© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
A multi-thrust approach to fostering a research culture
If producing quality research and meeting the attendant demands of thesis and dissertation writing is a difficult process for native speaker students, it is often doubly so for non-native speakers. ESL/EFL students may have the level of language proficiency for admission to their course of study, without yet possessing the necessary textual knowledge, genre knowledge and social knowledge required of them to succeed at this level. There is thus growing awareness in academic circles that ESL and EFL graduate students in countries such as Thailand may need assistance and guidance, not only in designing and carrying out their research, but also with the presentation of their research in an acceptable standard of English (Allison et al. 1998). Since the nature of this assistance is often multi-faceted, spanning cognitive, organizational, generic, linguistic and socio-affective aspects, a multi-thrust approach becomes necessary to provide student support. The paper describes one such attempt at meeting the multiple needs of EFL graduate students in Thailand.