Analysis of written comments from graduate thesis advisors

Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of a research in which the comments written by 20 thesis advisors to students from different master programs in the field of Human Sciences were analyzed. More specifically, the research focused on the question “What are the linguistic and pedagogic characteristics of the comments made by thesis advisors?” For that purpose, we used some of the hypothesis of Kumar and Stracke (2007), Hyland (2009), Higgins, Hartely, and Skelton (2001). Based on the analysis of the data, we were able to establish the categories in light of the pragmatic (language function, privileged act of speech, intent, role of the addresser, role of the addressee, tone), semantic (type of comment, aspect on which the comment focuses, referentiality) and syntactic (cohesion, length) levels of language and the written feedback model based on Kumar and Stracke's (2007) language functions. The most significant result shows that the comment reflects that the teachers assume one of the following roles: evaluator, copyeditor, or co-author. This last role generates more constructive roles than the previous two.