Furneaux, Clare L.; (2012) Master's level study in a British context :developing writers. Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London.

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Abstract

This thesis study followed six MA in English Language Teaching/Applied Linguistics students as they started out on their one-year programmes at the University of Reading, UK. They came from various academic, professional and national backgrounds. One was a native speaker of English; the other five were not. The study takes an ethnographic approach in exploring how these mature students learned to meet writing requirements in this context (which were within the essayist tradition of academic literacy), both as individual case studies and as a group. The focus was on three Terml writing assignments which all students had in common. However, the research sought to contextualise first term experiences in the framework of the whole year of study. I therefore interviewed these students about their writing five times in the year, including after submission of their year-end dissertations, and contacted them again a year later for post-course insights. The study explored how they responded to pre-submission advice from tutors and their reactions to and use of summative feedback provided. It also examined assignment briefings and documentation, students' meetings with personal tutors and my interviews with module tutors, as well as feedback on outlines and on the three assignments, and the assignments themselves. Although the students were, of course, six unique individual cases, themes emerged from this study of their development as academic writers in this context. These include the influence of background (such as academic, professional, discipline, linguistic), personal characteristics (eg expectations and approach to learning), and the role of literacy brokers.

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