Abstract
There are various ways that English as a Second Language (ESL) doctoral students’ academic experiences in the US are influenced. For example, advisor-advisee relationships are significant ones that shape doctoral students experiences and one essential feature of this relationship is the guidance that students are provided with. Additionally, synthesizing which is another academic literacy adjustment for them is a frequently assigned task at universities in the US and is an important and demanding source-based writing assignment. If they are not well prepared, they could end up leaving their doctoral programs. In this article, I report findings from a qualitative study that focused on four faculty members’ perspectives on the challenges that ESL doctoral students encounter when synthesizing candidacy exam essays and explored the techniques professors adopted in providing them with guidance during coursework. This study is part of a larger qualitative research that explores four ESL graduate students’ experiences composing a doctoral candidacy exam essay. This study was informed by interviewing four participants at a large midwestern university, data was analyzed inductively and recursively. Findings revealed that faculty perceived ESL doctoral students had varying challenges depending on their diverse backgrounds and experiences. Furthermore, faculty provided different types of guidance to ESL doctoral students during course work to help them gain some experience before they wrote their candidacy exams. Broader implications of this study and future research directions were discussed. Keywords: International students, ESL, second language literacy, writing from sources, higher education, candidacy exam, advisor-advisee relationships DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-15-08 Publication date: May 31 st 2020
Highlights
A significant relationship that shapes doctoral students experiences during their entire graduate program are their advisor-advisee relationships (Knox, Pruitt & Hill, 2006; Schlosser, Lyons, Talleyrand, Kim & Johnson, 2011)
One major way of evaluating whether doctoral students have learned from coursework and are able to proceed to “candidacy” or “All But Dissertation” (ABD) status is through their performance on the high-stakes Candidacy Examination (CE)
What kinds of challenges do faculty perceive English as a Second Language (ESL) doctoral students experience before and during the candidacy exam? Crisis of identity During the early stages of and transition into the doctoral program, PhD students sometimes have a period of uncertainty and confusion in which their sense of identity becomes insecure and they are unsure of who they are as scholars and graduate students
Summary
A significant relationship that shapes doctoral students experiences during their entire graduate program are their advisor-advisee relationships (Knox, Pruitt & Hill, 2006; Schlosser, Lyons, Talleyrand, Kim & Johnson, 2011). CE which has been referred to as qualification, preliminary or comprehensive exam is an essential stage of any doctoral program This exam entails PhD students being assigned lengthier and more involved tasks that associated with synthesizing, like literature review and critical review papers. These assignments involve the use of multiple source texts and more comprehensive use of the types of synthesizing operations. After students pass this exam, they become doctoral candidates and are considered ready to conduct independent research (e.g. dissertation) as they advance to the phase of getting their doctoral degree (Burakgazi & Yildirim, 2017; Furstenberg & Nichols-Casebolt, 2001). If students are not given the proper guidance prior to the CE, they might struggle more with acculturating into their doctoral programs
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