Behind the textual: considerations of knowledge challenges in postgraduate students’ planning, researching and writing of theses

Abstract

Research into academic literacy demands on postgraduate students, particularly at the doctoral level, has increased significantly in the last decade or so. Academic literacy is often configured in relation to students needing to understand the conventions of the discourse community and being able to respond to the challenges associated with the practices, skills, and particularly the text forms associated with it. While this is of value in guiding pedagogical support and interventions, it must be complemented with an understanding of the students themselves: what they bring to the community and learning context in terms of prior knowledge and expertise, what they personally find challenging in knowledge terms, and how they respond to the challenges. This requires us to ‘go behind the textual’. A productive framework for this analysis is the work of Eraut (2000, 2003, 2004, 2008), which encompasses a view of discourse community or group membership, considers challenges arising from transitions to different communities or situations, and focuses on how knowledge demands shift and change. This paper presents data from international students representing knowledge transitions and challenges in masters research study, as the students plan their research, write about (or ‘codify’) their planning, and write about it in the form of a thesis. As the data shows, challenges and successes in these transitions impact on a student’s developing identity as a researcher, and also on the likelihood of successful completion and aspirations to engage in further research.