An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia

The number of international graduate students choosing Malaysia as their destination of study is increasing. These students arrive to Malaysian shores with diverse academic, cultural and linguistic background with the intention of upgrading their academic qualification especially at graduate leve...

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Main Author:	Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/1/12329-45004-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-10163
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-101632017-02-27T08:50:31Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/ An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh, The number of international graduate students choosing Malaysia as their destination of study is increasing. These students arrive to Malaysian shores with diverse academic, cultural and linguistic background with the intention of upgrading their academic qualification especially at graduate level. The students are confronted with a mismatch between the literacy practices in their native country and at graduate level currently. This leads to challenges in adapting to the current academic writing practices at graduate level. Academic writing is a productive skill that is pivotal to ensure academic success. However, students for whom English is a foreign language struggle in writing various sections of academic work at graduate level such as the methodology and discussion sections. This qualitative study focuses on academic writing difficulties faced by the non-native English speaking international graduate students while pursuing their Master’s degree at a public university in Malaysia. Focus group interview was used on 70 international graduate students from taught Master programs to elicit qualitative data. The main objective of the focus group interviews was to analyze how these students negotiate academic writing from an emic perspective. Through this approach, the students were able to share their own experiences of struggling with academic writing practices in higher education. The findings indicate that non-native English speaking international graduate students faced difficulties coping with academic writing especially in English as a medium of instruction setting. This study highlights the need of host institutions in providing academic support to improve the most crucial literacy skill that contributes to academic success at graduate level. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016-10 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/1/12329-45004-1-PB.pdf Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh, (2016) An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 16 (3). pp. 83-97. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/863
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	The number of international graduate students choosing Malaysia as their destination of study is increasing. These students arrive to Malaysian shores with diverse academic, cultural and linguistic background with the intention of upgrading their academic qualification especially at graduate level. The students are confronted with a mismatch between the literacy practices in their native country and at graduate level currently. This leads to challenges in adapting to the current academic writing practices at graduate level. Academic writing is a productive skill that is pivotal to ensure academic success. However, students for whom English is a foreign language struggle in writing various sections of academic work at graduate level such as the methodology and discussion sections. This qualitative study focuses on academic writing difficulties faced by the non-native English speaking international graduate students while pursuing their Master’s degree at a public university in Malaysia. Focus group interview was used on 70 international graduate students from taught Master programs to elicit qualitative data. The main objective of the focus group interviews was to analyze how these students negotiate academic writing from an emic perspective. Through this approach, the students were able to share their own experiences of struggling with academic writing practices in higher education. The findings indicate that non-native English speaking international graduate students faced difficulties coping with academic writing especially in English as a medium of instruction setting. This study highlights the need of host institutions in providing academic support to improve the most crucial literacy skill that contributes to academic success at graduate level.
format	Article
author	Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh,
spellingShingle	Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh, An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia
author_facet	Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh,
author_sort	Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh,
title	An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia
title_short	An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia
title_full	An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia
title_fullStr	An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed	An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia
title_sort	emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in malaysia
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2016
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10163/1/12329-45004-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:56:42Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:56:42Z
_version_	1777406577216585728

An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia

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