Exploring EFL Supervisors' Feedback on Postgraduates' Research Proposals: Functions and Foci

Abstract

Supervisory feedback plays a crucial role in supervising research in higher education. Feedback is a crucial component of successful teaching practices in the context of postgraduate research proposal writing. Effective supervisory feedback can promote supervisees' academic writing and enhance the quality of their research proposals. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the feedback functions and feedback foci that EFL supervisors employ in their written feedback when refining postgraduate research proposals. A qualitative approach and simple descriptive quantitative measures were adopted to address the study's aims and estimate the prevalence of feedback forms. The study's sample included (N = 5) supervisors (4 male and 1 female supervisor) supervising postgraduate students as part of the M.A. in Applied Linguistics program. Data were collected from five supervisory feedback reports on postgraduates' research proposals and proposal drafts. The finding revealed that the EFL supervisors predominantly used directive feedback (52%) in their feedback provision instead of referential (30%) and expressive feedback (18%). Additionally, the findings showed that the EFL supervisors primarily focused on content issues (53%), followed by organization (29%) and appropriateness (19%), and the lowest number of supervisory feedback focused on linguistic accuracy (16%). The study provides pedagogical implications for supervisors and recommendations for further studies.