Scrutinizing the challengesencountered by EFL students when writing their dissertations
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Date
2023
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
The current study attempts to scrutinize the academic writing challenges encountered by Mastertwo EFL students during the preparation of their dissertation, determining the reasons behind these challenges and proposing possible solutions to overcome them. For this purpose, descriptive analytic research with qualitative approach was employed. To gather data,a student's 'questionnaire and a teachers' checklist were devised. The sample consisted of 48Master two students and 10 teachers of English department at Larbi Ben M'hidiuniversity. The main findings show that students face numerous challenges. They do not know what a dissertation is and how it has to be written. Students cannot find the right methodology to conduct their research. In addition, they have difficulties in getting help from their supervisors since the majority of participants believe that the time allocated for teaching academic writing is insufficient. Equally important, students find difficulty in coping with constant anxiety, which affects both the students and their academic work. The teachers' checklist indicates that most of EFL learners encounter problems in choosing the topic, collecting data, citing the references and sources they use to write the dissertation, also struggling with the mechanics of writing, they do not know how to use them correctly, this is due to lack of practice and writing. The pedagogical implications derived from the findings need to be considered by students, teachers, and syllabus designers.
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Keywords
EFL learners; Academic writing; Dissertation writing