Analysis of Students’ Errors in Summative Evaluation: A Corpora Based ResearchPremier Publishers
This study analyses undergraduate students’ errors in their summative evaluation with special emphasis on a literary subject that is taught in English. The study is an analysis of students’ corpora and uses qualitative analysis. Three questions spearheaded the discussion namely (1) what are errors that students make in their final evaluation? (2) What are the effects of these errors? (3) What can be done to help students reduce these errors? The study has a threefold significance namely showing teachers in charge of language teaching the areas that should be more emphasized; reveal students how important they should cope with these challenges to better their language use and become more proficient in a second language, if they are willing and committed to correct these errors. It was found that most of learners make similar errors related with spelling, subject verb agreements, pluralization, capitalization and misuse of prepositions.
The aim of this research study is to analyze the appropriateness of the English syllabus according to the true language needs, which is being offered to the students of International Relations Department of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. To carry out this research study, students of IR department (Part 1 and 2) have been taken as a sample population to collect required data. To check the appropriateness of the offered English syllabus and existing level of English language competence according to the students’ needs; two research tools have been taken as: test and interview. In order to get the actual feedback from the students, a test consisted of four basic skills of English (listening, speaking, reading and writing) was conducted to 50 students of IR department. Interview was conducted to the teachers of IR department in order to get the actual information about the appropriateness of the English syllabus and the competency level of the students. Collected data through both the sources were analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The findings from these sources provided the results which were expected before the accomplishment of this research work. The findings of this research advocated that the EAP should be adopted to make the existing syllabus appropriate and need based in order to refine the basic English language skills of the students. This recommended course is very productive for social sciences disciplines of the BZU.
Analysis of Students’ Errors in Summative Evaluation: A Corpora Based ResearchPremier Publishers
This study analyses undergraduate students’ errors in their summative evaluation with special emphasis on a literary subject that is taught in English. The study is an analysis of students’ corpora and uses qualitative analysis. Three questions spearheaded the discussion namely (1) what are errors that students make in their final evaluation? (2) What are the effects of these errors? (3) What can be done to help students reduce these errors? The study has a threefold significance namely showing teachers in charge of language teaching the areas that should be more emphasized; reveal students how important they should cope with these challenges to better their language use and become more proficient in a second language, if they are willing and committed to correct these errors. It was found that most of learners make similar errors related with spelling, subject verb agreements, pluralization, capitalization and misuse of prepositions.
The aim of this research study is to analyze the appropriateness of the English syllabus according to the true language needs, which is being offered to the students of International Relations Department of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. To carry out this research study, students of IR department (Part 1 and 2) have been taken as a sample population to collect required data. To check the appropriateness of the offered English syllabus and existing level of English language competence according to the students’ needs; two research tools have been taken as: test and interview. In order to get the actual feedback from the students, a test consisted of four basic skills of English (listening, speaking, reading and writing) was conducted to 50 students of IR department. Interview was conducted to the teachers of IR department in order to get the actual information about the appropriateness of the English syllabus and the competency level of the students. Collected data through both the sources were analyzed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The findings from these sources provided the results which were expected before the accomplishment of this research work. The findings of this research advocated that the EAP should be adopted to make the existing syllabus appropriate and need based in order to refine the basic English language skills of the students. This recommended course is very productive for social sciences disciplines of the BZU.
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An Analysis of Current Graduation Thesis Writing by English Majors in Independent Institute
1. An Analysis of Current Graduation Thesis Writing by English
Majors in Independent Institute
Dịch Vụ Làm Khóa Luận Tốt nghiệp
Luanvantrithuc.com
Tải tài liệu nhanh qua hotline 0936885877
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Ying Han
School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Gongshang University, China
Correspondence: Ying Han, School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Gongshang University,
Hangzhou City, 310018 Zhejiang Province, China.
Abstract
The paper takes 414 graduates from ZJU in 2011 and 2012, NIT as a case, analyzing the
status of their writing of graduation thesis. It is found that a considerable number of students
have problems in selection and report of topics, writing of each part and debating in the
whole process of graduation thesis. In view of the situation, based on the effective measures
and some practical experience by English majors in NIT, ZJU, it is suggested we should
raise both teachers’ and students’ awareness and consciousness in the importance in thesis
writing, establish quality management and monitoring system, strictly check selection and
report of topics, give play to the library, have topic verification and application guide, being
familiar with the writing requirements of the abstract, optimize English curriculum and make
professional management features outstanding and enhance the students’ and teachers’
ability, thereby improving the writing of the graduation thesis and reflecting subject
construction in English major.
Keywords: English major, graduation thesis, writing, guide
1. Introduction
Undergraduate thesis is an essential integral part of the plan in Higher Education Institutions
on talents cultivation, which also plays an essential role in education irreplaceable by other
means of teaching. This is a vital standard criterion in assessing undergraduate educational
quality in independent institutions. Thanks to the expansion of the higher education in the
2. realm of independent institutions, it bestows students with more pportunities to receive
higher education. Meanwhile, there arise such new problems as the quality of education,
among which the quality of undergraduate thesis raises great attention from people in both
the department of education and administrative level.
Written production is indeed a complicated process (Zimmerman, 2000). It can challenge
those writing in L1, but for those writing in a foreign language, the challenges are even
greater. Researchers have been showing great interest in graduation thesis writing by
English majors. The literature has reached agreement on the principles set by the National
Curriculum for College English Programs (2000). The process of thesis writing is more
important than the writing result itself. For EFL learners completing a thesis is a big project,
which will take up almost every student’s last year at university. Effective administration and
evaluation methods should be employed to guarantee the progress of the project. Yu’s
(2001) suggestions on this aspect embody the characteristics and requirements of the
English major, and are fairly practical as well. The empirical study on the general state of
thesis writing by Mu (2001) is a survey of 165 college seniors. There are some detailed
findings: the majority of the subjects wrote their theses for the sake of fulfilling the
requirement, with little appreciation of its real purpose or importance; over half of the survey
subjects chose literature as the subject area for their theses; most of the subjects did not
realize that research involves looking for references to further their study.
From the above, we know all these researches were kind of partial descriptions. There are
few holistic analyses to the main problems in undergraduate thesis writing by English majors
in terms of research proposal, writing process consisting of abstract, keywords, contents,
research itself, and acknowledgement, and oral defense.
2. Methodology
The reviewed literature can not answer the following questions systematically: What is the
status quo of thesis writing for English majors? What are the main problems in
undergraduate thesis writing for English majors? And how to solve these main problems?
Guided by the six rubrics – choosing a topic, preparing a working biology, collecting in
formation, outlining the paper, writing the paper, elements of research papers in thesis
writing by Slade (2000), this paper is to specify the basic criteria in Thesis Instructions for
English Majors from Institutions of Higher Learning (revised edition) (2007) – assess
students’ English proficiency, assess students’ ability in conducting preliminary research in
related fields and its specific criteria – scope of the topic, language proficiency, the content
of thesis, including its richness, innovation, persuasion of argumentation, convincingness of
conclusion, appropriacy of literature, no plagiarism, students’ studying attitude.
The researcher will select and analyse 414 undergraduate thesis writing samples by English
major students in Ningbo Institute of Technology (NIT), Zhejiang University (ZJU) graduating
3. in 2011 and 2012. Considering the reality of the undergraduate thesis writing by English
majors, and by studying the whole process of English major students in NIT and discussing
with both graduation theses supervisors and students in NIT, the researcher will present the
status quo of undergraduate thesis writing by English majors in terms of research proposal,
thesis writing in each part and oral defense. By this means, the researcher will propose
suggestions to improve the quality of undergraduate thesis by combining the experience in
the practice of effective measures adopted in NIT.
3. Results
3.1 Research Proposal
3.1.1 Selecting Research
Topics According to Fang’s (2012) division, this paper divides the research fields in English
majors into Linguistics (including study of English and Chinese language and culture,
English for specific purposes), Literature, Translation, and Teaching. The researcher will
analyse and discuss the problems in research topic selecting process by examining 414
undergraduate thesis samples by English major students in NIT. Problems in selecting
research topics are but not limited to these: over-centred topics; a lack of research focus;
divergence in goals set by cultivating requirements; a lack of innovation.
3.1.2 Over-Centred Topic Selection
Table 1. Types of 203 undergraduate theses by 2011 English majors in NIT
Types Total Percentage
Linguistics 79 39
Literature 62 31
Translation 34 17
Teaching 28 14
As shown in Table 1, the most frequently discussed topics are linguistics, occupying around
39% (79 in total), literature and translation about 31% ( 62 ) and 17% (34) respectively, and
teaching only approximately 14% (28).
Table 2. Types of 211 undergraduate theses by 2012 English majors in NIT
4. Types Total Percentage
Linguistics 88 42
Literature 57 27
Translation 40 20
Teaching 26 12
Similarly, Table 2 illustrates the percentage of these four topic areas – linguistics, literature,
translation, and teaching – comprising nearly 42%, 27%, 20%, and 12% respectively. It can
be concluded from both tables that linguistics, literature and translation are the dominant
topics. The reasons lie in the fact that in features modules in School of Foreign Languages in
NIT, students could choose among linguistics, literature, translation, and international trade.
Therefore, students could possibly acquire a pool of knowledge of linguistics, literature,
translation, but not of teaching because of limited access to teaching practice, which would
be essential for collecting and analysing data in writing thesis on teaching. Therefore writing
thesis on teaching is rather difficult for students in NIT.
3.1.2.1 A Lack of Focus in Thesis Topics
Some students would choose rather broad topics, such as, The Role of Source Language in
English Teaching, A Case Study of Comparing the Origins of Chinese and Western
Traditional Festivals, A Study of English Teaching in High school, and A Study of
Inappropriate Pragmatics in English teaching in NIT. These are examples of broad topics
chosen by students and they cannot control it. No doubt, it would be difficult for students to
clarify such topics within 4,000-5,000 words. In general, there is no limitation to the words
used in the thesis title. However, in terms of thesis content, some titles are too broad to
cover the central ideas in theses, such as a Cultural Study of Cross-Cultural Trade
Negotiation. This title is too broad and do not target on any specific topics. On the other
hand, some titles are too long, such as The Actress’s Tragedy in A Rose for Emily from
Emily’s Distorted Point of View on Love. It would be better if subtitles could be added if
necessary.
3.1.2.2 Divergence of the Requirement of Students’ Cultivation in Topic Selection
5. Such topics as English Majors Applicational Talents’ Training Mode under the Background of
Service Learning and Roles of Chinese Immigrants Play in the Globalization go astray of the
basic requirements for English major students in NIT.
3.1.2.3 A Lack of Innovation in Topic Selection
Students tend to choose similar topics and students graduating from different years would be
prone to choose similar topics, such as a cliché topic – Language and Rhetoric used in
Advertisements. Fewer students who graduated in the year 2011 and 2012 chose this topic,
but still around ten students discussed it and some students who will graduate in 2013 would
like to cover it. It seems that students have tendency to follow others’ steps and would not
venture in new topics from their own unique and distinct perspective. Further, in terms of
literature, students are prone to discuss rather familiar works, such as Wuthering Heights,
Pride and Prejudice, Gone with the Wind, and Jane Eyre. The students are particularly
interested in analyzing the character, destiny, marriage views of the female characters in a
literary work, or criticizing the societal or personal reasons for the tragic fate of a female
character. This finding is consistent with the results from two empirical studies on graduation
thesis topics by Zhang (2009).
3.1.3 Researching Literature and Synthesising
The researcher has been a supervisor for the past eight years, helping students with their
graduating thesis. Data collection is the major obstacle in students’ thesis writing. Many
teachers in NIT reach consensus over this issue from their supervising experience. They
further point out that students collect data from a narrow scope and they cannot distinguish
major points from minor ones. Also, students cannot synthesise materials they collect.
Students read very little literature, normally in low quality, which hinders students’ attempts
to write a persuasive and convincing thesis. Further, their thesis lacks the support of
theoretical framework, because they gather literature mostly from non-academic journal
articles, such as text books, ordinary journals, and even some bits of pieces of information
from the internet. Thus, these theses tend to be less academic and systematic, worsening by
the inappropriate citation.
3.1.4 Research Proposal
Data are collected from feedback from supervisors and from advisory panel from the
educational bureau. The following are the problems in research proposal: divergence in
goals set by cultivating requirements; broad topics; long titles that do not consistent with
academic writing; a lack of rigor in the concept used in title; a lack of holistic view over the
background information of topics discussed; a discussion of current research background
without discussion and personal insights; a lack of research focus; the use of oral
expression; irrelevancy of the literature; out-dated literature; a lack of systematism of
methodology; a lack of logic in outline; a lack of consistency in outline.
6. 3.2 Thesis Writing in Each Part
3.2.1 Abstract
There are four critical parts in thesis writing: research purpose, methodology, content and
results, which are equally important in abstract in English. This thesis chooses 36 English
abstracts by 2011 and 2012 graduates in NIT randomly. By examining the students’ abstract
in undergraduate thesis, the researcher tends to investigate these theses in terms of
content, discourse, idiomaticity and style. Most of the abstracts written by English major
students in NIT meet the requirements, but there are still some problems.
3.2.1.1 Content of the Abstract
This paper uses four elements in the abstract, that is, research purpose, methodology,
content and results, as benchmark to examine students’ abstract and to study individual
proportion contained in it.
Table 3. The number of elements and their proportion
The Number of Elements The Number of Theses Proportion
1 0 0%
2 12 33%
3 12 33%
4 12 33%
From Table 3, it is noted that only 33% students fulfil the four elements required in the
thesis, 33% students three, and 33% two.
Table 4. The frequency of the four elements
Element Frequency Proportion
Research Purpose 33 92%
Methodology 27 75%
Content 36 100%
7. Results 12 33%
As shown in Table 4, the most frequently discussed element is content, followed by research
purpose, methodology and results. A lack of research purpose tends to make the content
incomplete and lack of focus in research. Few students have clear idea of employing the
appropriate method in researching, which undermines the validity of research. The most
frequently omitted content is research results. For example, some students only write: “The
fourth part is conclusion and prediction” without elaboration. There is another example. “This
thesis tries to conduct a thematic analysis of the book, ranging from the historical
background to the author’s actual intention to write the book, so as to uncoil the knot of the
contradiction and dig out the deep meaning that Mrs. Stowe wants to manifest, that is, what
kind of ideal social system she actually wished to establish.” However, what is exact ideal
social system that Harriet Beecher Stowe intends to achieve? There is no answer in the
abstract to that research question.
3.2.1.2 Consistency of Discourse
From the above discussion, there arises another question that the inadequacy of English
abstract structure could be related to the consistency of discourse. In addition, there lies a
difference in expression between English and Chinese discourse. The consistency of
Chinese discourse lies in its consistence in ideas, whereas English also requires consistency
in language structure, such as using conjunctions. A lack of this knowledge makes students
write abstracts that are incomplete, ambiguous and lack of focus.
3.2.1.3 Idiomaticity
Language expression in abstracts reflects students’ undesirable language proficiency. By
discussing with students about their abstracts, the researcher finds out that students write
one abstract in Chinese at first and then translate it into its English counterpart, who leads to
awkward expression in English, causing misunderstandings. Further, grammatical mistakes
add to ambiguity and sometimes divert the original meanings.
3.2.1.4 Style
Abstract is by nature academic writing, which should be formal and objective. Most of
students can meet this requirement, but it would be better if they could write more formally.
Some students still use such abbreviation form as “doesn’t, hasn’t” in “It is lack of knowledge
of the other side’s culture that results in the failure in communication, and they can’t reach
the anticipated purpose. What’s more, some of the new rich regard ‘fashioning to be a
gentleman’ as their core goal.” However, no student uses such expression as “in my
opinion”, “I think”.
3.2.2 Keywords
8. Most students select keywords from their thesis titles or abstract, but these words do not
convey the contents, such as study, analysis, solution, problem, method, strategy and
management. For example, in a thesis titled Strategies and Skills of English Tour Guide
Presentation, the key words are: tourism; cross-culture communication; English tour guide
presentation; Strategies and skills. Although such words as “tourism”, “strategy and
technique” reflect the content to some extent, this is definitely not the main idea in the thesis.
In this case, it would be better to omit “tourism” as the key words and add such words which
could reflect the main idea of the thesis.
3.2.3 Contents
Content is a critical part in thesis and a lens through which readers would grasp the main
ideas contained in the thesis and its value and significance. Thus, contents writing should
not be ignored. However, in supervising the undergraduate thesis, the researcher finds that
some students have trouble in writing thesis, such as inappropriate proportion, and illogical.
3.2.4 Research
Undergraduate thesis should meet the three intertwined elements embedded in
argumentation: argument, topic sentence and evidence. It should be noted that thesis writing
should be rigorous and logical. On the contrary it would be unconvincing and unpersuasive.
Students are aware of these standard criteria, but they have difficulty in achieving these.
Some students do not perceive a panorama about what should be contained in thesis
writing. Some students cannot express their ideas clearly, showing little unity and
coherence. Some students display little consistent facility in the use of language, let alone
appropriate word choice and idiomacity. Therefore, these theses stray away from the
standard criteria of a good thesis. In addition, it can be drawn from the 414 thesis samples
that students do not conform to standard citation style. In China, there is no consensus over
the citation style for undergraduate thesis. Different institutions and colleges make their own
citation style by referencing some citation styles in China. In the discipline of English
Language, citation styles are often using standard international citation styles, such as APA,
MLA or Chicago Manual of Style. Before undergraduates write their theses, the foreign
language department provides reference templates and tutorials for students. However, it
turns out to be disappointing. Many students pay little attention to citation style and thus
such problems as citation, quotation, connotation, examples, and fonts, are seen in theses,
degrading the quality of thesis.
3.2.4.1 Introduction
Introduction is the first part of the content part in thesis and it aims to attract reader’s
attention. This part previews theme, research background, research questions and
conclusions of thesis. The introduction part in students’ thesis is lengthy, ambiguous in
theme, background, research questions, and argumentation, which are the core elements
9. comprising thesis writing. 3.2.4.2 Literature Review Writing a good literature review is based
on the ability in searching for the literature. Some students do not tend to use core reference
paper. There are such problems shown in the thesis samples as the following but not limited
to these: inadequacy of literature, literature which is not representative, reliable and
scientific, inconsistency of literature, lack of perception and insight in addressing the
literature and illogical and inappropriate use of language.
3.2.4.3 Argumentation
The gist in thesis is its argument, and evidence in supporting main ideas. Devoid of
argumentation, thesis is not academic and scientific and a lack of evidence. Thesis results in
a pool of examples, in poor quality. Appropriate, novel, persuasive, and typical evidence
could support the arguments. The problems existing in thesis samples are inconsistency in
argumentation and evidence, inconcise use of language and a lack of logic and consistency.
3.2.4.4 Conclusion
In general, it would be better if the conclusion could summarise the ideas correctly and show
the concise use of language. There are such problems in the conclusion as exaggeration,
digression, over brevity and redundancy.
3.2.5 Acknowledgement
These are the problems in acknowledge. For example, “Secondly,I also appreciate
researches that done by Leech, Grice, Lakoff, etc.. Without their former studies, I can’t finish
my study on pragmatic strategies.” From this example, the awkward expression makes
readers wonder who exactly students are grateful for, their masterpiece or these linguists.
Then it comes the problem of style. Students do not keep consistent in formal expression.
For instance, “In the process of writing this thesis, I came to realize that though I have learnt
four years in the university, the accumulation in knowledge is not enough.” This sentence
would not be appropriate to be included in the acknowledgement.
3.3 Oral Defence
Besides problems in oral expression, students are unclear in expressing their argumentation
in their thesis. Students do not have a solid theoretical foundation, or field research, or a
comprehensiveness of theories.
4. Discussion
Writing graduation thesis is a systematic program which is a combination of efforts from
administrators, teachers and students. Scientific administration ensures the quality of the
graduation thesis; effective guidance helps to improve the quality of it; and it is students who
do the writing. The researcher will discuss how to improve the English major students’ ability
of writing graduation thesis from the following aspects detailedly.
4.1 Selecting the Title and Writing the Proposal
10. 4.1.1 Establishing the System of Controlling and Supervising the Quality of Bachelor’s
Graduation Thesis
The independent college should not copy the main university’s administration system of
graduation thesis. They should establish an administration system which is suitable for their
own characteristics on the basis of their students’ actual ability and thesis’ specific
requirements. They should administrate the graduation thesis like a product. People can use
the graduation thesis’ administration system to analyze the factors of influencing the thesis’
quality to design and establish an effective system which accords with the major’s features.
Thus, it can make the academic administrators, teachers and students active and improve
the quality of the thesis as well as the supervision of the teaching process.
4.1.2 Selecting the Title Effectively
The students should master the basic principles and skills of selecting the title, for instance,
the good title has to be specific and novel. It is difficult and unpractical to focus on the
novelty of Bachelor’s graduation thesis written by independent college students. However,
the thesis should include something subjective and particular, or it will be meaningless to
select such a subject. Actually, novelty can be the innovation of viewpoint, perspective and
means. The comparison of different viewpoints, the plunge of different perspectives, the
usage of different means and the intersection of different courses can make the thesis
distinct and unique. The title should be concise, clear and uncomplicated. Moreover, in order
to let the students attach importance to the selection of the title, the person in charge of the
graduation thesis has to analyze and summarize the problems of the previous graduates’
selection, and also analyze the new graduates’ issue specifically. Thus, it can make the
students understand the requirements of selecting title clearly and avoid the problems of
irrelevance and covering a wide range.
4.1.3 Making Good Use of the Library
Guiding the students to select the title is just a minor part of writing the graduation thesis,
and the major part depends on the information provided by the library. It could be said that
the quality and service of the library have a great impact on students’ thesis writing. The
library administrators should change their previous viewpoints to improve the quality of the
service and give full play to the library. They should make a contribution to improving the
quality of the graduation thesis with the students from the foreign languages.
4.1.4 Verification of the Title and Guidance of the Proposal
4.1.4.1 Verification of the Title
The verification of the title is an extraordinary preliminary work of guiding the graduation
thesis. In the process of it, the members of the title verification team should discuss the
students’ own perspective carefully and point out the problems and defects, and then come
11. up with the solution as well. Thus, the irrelevance, old-fashion, ambiguity, and similarity can
be avoided at the most.
4.1.4.2 Guidance of the Proposal
Proposal defense should be arranged to point out some reasonable and practical
suggestions according to the students’ writing perspectives, content, relevant research
developments and structure. For the students who are going to start writing the thesis, those
reasonable advices can help them to have a better understanding of the whole thesis and
write it more successfully. After deciding the title of both English and Chinese version,
School of Foreign Languages in NIT will ask some experts to check the problems like
translation.
4.2 Writing of Every Part of the Thesis
4.2.1 Requirements of Writing the Abstract
The abstract and keywords are the essence of the thesis. They are the form of expressing
the main thoughts and the searching marks based on the main body of the thesis. The
readers can understand the content of the whole thesis by reading the abstract so that they
can master the whole thesis. In addition, the abstract can provide the information for the
literature retrieval or be cited by other people directly. So the authors have to operate and
refine carefully. The abstract is a complete essay that can be cited, and for the English
graduation thesis, please see the following requirements: the information should be
abundant, and it cannot omit the main information of the thesis; it has to reflect the novelty
and uniqueness; the author should pay attention to the structural and stylistic features and
not combine the the first class subject and the second class subject together to form the
abstract; the author should exclude the common sense of the topic; the author cannot write
the abstract like the introduction; the abstract should not only include the background and
reason; the author cannot use the expression like “the author has attempted to do
something”, because it contains nothing meaningful; the author cannot use the First Person.
For instance, “In this article I analyze/discuss/describe....”; the author should use the Third
Person and The Passive Voice more.
4.2.2 Optimizing English Curriculum and Highlighting Features of the Administration
4.2.2.1 Optimizing English Curriculum
1) The construction of module: Teaching Syllabus for English Majors from institution of
higher learning 2000 stipulates that the institution of higher learning cultivates English major
students to have solid language basis and extensive knowledge and can use English
masterly in the fields of foreign affairs, education, trade, culture, science and technology,
teaching, administration, research as interdisciplinary talents. It demands the talents to mix
the knowledge together and permeate the courses. So the university has to cooperate with
School of Foreign Languages to cultivate the English interdisciplinary talents, and handle the
12. relationship between the skill courses and knowledge courses well. The administrators can
use linguistics, British and American literature, business English and translation as modules
to design the cultivating plans. They should lessen the kinds of compulsory courses and add
the kinds of selected courses, and focus on acquiring some other professional knowledge
related with English major.
2) The construction of academic thesis writing courses: Department of teaching should
strengthen construction of English academic thesis writing courses, let students know about
the standard and skills and train them to write systematically. The supervisors can ask the
students to submit the report according to some professional topics. It can form the training
pattern of course thesis to graduation thesis by guidance, and let the students have a
perceptual knowledge of academic thesis writing. School of Foreign Languages, Ningbo
Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University has brought forward the graduation thesis writing
to the 7th semester since 2012, and set up the curriculum Advanced English Writing or
Graduation Thesis Writing which is taught by senior Chinese teachers.
4.2.2.2 Strengthening Practical Teaching
Practical teaching should be strengthened and consciousness of thesis writing should be
built. We should penetrate the basic language skills throughout the process of education,
focus on the thematic learning and try to select some content-based teaching materials, from
the courses of basic English skills to professional knowledge. We should guide the students
to do some small research topics and ask them to collect the materials and write the report
in order to prepare for graduation thesis writing.
4.2.3 Improving the Ability
4.2.3.1 Improving Students’ Ability of Writing
It is the students who write the graduation thesis. The improvement of students’ writing
ability depends on their own interest in study and cultivation of thinking ability. Interest is the
best teacher. For the students, they should broaden their horizon,have a profound
understanding of academic research, master the trend of the field and lay a solid foundation
for research.
4.2.3.2 Improving Teachers’ Own Ability of Doing Research
The school can train teachers according to the orientation designedly, and organize the
lectures of thesis writing regularly. The teachers should discuss guiding materials to form a
virtuous cycle of getting improvement during the guidance and doing the guidance to
students. The teachers from School of Foreign Languages could share their experience in
the process of guiding thesis writing, and edit a book to guide the English major students
from independent college to write the graduation thesis. It can guide the students from the
perspective of graduation thesis’ structure, content, language and style format.
13. 4.3 Defense
During campus life, students should pay more attention to their pronunciation and accent.
School of Foreign Languages has modified the pronunciation curriculum, but it is not
enough. We can consider strengthening the pronunciation training in comprehensive English
classes when students are freshmen and sophomores.
5. Conclusion
In summary, many problems exist in undergraduate students’ thesis writing in both content
and type. Administrators, teachers and students should made efforts collectively. For
independent institutions, it is important to raise both teachers’ and students’ awareness in
the importance in thesis writing. Teachers should shoulder the responsibility of guiding
students in thesis writing and enhancing their abilities. The following effective measures will
be helpful: improving the quality of teaching; perfecting the curriculum; enhancing field
research; improving pedagogy; improving assessment; improving educational management;
cultivating students’ rigor and diligence in learning and writing; researching every
requirements of undergraduate thesis writing; All these mentioned above would push English
teaching practice in the undergraduate level to a new height.
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