From the other side of the desk: Supervisors’ perceptions of supervisory feedback

Abstract

Supervisory feedback plays a key role in thesis writing, especially in L2 contexts. How supervisors perceive the purposes, foci, and challenges of supervisory feedback as well as student engagement can greatly influence how they design and adapt their feedback to foster their students’ learning from the writing of a graduate thesis. Surprisingly, little research attention has been given to the beliefs and perceptions held by master’s thesis supervisors about supervisory feedback. To bridge this research gap, this study collected supervisors’ feedback perceptions with in-depth interviews (n = 16) and a questionnaire survey (n = 102). The supervisors came from four disciplines (i.e., English education, English studies, physics, and engineering) at a comprehensive Nepalese university. Analyses of the qualitative and quantitative data revealed that the supervisors were more positive about the purposes and foci of their supervisory feedback than student engagement with such feedback. They also held positive expectations of supervisory feedback and viewed the major challenges for supervisory feedback as arising from student and institutional constraints. Furthermore, the supervisors’ perceptions varied significantly across the disciplines. Finally, perceptions of the foci and challenges of supervisory feedback significantly predicted different types of perceived student engagement. These findings have pedagogical and policy implications.