Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 Peer-Reviewed Article ISSN: 2162-3104 Print/ ISSN: 2166-3750 Online Volume 7, Issue 3 (2017), pp. 620-643 © Journal of International Students http://jistudents.org/ doi: 10.5281/zenodo.570025 International EFL/ESL Master Students’ Adaptation Strategies for Academic Writing Practices at Tertiary Level Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia ABSTRACT The present research provides insights into the different forms of adaptation strategies employed by international graduate students to overcome the challenges faced in the academic writing practices and gain access to their disciplinary communities of practice at Master’s level. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured in-depth focus group interviews. Respondents were 70 international graduate students enrolled in various Master-level programs. Semi-structured focus group interviews allowed the international graduate students to share their own experiences in the employment of suitable adaptation strategies to overcome the challenges faced in their academic writing practices in the Master programs. The adaptation strategies employed include enhancing their English language proficiency, referring to non-formal advisory services, and improving their academic writing style. Keywords: academic writing practices; adaptation strategies; challenges; international graduate students; Master program T he crucial role of academic writing practices has been increasingly acknowledged in “integrating disparate ideas, synthesizing perspectives, and extending theory which demand a higher-level construction skills and perspective-taking, as well as greater concern for accuracy, voice, and audience” (Lavelle & Bushrow, 2007, p. 809). The argument by Lavelle and Bushrow (2007) entails academic writing practices, as component of academic literacies, to be viewed as heterogeneous, diverse, contested social practices, shaped by interests and power relations, and are open to change (Starfield, 2007). These lead the student writers and their instructors to adopt different identities and positions in academic writing practices as they -620 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 negotiate these contested practices, which construct meaning in a discipline rather than simply represent it. In the context of Master programs in any discipline, there is a general consensus among scholars, researchers, and teachers that academic writing is an essential component for many coursework assessments and it is critical that graduate students continuously develop their academic writing skills (Stevenson, 2006; Thomas, 2005; Wasley, 2008). Currently, academic writing is also intricately related to a student’s sense of self and identity. In fact, writing aids in both developing and demonstrating critical-thinking skills, and has been categorized as “the exterior sign of an interior thinking process” (Bean, 1996, p. 20). As a result of this, new graduate students have to identify themselves as part of a particular academic community, and without this identity formation, they will not be able to participate or acquire academic literacies skills linked to academic success. In the context of graduate study, according to Casanave (2002), it is during the Master’s degree where “the transition from novice to expert begins to take place” (p. 84). Similar to Casanave (2002), Braine (2002) in his argument noted that it is crucial for graduate students to build interactive and good relationships with their lecturers, thesis supervisors, and peers to ensure they gain entry to the discourse albeit as a legitimate peripheral participant, develop effective research strategies and good academic writing skills. However, there arise challenges in academic writing which have been documented by relevant studies (Elder & Paul, 2006; Author, 2015; Ruggles, 2012). As highlighted by Elder and Paul (2006, p. 38), the academic writing process involved “intimate connection between the ability to write well and the ability to think well” and Ruggles’s (2012) doctoral study had indicated that students are definitely struggling with the expectations of academic writing. Subsequently, in the context of graduate study in Malaysia, this article contributes to the development of research focusing on international graduate students in the Asia-Pacific region. Most international students in Malaysian higher education institutions from the Middle Eastern and Arab countries such as Yemen, Iraq and Libya (Kassim, 2013; Pandian, Baboo & Mahfoodh, 2014; Yusoff, 2012) have to use English in their academic activities (e.g. writing of assignments, writing of proposals, and writing their theses) as English language is the medium of academic communication for them. Therefore, they experience academic difficulties related to academic literacy, language skills, learning practices specific to host university settings, and learning unfamiliar academic conventions (Young & Schartner, 2014). Research on these academic challenges or difficulties is gradually gaining interest among Malaysian researchers. However, research on international graduate students’ adaptation strategies for academic writing - 621 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 practices in Malaysian context is limited. It is also crucial to understand the students’ lived experiences in utilizing self-supporting strategies to overcome challenges in their academic writing practices is currently not specifically researched. The main purpose of the present study is to obtain an insider’s perspective of the adaptation strategies employed by the international EFL/ESL Master students to overcome the challenges faced in their academic writing practices especially in the process of gaining access to their academic disciplinary community. This purpose is considered crucial as the adaptation process is intricate and multifaceted. LITERATURE REVIEW At the global level, there is considerable research (Kaur & Shakila, 2007; Kaur & Sidhu, 2009; Lea & Street, 2000; Leki, 2001) that focusses on academic writing at the undergraduate stage and dissertation writing at the doctoral level. However, critics such as Lavelle and Bushrow (2007) and Singleton-Jackson and Lumsden (2009), pointed that there is lack of research that looks into the academic writing process of Master students. For example, Lavelle and Bushrow (2007) emphasized that “little is known about what graduate students think about writing or about what they do when faced with academic writing tasks” (p. 816). Likewise, Singleton- Jackson and Lumsden (2009) indicated a “marked paucity in the research literature” on the writing proficiency of graduate students. Later, Fergie, Beeke, McKenna, and Crème (2011) had also observed that “much research into writing in higher education has taken undergraduate work as its subject, with rather less focus on postgraduate writing, although Ph.D. writers have attracted increasing attention more recently” (p. 237). In the context of international students, Tran (2013) laid a strong emphasis that international students were being viewed from a deficit frame. The tenet of the deficit frame located international students’ academic challenges as vastly sprouting exclusively from their cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Tran, 2013, p. 2). Tran also argued that students’ agency, their adaptive capacity, and their transformative power issues lack research. Currently, it is observed that there is a lack of documentation in terms of intricate details involving the processes that these international students undergo to adapt to the academic culture of the disciplines that they are studying in. Students are assumed to independently and quickly acquire specific disciplinary knowledge when they enter graduate school. In Malaysian context, the increasing number of incoming international students into its higher education institutions has brought linguistic, educational and cultural diversity (Carroll & Ryan, 2005). The majority of these students are from English as Foreign Language (EFL) and English as Second Language (ESL) background. By accepting the -622 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 international students, Malaysian higher education institutions have initiated the use of English language as the medium of instruction for academic programs involving them. However, the initiative undertaken by the Malaysian higher education institutions has backfired as the international graduate students with ESL and EFL language background lack English language proficiency. Furthermore, research has found that one of the setbacks of lacking in English language proficiency is the negative impact on students’ academic writing practices which had directly affected their academic success (Author, 2013; 2015; 2016). The notion of academic writing practices that students brought from their prior academic learning background at the undergraduate level differs from the similar notion and socialization in the current Master’s community of practice. Their writing, which is affected by previous learning patterns, does not help them to quickly grasp the new and different academic expectations in graduate programs (Andrade, 2008; Campbell & Li, 2008; Wong, 2004). Research also indicated that to become accustomed to an unfamiliar culture, a new education system and navigating these differences in a foreign language or second language (Andrade, 2008; Campbell & Li, 2008; Mullen, 2006; Wong, 2004) is a lengthy process, difficult and stressful for graduate students. In a past study on adaptation strategies, Yuchun (2010) noted that by working with other students, international students not only got the opportunity to share academic knowledge but also various learning strategies. It was also noted that their co-students were able to act as valuable learning resources. Concurrently, international students are able to improve their academic English skills, such as academic writing and progressively make adjustment to suit the expected style of academic writing as academic writing is crucial in determining their final grades. In Malaysia, the manner in which international EFL and ESL Master students accommodate, negotiate, and resist specific requirements and expectations embedded in particular disciplinary discourses remains unexplored. Furthermore, there is lack of availability of formal learning skills resources to support international students to develop their academic writing practices (Author, 2013). Malaysian based research had also highlighted evidence that international graduate students in the universities struggled in reading and writing practices which are the thrust of academic literacies (Kaur & Shakila, 2007; Kaur & Sidhu, 2009). Concurrently, Ibrahim and Nambiar (2011) identified that the students’ experiences at their home country where they had obtained their first degree (bachelor’s degree) did not prepare them for the rigors of writing project papers in their present university located in a foreign country. The respondents in Ibrahim and Nambiar’s study claimed -623 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 that there were differences in teaching and learning styles between the higher education institution in Malaysia and their home countries. Furthermore, the respondents stated that they were not prepared for the autonomy presented in the process of writing their academic papers. In addition, the respondents, who were postgraduate students reported that cross-cultural limitations stemming from differences in teaching and learning styles within the Malaysian higher education institutions and their home countries did not positively contribute toward the progress of their academic writing practices (Ibrahim & Nambiar, 2011). In addition, Author’s (2016) qualitative study to determine the challenges faced by international graduate students in their academic writing practices indicated difficulty in adhering to proper academic writing techniques. Furthermore, the students’ prior academic cultural background and lack of English language proficiency were obstacles faced by the students. At the same time, due to communication hurdles, the students also faced difficulty in obtaining corrective feedback on their academic work from their lectures. In the context of recommendations on how to overcome the challenges in academic writing practices, Author (2016) provided recommendations to the stakeholders such as the lecturers and the management body of universities to address the challenges faced by the international graduate students in their academic writing practices. However, the students’ perspectives on their role in overcoming the challenges faced in academic writing practices which is the core of this study have not been investigated in research. The argument provided by Brown (2008a; 2008b) and Kaur (2000) were also cited in earlier research by Conrad, Duren and Haworth (1998), Green (1987), and Stewart and Spille (1988). These scholars claim that there is extremely limited literature on how students experience their Master programs, much less the effects of their experience on students themselves. In addition, literature also does not draw on students’ perspectives. Research has also been anchored mostly in the voices of faculty and administrators. Furthermore, graduate study is the means by which learners join the professional ranks of their disciplines, claiming authority within academic departments and by extension, gaining access to personal, social, political, and economic privileges. Hence, graduate students are likely to be more highly aware of and concerned for their own disciplinary enculturation than undergraduates (Belcher, 1989). To conclude, although there is a relevant body of studies on academic writing practices among international students, the review of literature shows that no previous qualitative studies were conducted on the adaptation strategies employed by the international graduate students to overcome the challenges in academic writing practices in Malaysian higher education institutions. In line with these inadequacies, the current study only -624 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 provides non-Malaysian based literature on adaptation strategies employed by international graduate students to overcome the challenges faced in academic writing practices. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Two theoretical approaches guided the current study are indicated in the conceptual framework (Figure 1). The theoretical approaches are the Academic Literacies Model (Lea & Street, 1998, 2000; Lillis & Scott, 2007), and the Discipline Enculturation into Community of Practice (CoP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Academic Literacies Model (ALM) Academic Literacies Model (ALM) which originated from the social and ideological orientation of the New Literacies Studies (Lea & Street, 1998; Lea & Street, 2006; Street, 1984) attempts to understand how students negotiate and make sense of academic learning as they become effective members of academic discourse communities. These scholars also claimed that ALM treated writing as a social practice that varies across context (discourses of institutions within the academic culture) (Lea & Street, 2000). ALM also focuses on academic writing practices from the perspective of the students rather than the educators. This new pedagogical direction according to Leki (2001) was to shift the focus away from the educator’s perspective of literacy to the students as it gave more voice to the students. One of the fundamental characteristics of academic literacies discourse is that it gives recognition to the language repertoires and literacy practices that students bring with them into higher education and the need to guide the students to develop their awareness of what is appropriate to a given setting (Preece, 2010). In terms of academic writing practices, these diverse literacy practices indicate that successful meaning making possibly results from students’ negotiated and collaborative efforts to align their academic writing practices to the expected practices in their current educational institution. Additionally, Braine (2002) stated that academic literacies reflected content, knowledge, study skills and the socio-cultural aspects of being a student in a particular academic community. Discipline Enculturation into Community of Practice (CoP) Learning is viewed as a situated activity in a community of practice (CoP) which highlights the mastery of knowledge and skills required by a novice to gradually move towards full participation in the socio-cultural practices of a community. CoP has as its core a process called legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Lave and Wenger base students’ identification as members of the academic community on their - 625 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 participation in the academic community and this should occur throughout the duration of the academic program which students are enrolled in (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Flowerdew (2000) further added that it was within the discourse communities that novice scholars who were legitimate peripheral participants as newcomers to a CoP become inducted into their disciplinary communities through various forms of apprenticeship. In addition, earlier studies by Leki and Carson (1994), Norton and Starfield (1997), and Prior (1994) pointed out that classroom activities are crucial elements in disciplinary enculturation. These activities that induct students into a particular discipline such as lectures, oral work, laboratory work, doing reading, lecturers’ feedback, and especially writing through which the success of academic performance is decided. Those studies reported that by getting involved in these activities, a learner learned a kind of language that is used to facilitate his/her interactions through academic discourse with other academic community members. Figure 1. Theoretical Framework International EFL/ESL Master Students’ Adaptation Strat- Figure 1. Theoretical Framework egies for Academic Writing Practices at Tertiary Level Academic Literacies Discipline Enculturation Model (Lea & Street, 1998) into Community of Practice (CoP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991) Adaptation Strategies for Academic Writing Practices Qualitative Method Focus Group Interview Recommendations, Educational Implications and Future Directions - 626 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 RESEARCH METHOD Research Design The study focused on the adaptation strategies employed by international graduate students in Master programs to overcome the challenges in their academic writing practices. A basic interpretive qualitative study focusing on insider’s perspectives (Burke & Wyatt-Smith, 1996) was carried out. This involved in-depth focus group interviews (FGI). The rationale behind this approach is that semi structured in-depth focus group interviews allowed for the extraction of detailed and reliable perspectives on the adaptation strategies employed by the international graduate students. Population The target population of this study was international graduate students in the Master programs in a higher education institution in Malaysia. This study utilized purposive sampling with the aim of selecting all accessible respondents who could provide accurate and reliable information regarding the research problem. This is because purposive sampling involves selecting a sample that yields the most comprehensive understanding in the form of rich information on the topic. According to Creswell (1998) and Creswell and Plano Clark (2007), purposive sampling ensures that only those respondents who can make a meaningful contribution to the research are included in the study. In addition, purposive sampling also comprises elements that contain the most representative qualities of the population (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2008; Patton, 2008; Rubin & Babbie, 2009). Data obtained from The Institute of Postgraduate Studies (IPS) indicated there were 203 full time international students registered for the second semester in the Master programs offered at the 10 faculties. These faculties comprise of three Arts, two Hybrid and five Sciences. The students have completed their undergraduate study, thus, being familiar with tertiary institution’s academic writing practices. The students had also acquired discipline content knowledge at the first-degree level. Finally, they have had exposure to academic literacies (writing, reading, listening and speaking) of graduate study during their first semester in the Master programs. The justification of selecting students from the coursework Master programs is because these students are exposed to a variety of academic writing practices compared to their counterparts in the research programs. A large portion of the learning in these Master programs is facilitated through classroom lectures, tutorials, seminars, individual project work, industrial or business placement, problem-solving classes, group projects, -627 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 research dissertation or discussion groups (Brown, 2008a; 2008b; Kaur, 2000) that requires a considerable amount of academic writing output. International graduate students’ participation in the study was on voluntary basis. The students were provided an overview of the study. Then, their consent was obtained via a consent form. This method of obtaining respondents on a voluntary basis follows what Spradley and McCurdy (1972) view as a good informant, “one who knows the culture well, is willing to talk and is non-analytical in communicating his/her world” (p. 47). The 70 respondents (Table. 1) who voluntarily took part in the FGIs were coded according to a number provided to each respondent and a letter used to identify their faculty. Pseudonyms were applied to ensure anonymity of the respondents and confidentiality of data related to particular respondents. This was done by creating a coding scheme for coding purposes. For example, a respondent who responded in the interview session from a particular faculty is coded as 2A. The symbol 2 represents the respondent’s number and A represents the student’s faculty’s code. Table 1. Coding of FGI Respondents (N= 70) (Faculty - Arts) (Faculty - Hybrid) (Faculty Science) 19 respondents 20 respondents 31 respondents Profile of the Respondents There is a blend of many nationalities among the respondents ranging from the Middle East, Asian and African countries. Majority of the respondents are from the Middle East countries. Iran has the highest number of respondents, followed by Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. A minority of the respondents are from other Asian and African countries. The primary language used for lecture purposes during the student’s first-degree is English language. A small number of the respondents from the Middle East countries used Persian and Arabic language during their first-degree’s study. The language that was most frequently used for discussion with lecturers was English language. The respondents from the Middle East countries also preferred to use Arabic and Persian for discussions in their first degree. The respondents from China used a combination of English and Chinese or only Chinese language in their first degree’s study. Majority of the respondents used English language as the main language for writing task during their undergraduate study. English was followed by Persian, Arabic and Chinese language. Likewise, the English language was the most frequently used for reading material purposes. The - 628 - Journal of International Students, 7(3) 2017 respondents from the Middle East countries used Persian language. A minority of the respondents used Arabic. Only a small number of respondents from China read in English. Focus Group Interviews (FGI) The primary qualitative data gathering technique used for this study is the FGI. Focus group is a group interview that depends on a question- and-answer format (Krueger & Casey, 2000) and the researcher is actively encouraging and attentive to the group interaction (Kitzinger & Barbour, 1999). This approach of collecting qualitative data is based on the assumption that people are an important source of information about themselves, their experiences, knowledge, opinion, beliefs, feelings, and the issue that affect their lives and they can articulate their thoughts and feelings (Best & Kahn, 2006). The synergistic group effect (Stewart & Shandasani, 1990) provided information that individual interviews could not achieve as respondents’ behaviors and attitudes are not made individually in isolation but in a social context. Furthermore, Morgan (1988), Stewart & Shamdasani (1990) and Krueger (1994) added that this data collection method is more advantageous when the interaction among interviewees will likely to produce the best information; when interviewees are similar and cooperative with each other; when the time to gather information is restricted. However, if the respondents were interviewed individually, they may be hesitant to provide information. In addition, this method was also able to reduce the influence and role of the researcher (Vanderstoep & Johnston, 2009). Table 2. Categories of Questions (Krueger, 1998) Question Purpose Opening Participants get acquainted and feel connected Introductory Begins discussion of topic Transition Moves smoothly and seamlessly into key questions Key Obtains insight on areas of central concern in the study Ending Helps researcher determine where to place emphasis and brings closure to the discussion The research utilized a mixed type of focus group known as Type 8. Type 8 focus group includes questions that are both open and close-ended (Johnson & Turner, 2003). The literature in the area of academic writing practices among graduate students guided the design of questions for the FGI. Questioning was done in systematic and consistent manner and the researcher probed far beyond the responses offered to the prepared questions - 629 -