Disciplinary culture and the acquisition of advanced writing skills in English as a Second Language: Non-native graduate students' writing of their theses/dissertations in the sciences.

摘要

With increasing numbers of international students coming to America for graduate education in scientific disciplines, there is a growing need to investigate advanced genres of writing such as thesis/dissertation writing. This study was designed to examine invention and revision processes of non-native English speaking graduate students as they write their theses/dispensations in the natural sciences.; A survey was conducted of 169 native and non-native graduate students and 32 of their advisors at The University of Georgia (UGA) and The Georgia Institute of Technology (GT). The survey included both open and closed questions inquiring about thesis/dissertation writing contexts, advisors' involvement and help with the writing, and the advisor-advisee relationship in thesis/dissertation writing processes. In addition, in-depth case studies were conducted of three UGA Chinese doctoral students who were writing their dissertations. Discourse-based interviews were conducted with both the students and their advisors. Text analyses of the various drafts were performed, and intensive interviews were conducted.; Data obtained from the survey were analyzed to compare: (1) students and professors, (2) native and non-native students, (3) GT and UGA non-native students, and (4) matched pairs of non-native advisees and their respective advisors. Case study data were analyzed by coding into a database program, identifying emerging categories, searching for frequencies and dimensions of categories, making cross-case comparisons, creating metaphors, and generating conceptual frameworks.; Major findings revealed advisors' ways of assisting in their advisees' thesis/dissertation writing, such as topic decision, idea developing, conclusion drawing, article citations, avoiding plagiarism, paragraph organizing, and logically presenting ideas. They also revealed different perceptions of the quality and the quantity of the assistance that advisors provided from the perspectives of students and professors. Results also showed the isolated situation that non-native students were in and the limited writing resources that they sought compared to native students. The findings also indicated factors in determining a balanced advisor-advisee relationship and genre-specific and disciplinary specific knowledge about thesis/dissertation writing.; Several salient dimensions of thesis/dissertation writing in natural sciences have been identified by this study. They are: (1) changing perspectives toward thesis/dissertation writing, (2) the collaborative nature of thesis/dissertation writing in sciences, (3) disciplinary culture and language transmission and acquisition, (4) give-and-take balance in the advisor-advisee relationship, (5) scientific apprenticeship: styles of advisors' assistance, (6) learning the ropes and probing the boundaries, (7) situational exigencies of scientific writing, (8) two cultures and two identities: non-native students' unique experience in science, and (9) institutional differences in thesis/dissertation writing.; Implications include the disciplinary enculturation for non-native students, supervision of graduate students, and genre-specific and discipline-specific writing in academic settings.