Dear Hülya küçükoğlu,

The following link may not be fully relevant, but it may be of use more or less.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281113412_Masters_Thesis_Writing_Cinderella_of_Iranian_ELT_Education

Best regards,

Cameen

Article Master’s Thesis Writing: Cinderella of Iranian ELT Education

Dear  Cameen Kettanun, I'd like to thank you for the very related article.

Best wishes,

Hülya

Merhaba, Hülya,

    I can only comment on my own practice -- I usually meet with students once a week during the writing process in order to encourage them and make sure that they do not go astray in their work and waste time and effort. I also give them close feedback on their writing, to reduce editing pain and tme later. Some students wind up with a lot of red ink on their work (I'm talking here about US native English speakers), but they learn to write that way. I think that meeting regularly is important -- too many students are left to work alone, and wind up with a lot of their work being rejected and having to be re-written.

   I strongly believe that MA theses should be eliminated. Students at that point have often not had enough research and writing experience to make the experience worthwhile, and the result is a lot of effort and grief for both student and supervisor. The MA thesis is a relic of the time when this was the top degree for most people, and was seen as a terminal research degree. Now that most of those truly interested in research go directly on to the PhD in the US, the MA thesis is an anachronism, and should be abandoned (possibly left only as a personal option). The requirement of an MA thesis in many countries -- a hangover from colonial times -- often poses a serious obstacle for students who receive their MA in the US, as it is not then recognized in their own country when they return home. This is an important matter that TESOL organizations in countries around the world should lobby universities and ministries of higher education about.

Merhaba Rudy,

I am really happy to get a commnet on your own practice, that gave me a chance to understand "what is on advisor's mind". As for the MA thesis issue. I believe that there are two sides of the story from my personal point of view. The thesis I wrote for my MA study  paved the way to my dissertation as I had a similar experience while collecting tha data and analyzing the data. It was somehow helpful for my PhD dissertation writing experince. However if I chose not to continue with a PhD degree, all the efford I had, would have been left without a reason.

In my country MA students have two options while doing their MA degree; "with a thesis" or "without thesis" The conditions to be accepted to these two different program options are also different. At the end of the day, if you decided to get your degree from the " without thesis" program, you don't have a chance to be accepted for a PhD program anyway, so there is no need to get the experince I have mentioned above. What you have mentioned in your comment, is it something like the one we have in our country?

Best regards,

Hülya

Merhaba, Hülya

    I'm sorry to hear that such a division in the MA stream occurs. It is true that the work done on a thesis may contribute toward the dissertation, but often these are completely different (as in my case), so in such a situation there is no carry-over. Most PhD programs I know of in the US automatically award an MA degree after completion of the first 30 units/hours of study, and there is hardly any awareness of reaching a milestone. Most MA programs in TESOL are teaching-oriented, and merely upgrade teachers who may already have a BA and a teaching credential in some field, so most of the graduates are not interested in research and simply return to the classroom qualified for a higher salary. For the 10% or so who go on to a PhD, they gain research experience and training in further classes after the MA, so the thesis would simply have been a time-consuming obstacle to continuing on to their PhD.

  Iyi aks,amlar,

  Rudy