I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO TEACH/LEARN: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TEACHER AND STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF MASTER STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC WRITING DIFFICULTIES
Ene Alas
Tallinn University, Estonia
The study proceeds from the principle expressed by Hu (2007) that ‘sharing curriculum development efforts can provide a valuable opportunity …to engage in effective curricular practices…that better cater for the academic writing needs of second language students’(68). The poster presentation will report on an empirical study that investigates academic writing challenges as reported by the participants of multicultural backgrounds in the TEFL Master’s programme at Tallinn University, comparing the needs outlined by the students to the perception of the same challenges as observed by graduation paper supervisors. The information obtained will allow a more informed approach to teacher education curriculum design in general and academic writing instruction in particular. The data were collected using Lickert scale as well as openended questionnaires. The answers provided a taxonomy of student academic writing challenges, as well as a need for more cooperation among the graduation paper supervisors for a more unified understanding of the requirements set for graduation (Master’s) papers.