Student and Supervisor Relationship

Sutanto, 2015 THESIS WRITING SUPERVISION: A CONTRIBUTION OF FEEDBACK TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS ’ THESIS WRITING Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 20 In the writing supervision, it is not only supervisors who have the responsibilities to achieve the goal of writing but also students. Bo th students and supervisors need to master a range of writing tasks of varying complexity Brown, 1994. However, it is the responsibility of the student to take the initiative throughout the thesis writing process: raising problems or difficulties, discussing issues arising from feedback, taking appropriate action, and maintaining the progress of work as agreed with the supervisor MA Programme Director, 2008. Further detailed responsibilities of the students cover: a Discussing with hisher thesis supervisor; b Taking the initiative in raising problems or difficulties with the supervisor; c Attending supervisory meetings well prepared and with a clear agenda for the meeting; d Making satisfactory academic and research progress following the advice of hisher thesis supervisor; e Discussing with and obtaining the approval of hisher thesis supervisor regarding any changes in the direction of hisher research focus and its implications; f Providing a brief self- evaluation summary report; g Ensuring that his thesis is completed and submitted within the period stipulated by the University for assessment; h Abiding by the rules and regulations governing postgraduate studies of the University; and i Ensuring that all work done by others which are used in the thesis is properly acknowledged Guide on Thesis Supervision, 2010-2011 , pp. 38-39. In this research, the responsibilities of students include attending the meetings, taking initiative and completing the thesis on time. Taking initiative includes raising problems or difficulties, discussing issues arising from feedback, taking appropriate action, and maintaining the progress of work as agreed with the supervisor.

2.2.4.4. Student and Supervisor Relationship

Sutanto, 2015 THESIS WRITING SUPERVISION: A CONTRIBUTION OF FEEDBACK TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS ’ THESIS WRITING Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 21 Relationship between supervisee and his supervisors has become a significant issue in writing supervision. There has been difficulty in managing relationship and the difficulty produces dissatisfactions with the process of supervision. Owler cited in Green 2005, p.154. acknowledged that The difficulty of managing the supervisory relationship is a well- known one. The intensity with which this relationship can be played out reveals that much more is involved than a simple transference of knowledge from one individual to another. On the contrary, each individual is revealed to have complex investments in this relationship. The difficulty of relationship includes language, culture, and gender. In a study peer response group involving native speakers and non-native speakers, Zhu 2001 found that non-native speakers took fewer turns and produced fewer language functions than native speakers during oral discussions. However, in this research there should be no difficulty of relationship as the students and supervisors speak the same language and have the same culture. Language was a major factor contributing to the problems between international students and their western supervisors Adrian-Taylor Tischler, 2007; McClure, 2005. In their study, Holmes 2005 reported that the Chinese students were reluctant or hesitant to make oral presentations and to speak at research seminars. They feared that their English would not be understood. Culture is another problem in relationship. Supervision relationship is supposed to be intimate and warm. However, it is not simple to build such relationship without involving common cultural context. Academic culture shock, another cultural problem, is experienced by most international research students Brown, 2004. Huang 2006 suggested that there were considerable different academic culture experienced by international students. However, when the supervisor and supervisee have the same language, culture or gender, it does not guarantee that they have no difficulties in relationship. Sutanto, 2015 THESIS WRITING SUPERVISION: A CONTRIBUTION OF FEEDBACK TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS ’ THESIS WRITING Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 22 Other relationship dissatisfactions include poor direction and structure of supervision Acker et al., 1994, the allocation to a supervisor whose interests did not match with those of the student, and insufficient guidance and time scaling Eggleston Delamont, 1983; Wright and Lodwick, 1989. The other dissatisfaction that has also been identified as a critical ingredient in the research supervision process is mentoring Shannon: 1995. Such dissatisfaction rates have been found to be higher in the domain of social sciences than in natural sciences Young, Fogarty McRea, 1987. In Australia, the satisfaction ratings of supervisors were about 54 for part-time students and 64 for full-time doctoral students Harman, 2002. This means that almost half of part-time students were not satisfied with the supervisors and more than one third of full-time doctoral students were neither satisfied with the supervisors. The relationship has been acknowledged as an important factor directly influencing the success or failure of postgraduate studies Symons, 2001; Seagram et al., 1998. Most researchers agree that completing a writing program is a process that depends on a close, working relationship between supervisees and supervisors Abiddin, 2007. Blumberg 1978 suggested that trust, warmth and honest collaboration are key elements in successful supervision. One study in particular indicated that satisfaction with supervision correlated higher with the students perceptions of the supervisory relationships than with perceived expertise Heppner Handley, 1981. Armstrong 2004, p. 600 sates that ... relationships with supervisors are also known to be related to the satisfaction and productivity that students find in their supervision, are known to be critical for successful completion, and are regarded by most graduate students as the single most important aspect of the quality of their research experience. Building a good relationship between supervisors and supervisees is a key aspect to face writing problems. Moses 1985 states that most supervisory problems can be overcome if there is a clear and open communication on all aspects of the Sutanto, 2015 THESIS WRITING SUPERVISION: A CONTRIBUTION OF FEEDBACK TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS ’ THESIS WRITING Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 23 project, and if there is a structure without a framework for supervision which facilitates the development and creativity of the student. In this study, students and supervisors relationship satisfaction is when there is a clear and open communication and a trust, warmth and honest collaboration and an understanding relationship in the supervision.

2.2.5. Feedback strategies