Communication needs of science graduate students
Graduate programmes in most universities are typically oriented towards training students to master their disciplinary studies and communication skills courses are often offered as add-on courses that rarely take into consideration students’ needs. The needs of graduate students can vary depending o...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147600 |
| _version_ | 1826117392269312000 |
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| author | Kathpalia, Sujata S. Ong, Kenneth Keng Wee Leong, Alvin Ping |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Kathpalia, Sujata S. Ong, Kenneth Keng Wee Leong, Alvin Ping |
| author_sort | Kathpalia, Sujata S. |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Graduate programmes in most universities are typically oriented towards training students to master their disciplinary studies and communication skills courses are often offered as add-on courses that rarely take into consideration students’ needs. The needs of graduate students can vary depending on their educational backgrounds and English language proficiency and as such, it is important to conduct a needs analysis to ensure that these courses cater to the needs of both proficient and less-proficient speakers of English. Using focus-group interviews, this study was conducted to examine the communication needs of local and international graduate students at a university in Singapore. More specifically, the objectives were to investigate the communication tasks prioritized by science graduate students, their communication needs and difficulties, as well as the help they would need through communication skills courses at the university. The findings suggest that the needs of the students vary depending on their proficiency in English. Those with higher proficiency aspire to master a repertoire of academic genres and higher-order language skills whereas those with lower proficiency require more help with lower-order language skills as well as more peer and professor support. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:26:31Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/147600 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:26:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1476002021-04-07T02:07:19Z Communication needs of science graduate students Kathpalia, Sujata S. Ong, Kenneth Keng Wee Leong, Alvin Ping School of Humanities Humanities::Language Graduate Students Communication Needs Graduate programmes in most universities are typically oriented towards training students to master their disciplinary studies and communication skills courses are often offered as add-on courses that rarely take into consideration students’ needs. The needs of graduate students can vary depending on their educational backgrounds and English language proficiency and as such, it is important to conduct a needs analysis to ensure that these courses cater to the needs of both proficient and less-proficient speakers of English. Using focus-group interviews, this study was conducted to examine the communication needs of local and international graduate students at a university in Singapore. More specifically, the objectives were to investigate the communication tasks prioritized by science graduate students, their communication needs and difficulties, as well as the help they would need through communication skills courses at the university. The findings suggest that the needs of the students vary depending on their proficiency in English. Those with higher proficiency aspire to master a repertoire of academic genres and higher-order language skills whereas those with lower proficiency require more help with lower-order language skills as well as more peer and professor support. Nanyang Technological University This work was funded by an EdeX research grant from Nanyang Technological University. 2021-04-07T02:04:53Z 2021-04-07T02:04:53Z 2020 Journal Article Kathpalia, S. S., Ong, K. K. W. & Leong, A. P. (2020). Communication needs of science graduate students. RELC Journal, 51(2), 227-243. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0033688218822152 0033-6882 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147600 10.1177/0033688218822152 2-s2.0-85061646760 2 51 227 243 en RELC Journal © 2019 The Author(s). All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::Language Graduate Students Communication Needs Kathpalia, Sujata S. Ong, Kenneth Keng Wee Leong, Alvin Ping Communication needs of science graduate students |
| title | Communication needs of science graduate students |
| title_full | Communication needs of science graduate students |
| title_fullStr | Communication needs of science graduate students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Communication needs of science graduate students |
| title_short | Communication needs of science graduate students |
| title_sort | communication needs of science graduate students |
| topic | Humanities::Language Graduate Students Communication Needs |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147600 |
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