a Ph.D. in education from Queen Belfast University. His main teaching areas: language teaching, multicultural education, and English education and his research interests are language teaching, English education, and education. Please direct correspondence to aabismyname@gmail.com.
Amirul Mukminin (Corresponding Author) is Professor in Educational Policy, Universitas Jambi, Indonesia. He holds a Ph.D. from Florida State University in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and an M.S. in educational sciences from Groningen University, the Netherlands, B.A. in English Education from Jambi University. He received a Fulbright scholarship to pursue his Ph.D. and was an Erasmus Mundus postdoctoral researcher at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He received a 2016–2017 Fulbright Senior Research at Claremont Graduate University, California. He is particularly interested in educational policy, international education policy, teacher policy reforms, the standardized exam policy reforms, English/Indonesian language policy reforms, and bilingual/multilingual education policy, which will influence educational outcomes for underachieving student populations and family. Please direct correspondence to amirul.mukminin@unja.ac.id.
Nur Fitriani obtained her master’s degree from TESOL program from the United Kingdom University Queen University of Belfast. Please direct correspondence to fitriseiza90@gmail.com.
Failasofah Failasofah is an Assistant professor and has a Ph.D. from Multilingualism Doctoral School, the University of Pannonia, Hungary and Faculty member at Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Jambi, Jambi, Indonesia. Her main teaching areas: English education, TEFL, TESOL, language education and her research interests are applied linguistics, TEFL, and Multilingualism. Please direct correspondence to failasofah@unja.ac.id.
Nunung Fajaryani is an Assistant professor at Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Jambi, Jambi, Indonesia and has a Ph.D. in English education from Universitas Jambi, Jambi, Indonesia. Her main teaching areas: language teaching, multicultural education, and English education and her research interests are language teaching, English for young children and research on English education. Please direct correspondence to nfajaryani81@gmail.com.
Hadiyanto is Professor in English Education, Universitas Jambi, Indonesia. He received a degree in English Education from Universitas Jambi and M.Ed. in TESL from National University of Malaysia (UKM). My Ph.D. in Adult and Professional Development Education, National University of Malaysia (UKM). His teaching and research interests: TEFL, ICT, adult education and professional development, educational management, and teaching and learning in Higher Education. Please direct correspondence to hadiyanto@unja.ac.id.
Rafiza Abdul Razak is an Associate Professor. Dr. Rafiza Abdul Razak graduated with a doctoral degree in Instructional Technology from the International Islamic University of Malaysia. An alumnus of the Universiti Malaya, Malaysia's leading university, she graduated with a Masters of Education (Educational Technology) and Bachelor of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language (B.EdTESL) from the National University of Malaysia. Please direct correspondence to rafiza@um.edu.my.
Herri Mulyono is an Associate professor at Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. HAMKA, Indonesia and has a Ph.D. in TESOL from University of York, UK. His main teaching areas: language teaching, multicultural education, and English education and his research interests are language teaching, English education, digital technology, and education. Please direct correspondence to hmulyono@uhamka.ac.id.
Sri Kusuma Ningsih is a Lecturer at English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Pedagogy, University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. HAMKA, East Jakarta, Indonesia), Indonesia. Please direct correspondence to sri_kusuma@uhamka.ac.id.
Recommended APA Citation
Abrar, M.,
Mukminin, A.,
Fitriani, N.,
Failasofah, F.,
Fajaryani, N.,
Hadiyanto, H.,
Razak, R. A.,
Mulyono, H.,
&
Ningsih, S. K.
(2023).
Examining the Cultural Adjustment Experiences of International Students in Writing Dissertations in a UK Campus.
The Qualitative Report,
28(1), 33-48.
https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.4793
