An exploration of Chinese graduate students' email communication with supervisors

Abstract

This study explored Chinese graduate research students‟ experiences of email writing to supervisors with a qualitative approach. Six Chinese research-based students and two supervisors took part into this study. Through the analysis of the participants‟ interview data, two sets of themes emerged from the two groups. They were emotions, perceptions of supervisors, writing approaches, writing problems and “good” emails for students. In terms of the themes on supervisors, they were traits of Chinese students’ emails, perceptions of “good” emails, supervisors’ recommended writing strategies and emails as a teaching tool. The analysis of student participants‟ email samples indicated that Chinese graduates took a different attitude in their emails. They could not differentiate request strategies, and preferred placing their requests behind justifications. English as Second Language (ESL) educators are encouraged to help Chinese graduate students establish a practical English learning plan to improve writing skills.