A Closer Look at the Doctoral Writing Practices in an English-Medium Instruction University in Turkey

As the international language of science, English has been utilized as the primary language in academic writing, including dissertations and scholarly articles across the world (e.g., Philipson R, World Engl 27(2):250–267, 2008; Tardy C, J Engl Acad Purp 3(3):247–269, 2004). The increasing dominance of English within academic communities results in establishing the universities having English as the medium of instruction. Thus, graduate students in these universities faced requirements of producing their academic essays, theses, and articles in English. However, developing such English writing skills has become a significant challenge for these students, especially in non-English speaking countries, such as Turkey. Nevertheless, the academic writing learning experiences of the nonnative graduate students and their relationships with their supervisors still seem terra incognita in English-medium universities in EFL context, including Turkey (e.g., Flowerdew J, J Second Lang Writ 8(3):243–263, 1999; Uysal HH, Emerg Writ Res Middle East-North Afr Reg 41, 2017). In this regard, this study aimed to explore the writing practices of doctoral students and supervision procedures of supervisors. For this purpose, online semi-structured interviews are conducted with eight different participants including four doctoral students, four supervisors. Using the Constant Comparison Method, the findings of this study have revealed the nature of the supervisors’ writing support practices and students’ learning processes, their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with feedback provided and received, and the reasons behind these procedures during the English academic writing process. The analytic findings of this study will contribute to the academic writing in English-medium education research field.