‘They cannot Write as Well as We Expect’, Why? A Multi-Case Study of Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Factors that Hinder Graduates of Colleges of Technology Mastering Technical Writing Skills Requested in the Omani Market
Al Hinai, Issa Abdullah Said
Date: 15 May 2018
Publisher
University of Exeter
Degree Title
PhD in Education
Abstract
This project addresses a continuing problem in technical education: the perceived
mismatch between the report writing skills of technical college graduates and the
demands of report writing in the workplace. This problem is commonly identified in
surveys of employers, who express dissatisfaction with the writing skills of their
new ...
This project addresses a continuing problem in technical education: the perceived
mismatch between the report writing skills of technical college graduates and the
demands of report writing in the workplace. This problem is commonly identified in
surveys of employers, who express dissatisfaction with the writing skills of their
new hires, and has most often been examined with surveys of alumni from these
colleges, who express dissatisfaction with the writing preparation they received (Al-
Mahrooqi & Denman, 2016). The study is specifically designed to find out why
graduates of Colleges of Technology (CoT) have difficulty in performing technical
report writing tasks as well as expected by workplace managers and how academic
text features are different from or similar to professional text features. This project
took a new approach to investigating the problem. This multi-case study employed
the combined use of semi-structured interviews and document analysis methods.
This involved a total of 19 interviews with (1) report writing tutors and courses
designers and students in three (COT) and (2) employees and their employers in
local telecommunication and banking firms. The project then focused on the
empirical analysis of structural and linguistic features in a corpus of 168 reports
written by numerous students of CoT and by practitioners from the firms. This
combination brought multiple perspectives to the interpretation of the issue being
investigated in relation to the different participants, but also contextualised the
analysis of the texts within the social and cultural situations from which the
participants came.
Findings suggested that CoT graduates' experience with writing for workplace
purposes in the contexts of the study is influenced by both institutional and
contextual factors. These factors interact to hinder the graduates’ mastery of
context-appropriate writing. The key institutional factors are a) task requirements,
and b) awareness of texts’ audience. The key contextual factor is the absence of
coordination between the two investigated contexts, namely CoT and corporates.
Within each of these broad categories, there are also subcategories that further
demonstrate the complexity of graduates’ writing and the multitude of elements that
shape graduates’ writing in both university and future workplace.
The thesis concludes by presenting practical and theoretical implications for
corporate officials, teachers, and course designers. The study recommends that
internal and external communication is needed between CoT and corporates as
through the establishment of such effective channels of communication between
these camps we will be able to bridge the current perceived gap and better equip
graduates for the challenges of workplace writing. It is hoped that in addressing the
research aims these findings may be beneficial to understanding the contextual
factors that assist or hamper the progress of the undergraduates' technical writing.
It is also anticipated that such a comprehension may guide course designers,
writing tutors, and discipline lecturers to detect the preparations required to best
sustain students' negotiation of technical writing to better prepare students to adapt
to the demands of academic and work contexts.
Doctoral Theses
Doctoral College
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