One of the things that grates me is the assumption that students know a lot of stuff that would be transmitted through their school or life experience that is not translatable to everything nor everyone. Doctoral students who are non-native English speakers face this problem on a regular basis, particularly when it comes to feedback they receive. The oh-so-not-helpful “THINK HARD” piece of advice still makes my blood boil, regardless of whether it’s advice given to non-native speakers or fluent-in-English people.
I took my complaint to Twitter, as I normally do.
For those of you who supervise doctoral dissertations in English to be written by non-native English speakers; particularly those of you whose first language IS English: please remember and check your privilege: you get to write in your own language. They may lack the background.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) May 15, 2018
I'll do you a solid: They Say/I Say by Graf and Birkenstein will teach ALL your students rhetorical strategies. If your university doesn't have a writing center nor an international students' office, make sure to approach other non-native speakers for strategies on how to write.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) May 15, 2018
In my quest to help, I suggested They Say/I Say, by Graf and Birkenstein. It’s an excellent book. I would also recommend that PhD advisors spend a substantial amount of time teaching their students the difference between Description and Analysis particularly in social sciences and humanities. But I know there are additional resources I am missing. At a later date, I am hoping to revise this blog post with additional sources for non-native English speakers who are writing graduate and undergraduate theses and dissertations in English.
Don't assume everyone can read and understand your written stuff simply because it's in the "so-declared lingua franca" of the academic world. </thread>
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) May 15, 2018
If you liked this blog post, you may also be interested in my Resources for Graduate Students page, and on my reading notes of books I’ve read on how to do a doctoral degree.
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