EXPLORING UNDERGRADUATE EFL LEARNERS’ CHALLENGES AND OVERCOMING STRATEGIES IN ONLINE SUPERVISION AT ONE
PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN JAMBI A THESIS
Submitted as Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements to Obtain the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan in English Study Program
WRITTEN BY:
LUXVHYONA FHARADHYLLA PRAPASSEL A1B219104
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF JAMBI 2022
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL ... ii
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ... iii
MOTTO ... iv
ABSTRACT ... v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... viii
LIST OF TABLES ... xi
LIST OF FIGURES... xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION... xiii
CHAPTER I ... 14
INTRODUCTION ... 14
1.1 Background of the Research ... 14
1.2 Research Questions ... 19
1.3 Purposes of the Research ... 19
1.4 Limitation of the Research ... 19
1.5 Significance of the Research ... 20
1.6 Definition of Key Terms ... 21
CHAPTER II ... 23
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE ... 23
2.1 Supervision ... 23
2.1.1 The Concept of Supervision ... 23
2.1.2 Supervisor ... 24
2.1.3 Supervisory Relationship ... 25
2.2 Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Supervisory Experiences: A Review of Challenges ... 27
ix
2.2.1 Internal Factors of the Supervisions’ Challenges Experienced by
Undergraduate EFL Learners ... 28
2.2.1.1 Psychological ... 28
2.2.1.2 Lack of Motivation ... 29
2.2.1.3 Lack of Confidence ... 30
2.2.1.4 Poor Time Management ... 31
2.2.2 External Factors of the Supervisions’ Challenges Experienced by Undergraduate EFL Learners ... 31
2.2.2.1 Insufficiency Expertise of Supervisors ... 32
2.2.2.2 Insufficiency Support of Supervisors ... 33
2.2.2.3 Change of Supervisors... 34
2.2.2.4 Internet and Technology Problems ... 34
2.2.2.5 Supervisors’ Negative Feedback and Comments ... 35
2.3 Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Supervisory Experiences: A Review of Strategies ... 36
2.3.1 Self-Management Strategies ... 37
2.3.2 Managing the Supervision’s Schedule ... 38
2.3.3 Maintaining Communication with Supervisors... 40
2.3.4 Peer-review ... 41
2.4 Online Learning and Supervision in Online Learning ... 41
2.5 Previous Study ... 42
CHAPTER III ... 48
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY... 48
3.1 Research Design ... 48
3.2 Research Participants ... 49
3.3 Data Collection ... 51
3.3.1 Interview ... 51
3.3.2 Audio Diary ... 53
3.4 Data Analysis ... 54
3.5 Trustworthiness and Ethical Consideration ... 56
x
CHAPTER IV ... 57
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 57
4.1 Research Findings ... 57
4.1.1 Challenges ... 57
4.1.2 Strategies ... 70
4.2 Research Discussions ... 94
4.2.1 The challenges experienced by undergraduate EFL learners during their online supervision... 95
4.2.2 The strategies applied by undergraduate EFL learners to overcome their supervision challenges' ... 100
CHAPTER V ... 107
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 107
5.1 Conclusions ... 107
5.2 Suggestions ... 108
REFERENCES ... 110
APPENDICES ... 117
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LIST OF TABLES
1. The categories of literature review of undergraduate EFL learners’
experiences: challenges………...27
2. The categories of literature review of undergraduate EFL learners’ experiences: strategies……….36
3. Research Participants……….……..50
4. Specification of interview protocol……….53
5. Themes and sub-themes of participants’ challenges………...58
6. Themes and sub-themes of participants’ strategies……….70
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
1. The phases of Braun and Clarke’s Thematic Analysis (2006) ………55
xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
1. EFL (English as a Foreign Language) ………19
14 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Research
In university, undergraduate students spend approximately four years completing their education at this level. Before that, students are required to complete all of the courses in their study program within a period of about four years. Holmes (2013) also stated that individuals join higher education as students and exit as graduates. Higher education institutions preparing students for life after graduation is a source of concern, particularly concerning policy intervention and institutional practice. Besides providing much knowledge according to the student's field, this process can also be the basis of knowledge that students will use in their final year. In their final year, undergraduate students in Indonesian universities are required to write a final project known as a thesis. The final project is one of the core courses that students at the university must complete as a fulfillment of obtaining a bachelor's degree. Writing the final project is important for final-year students because it will determine their graduation.
In writing a thesis, students are required to be able to discuss a phenomenon that is currently happening or about a problem that has scarcely been investigated. As defined by McDermott and Nafalski (2007) final project often provides students with an additional motivation that encourages them to achieve more profound knowledge of their subject. In this stage, the students will discuss a special phenomenon
15
according to their scientific backgrounds, such as education, economics, agriculture, engineering, and law. It is intended that the research conducted can be useful for all people and easily understood by those who read it. In addition, it can make it easier for people looking for a reference for their research based on their problem.
In writing a thesis, students need supervision which will be guided by a professional who is an expert in a certain field. Sambrook et al. (2008) stated that the purpose of supervision is to guide, steer, and support students through the process of conducting a thesis. At this stage, students start doing and writing a thesis which will be supervised by a supervisor. The supervisor is an expert in a particular field according to the topic being studied by the student under his guidance. Students will be very dependent on the guidance provided by their supervisors. Indirectly, the supervisor's performance will greatly affect the students. Therefore, the research supervisor is an important key in doing research for the final project for completing the study. Bair and Hawoth (2004) also stated that an effective working relationship between the supervisor and the student is very crucial. The quality of the supervisory relationship depends on the students as well as their research supervisor.
In the real situation, many students still have difficulty completing their education due to the obstacles faced when doing supervision. Some studies have proven that supervision is also one of the obstacles faced by students in their final year. According to McAlpine and Weiss (2000), many graduate students in North American colleges do not complete their degrees because of some reasons when
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doing supervision. Hamshiere et al. (2017) also stated that among the challenges that are often faced by final-year student is a bilateral relationship with their supervisor.
Hill et al. (1994) found that the lack of relationship between student and supervisor and poor interpersonal relationships are the reasons most often cited for problems encountered in the PhD supervisory process. Hutt et al. (1983) also found that the challenges in supervision also involved negative emotions, such as frustration, anger, and anxiety. These emotions lead to distrust and disrespect in supervisory relationships, reluctance to engage in honest self-disclosure in supervision, and lack of satisfaction in meeting developmental needs. This greatly affects the development of the thesis made by students. Hence, it is common for final-year students to experience stress and anxiety when compiling their final project. Orellana et al.
(2016) mentioned that the supervisor-student relationship is influenced by a variety of elements, including the individuals' personalities, the institutional environment, roles and responsibilities, and supervisory style. Furthermore, Blumberg (1978) further suggested that the key elements of successful supervision are warmth, honest collaboration, and trust. These studies show that having a good relationship with supervisors is the key to successful supervision.
In addition, one of the challenging factors experienced by students recently was the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the whole world is facing a pandemic of a disease known as COVID-19, which can lead to complications of many illnesses and can even cause death for people who have a weak immune system. Therefore, in the
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last two years, many universities have done online supervision. Even though currently, the COVID-19 cases in Indonesia are starting to subside, some supervisors are still conducting online supervision. Prihandoko et al. (2022) stated that the supervisors felt that online supervision was more flexible because it could be done anywhere and anytime. Moreover, online supervision is assisted by technological devices such as email, computers, and other applications (Karunaratne, 2018). For instance, one public university in Jambi has a website for managing student final assignment supervision which includes scientific works, theses and dissertations called Elista. Supervisors as well as students are greatly helped by Elista to support their online supervision process. In addition, before conducting online supervision, the supervisor and student agree on whether it should be done synchronously or asynchronously.
However, the online supervision process does not always run smoothly, which can lead to negative perceptions of students (Casado-Lumbreras & Colomo-Palacios, 2014). For example, students have difficulty writing their thesis, struggle to understand their guided online research projects, and students may be confused by the online supervision process. Students also feel that there is no emotional attachment to their supervisor. Meydan and Denizli (2018) pointed out that students will expect their supervisors to be warm, embracing, respectful, and truthful. Hence, students should have strategies and solutions to overcome their struggles during supervision.
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Because of the current situation, this research will focus on students who do supervision mostly online.
There are some previous studies related to challenges experienced by post- graduate students and strategies in doing supervision. Frischer and Larsson (2000) interviewed 15 students who had dropped out from a Swedish university. They found that the main factors that caused students' failure to complete the PhD program included the inability of the supervisor and the student to set research goals, infrequent and irregular meetings with the supervisor, and a general lack of direction of the student from the supervisor. Moreover, some researchers also mention the challenges that are often encountered by post-graduate students are support, the bilateral relations with their supervisors (Hamshire et al., 2017), competitiveness and high confidence in academic reading, writing, research and skills (Sidhu et al., 2015).
Those are several studies that discuss the challenges and strategies used by post- graduate students. The researcher found that there are rarely studies that discuss supervision from the side of undergraduate students. Because of that, the researcher decides to examine the supervision of undergraduate students' perceptions. The scope of knowledge regarding supervision will become even wider.
Those previous studies have provided a lot of knowledge and references about the challenges and strategies in offline supervision from the point of view of post- graduate students. Those prior researchers have also conducted research in other countries outside Indonesia. To fill the research gap in supervision, the researcher
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only focuses on challenges experienced and the strategies used by undergraduate students during supervision, specifically undergraduate EFL learners in one public university in Jambi. One of the reasons is that there are no researchers who have investigated this problem in Jambi, especially for undergraduate EFL learners. In addition, the researcher also focuses on participants who mostly do their supervision online. The reasons are that the researcher adapts to the current conditions that happen in this country and the contexts in previous studies are mostly offline, and research on supervision in an online way is very rare.
1.2 Research Questions
1. What are the challenges experienced by undergraduate EFL learners during their online supervision?
2. How do undergraduate EFL learners overcome their supervision challenges'?
1.3 Purposes of the Research
1. To explore the challenges experienced by undergraduate EFL learners during online supervision.
2. To investigate the strategies applied by undergraduate EFL learners for their supervision challenges'.
1.4 Limitation of the Research
In this research, there are some limitations of the study. Firstly, the research only focuses on undergraduate EFL learners. Secondly, this research investigates the
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participants who have completed the seminar proposal stage. Thirdly, this research only focuses on the process experienced by undergraduate EFL learners during their online supervision with their supervisors.
1.5 Significance of the Research 1. For the Lecturer
This research is beneficial for the lecturer because it provides new insights about online supervision from another perspective. Besides, the lecturer can know what the lecturer should do to solve the student’s challenges to get a better supervisory relationship.
2. For the Students
The finding of this research is beneficial for students, primarily undergraduate EFL learners. The students are able to know what challenges they face during their online supervision and the strategies they apply to handle these challenges.
3. For the Researcher
This research can help the future researcher get many references about undergraduate EFL learners' challenges in online supervision and their strategies for further research. This topic is also very rarely found and researched, especially in Jambi.
21 1.6 Definition of Key Terms
1. Supervisory relationship
A supervisory relationship refers to a relationship that involves two professional parties, especially in this case is in the field of education. The supervisors and students conducting online supervision are examples that fit the context of this research.
2. Online Supervision
Online supervision is thesis guidance via digital media and the internet, such as a mobile phone or computer connected to an internet network. Online supervision can also be done both synchronous and asynchronous.
3. EFL Students
EFL is defined as the study of English by people who live in areas where English is not used as a first language (Gebhard, 2006). English Foreign Language (EFL) students are students who study and use English as a second language instead of their mother tongue. They usually have goals and reasons why they study and communicate using English.
4. Challenges of Supervision
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Challenges of supervision refer to things that become obstacles faced by students when undergoing supervision. Challenges can hinder the supervision process because students' challenges can be different.
5. Strategies of Online Supervisory Process
Strategies of online supervisory process here are the method used by undergraduate EFL learners to solve a problem encountered in order to achieve the supervision process is going well.
23 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Supervision
2.1.1 The Concept of Supervision
The definition of supervision has various meanings among experts. In general, supervision involves an expert in the academic field and becomes a tutor in charge of assessing the performance of a student. Advising and assisting a student in their pursuit of knowledge is what supervision entails (Drysdale, 2001). Hence, a student is someone who will be closely monitored for progress regarding their performance by a tutor who is an expert in their field.
Furthermore, Derounian (2011) explained that the focus of any literature dealing with supervision in undergraduate programs largely discusses issues associated with students’ organizational skills, timekeeping, and writing skills.
Supervision is very vital in supporting the success of a project undertaken by a student. Consequently, the roles of academics supervising undergraduate research and the student experience are largely under-explored areas (Boud & Costley, 2007). The supervision process will be successful if both parties can work well together and achieve the desired goals. As Acker (1999) said that from what students and other researchers claim, the heart of a successful supervision process is the quality of the relationship between student and supervisor. It is in line with Kaiser (1997) who said that to get an effective supervision, both the supervisor and the student need to
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participate in the process recognizing and accepting that a power differential does exist.
In conclusion, those studies showed that the important key in successful supervision is not only dependent on the supervisor but also the role of students who are active and willing to cooperate.
2.1.2 Supervisor
A supervisor is someone who is an expert in a particular field and can provide guidance and always monitor students under his guidance. Malik (2015) stated that the selection of supervisors is usually done by students and supervisors who then determined by the faculty which has a different impact on students. According to Creighton and Parks (2010) that supervisor is a person who is committed as well as dedicated. Furthermore, a supervisor is expected to have good counseling skills (Abiddin, 2007), a willingness to be available when his students need help, and an ability to give feedback to his students (Lowe, et al. 2002; Sambrook, et al. 2008;
Talebloo & Baki, 2013; Wisker, 2007, 2012).
Besides, supervisor is also one of the most important roles for the success of a supervision process. Every student expects their supervisor to act as a guide who helps them throughout their studies, from the selection of the topic to the completion of their research. Talebloo et al. (2013) also argued that students also expect their supervisors to provide regular, timely, and feedback on their written work and overall
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progress in supervision. Therefore, a supervisor must be a person who has a lot of experience and knowledge in all fields. In particular, supervisors should master the skills of guiding a student wellalso know how to establish good communication to other people.
Moreover, Ladany et al. (2012) defined effective supervisors are those who encourage supervisee autonomy, enhance the supervisory relationship, and facilitate discussion in supervision. Any advice and assistance given by the supervisor will be very useful for students and can facilitate the supervision process. According to Askew et al. (2016), the motivation given by supervisor to students is very important.
In this case, supervisors as a mentor to the student play a key role in advising, guiding, ensuring scientific quality of writing as well as providing emotional support (Lessing & Schulze, 2002), professional support as well as moral support to students (Shanks, 2017).
2.1.3 Supervisory Relationship
Supervisory relationship is a professional relationship between two parties who are in the same field. It is a system in which someone who is experienced and knowledgeable in a given field advises and guides someone who is new to that field or in the middle of a career development transition phase. Bordin (1983) conceptualized the supervisory relationship was defined as a supervisory working alliance, with the components of this alliance consisting purposes, tasks, and an
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emotional connection. A caring emotional bond between supervisee and supervisor is an inseparable aspect of a strong supervisory relationship based on these components.
Murshid et al. (2019) further stated that supervisory relationship is a dynamic relationship that allows two professionals to share their professional and personal expertise and experience while encouraging, educating and managing qualities, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses for psychological, the professional and social well-being of the person being supervised. It is a relationship based on trust, confidence, honesty and communication skills. The two parties involved must have a bond that is strong enough to support the success of their collaboration.
The supervisory relationship is one of the most important variables related to the supervision (Beinart, 2014; Nelson & Friedlander, 2001; Worthen & McNeill, 1996). According to Bordin (1983), establishing and strengthening the supervisory relationship is associated with a strong emotional bond, deciding and revising mutual supervisory goals during the supervisory relationship, and taking out the tasks required to achieve these supervisory goals. To achieve the goals during the supervision process, the students should try and have the desire to build a closer supervisory relationship with their supervisor and feel there is an inner connection between each other. Hence, having a good supervisory relationship will be very helpful in doing the supervision process.
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2.2 Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Supervisory Experiences: A Review of Challenges
In this section, the researcher will give an overview about the challenges encountered by undergraduate EFL learners when doing supervisory experiences.
Challenges in supervisory experiences is the one of the research problems that researcher wants to investigate. The researcher reviews some articles related to the challenges faced by undergraduate EFL learners in doing supervision. The method used by the researcher to obtain these articles is the researcher searches by using keywords challenges faced by undergraduate student in doing supervision, supervisions’ challenges, undergraduate students’ difficulties when doing supervision. The researcher uses and reviews the research articles that was published within the last 20 years. These articles discuss the difficulties faced by undergraduate students. The researcher collects some of the challenges found based on the articles that have been reviewed using the table below.
Table 1 The Categories of Literature Review of Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Experiences:
Challenges
No Key Points Articles
1 Internal Factors
Psychological Djatmika et al (2021), Zaheer And Munir (2020), Costa (2018), Murshid et al (2019), Chugh et al (2021)
Poor time Razali et al (2020)
28 management
2 External Factors
Insufficiency expertise of supervisors
Ndubuisi et al (2021), Chugh et al (2021)
Insufficiency support of supervisors
Agricola et al (2020), Djatmika et al (2021), Edmonds (2013) Change of supervisors Mahlangu (2021)
Internet and
technology problems
Djatmika et al (2021), Zaheer and Munir (2020)
Supervisor’s negative feedback and
comments
Costa (2018)
2.2.1 Internal Factors of the Supervisions’ Challenges Experienced by Undergraduate EFL Learners
Internal factors are factors experienced by undergraduate EFL learners that come from within themselves. These factors involve a person's psychological aspects.
In this research based on the articles, there are two internal factors experienced by undergraduate EFL learners during supervision. Below is the explanation of each factor.
2.2.1.1 Psychological
This subtheme includes all the challenges related to the psychological aspects of this research. These issues are often an obstacle faced by undergraduate EFL learners when doing supervision and affect their thesis guidance. There are few
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literatures that relate to this issue. Based on that, the researcher selects previous study. There are two psychological factors are identified: Lack of motivation and lack of confidence.
2.2.1.2 Lack of Motivation
Literature review indicated the lack of motivation is one of the common challenges experienced in the psychological aspect. Lack of motivation is a condition experienced by students when they lose interest and desire to achieve their certain goals. It can be triggered by several things such as students’ environment, unconfident with their abilities, and so on. Djatmika et al. (2021) conducted a study about challenges in online supervision and the results showed that lack of student motivation could occur due to the current situation that requires supervision to switch from offline to online mode.
Online supervision began when the pandemic happened in Indonesia. Many students who are conducting thesis in the final semester are affected because of this.
Zaheer and Munir (2020) also stated that some students think that they cannot complete their thesis. Students feel doubtful about their ability to conduct their thesis due to the limitations caused by the pandemic.
These reviews showed that one of the challenges faced by undergraduate EFL learners when doing supervision is lack of motivation. Students' motivation is
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hampered due to changes in supervision mode and they are skeptical about their abilities to complete their thesis.
2.2.1.3 Lack of Confidence
Another challenge in psychological term that faced by undergraduate EFL learners is lack of confidence. It is in line with what Costa (2018) found in Sweden that some students felt lack of confidence in presenting their own thesis. To be more specific, those students feel less confident due to the lack of guidance given by their supervisor. In different study, Murshid et al. (2019) found in their research that students were mostly nervous at the beginning of the supervisory relationship. They do not know the first thing they need to do if they want to start supervision. Those participants also admit that they felt uncertainty and strain. Meanwhile, Chugh et al.
(2021) conducted a study of supervisory feedback to students. The finding showed that lack of confidence may affect the students' emotional reactions to supervisor's feedback.
These studies indicated that students' common challenge in online supervision is a lack of confidence. The students felt afraid to show their work and felt nervous when they wanted to start the supervising. This emotional impact can have a negative impact on any feedback given by their supervisors.
31 2.2.1.4 Poor Time Management
Another internal factor of challenges experienced by undergraduate EFL learners is poor time management. Students are incapable to make a schedule the activities they need to do. This has an impact on the progress of their thesis as well as their supervision process. Razali et al. (2020) investigated supervision challenges from the perceptions of supervisors and supervisees. The result showed that students did not do supervision according to the predetermined deadline. In this case, the supervisor would send the reminders to students who were not making any progress in supervision.
This study pointed out that poor time management has an impact on the supervision process. Students should be responsible for what they are doing.
Moreover, students should be able to manage their time as effectively as possible so that the supervision process can operate smoothly and they do not face unexpected consequences later on.
2.2.2 External Factors of the Supervisions’ Challenges Experienced by Undergraduate EFL Learners
External factors are experienced by undergraduate EFL learners that come from outside the students themselves. These factors are things that students cannot control. In this research based on the articles, there are five factors experienced by undergraduate EFL learners during supervision. Below is the explanation of each factor.
32 2.2.2.1 Insufficiency Expertise of Supervisors
The supervisors who have expertise in a particular field of knowledge will greatly assist the development of the student's thesis. However, there are several supervisors who do supervision with research topics that they do not even have the expertise or knowledge in that field. Cases like this began to be found by some experts. Ndubuisi et al. (2020) investigated the supervision's challenges in Nigeria.
The result showed that lack of relevant supervisory competencies is an obstacle faced by students in Nigeria. Nigerian supervisors are deficient in relevant supervisory skills because there is no professional or pre-training regarding skills that must be possessed by supervisors. Chugh et al. (2021) also researched about problems encountered by students in supervision. The finding showed that supervisors often do not have relevant subject knowledge to supervise certain projects. The supervisors negatively affect the supervision process. In this case, the supervisors will be limited in providing feedback needed by students.
These few studies indicated that insufficiency expertise of supervisors is one of the external factors of the supervisions' challenges that undergraduate EFL learners will face. The role of a supervisor who has the right expertise in a field has a major impact on the supervision that will be conducted with his students. Students will have limited opportunities to get new insight and feedback when they are conducting supervising if their supervisor is not capable and is not an expert in the research topic they are researching for their thesis.
33 2.2.2.2 Insufficiency Support of Supervisors
The literature review indicates that support from supervisor is one of the challenges in doing supervision for undergraduate EFL learners. Supervisor's support has a big role in the supervision process. The students will need support and feedback provided by their supervisors to help them in conducting their thesis. Therefore, the lack of support from their supervisors will interfere with student performance as well as hinder the supervision process. Agricola et al. (2021) investigated students' perceptions on undergraduate thesis supervision. The result showed students had negative perceptions when supervisor’s feedback or explanations were unhelpful, unclear, or not easy to understand. In addition, Djatmika et al. (2021) also found that the lack of support provided by supervisors is because supervisors do not always have time to do online supervision. Supervisors are busy with other activities that caused delaying the supervision process required by their students. In different study, Edmonds (2013) investigated the perceptions of the supervisory relationship at New Zealand universities. The students struggled with their unhelpful supervisors because the supervisors did not put any effort to guide and time for their students. Anna found that most students who had an unsupportive supervisor would discontinue their studies. The review of those studies showed that support and encouragement from supervisor are vital things needed by students in doing supervision smoothly.
34 2.2.2.3 Change of Supervisors
Another external factor of supervision challenge is a change of supervisors.
Changes in supervisors in the middle of the supervision process will certainly be very disturbing for students. Mahlangu (2021) explored the challenges of supervising postgraduate students. The result showed that the change in supervisor in the middle of the supervision process was a nuisance rather than an advantage for students.
Furthermore, the quality of research reports may be problematic. The review of this study indicated that a change in supervisor would have a considerable impact on the process that had been done by students. In this case, students should re-adapt to their new supervisor's style in doing supervision.
2.2.2.4 Internet and Technology Problems
Nowadays, the world is experiencing a COVID-19 pandemic which requires students to do everything online, especially online supervision. In online supervision activities, students and their supervisors will use applications in the form of online chat and using video conference. During the online supervision process, there are many challenges that must be faced. There are few literatures related to this aspect.
Djatmika et al. (2021) investigated supervisors' perspectives on challenges in online thesis supervision. The result showed that trouble with internet signal was a common challenge in doing online supervision. Moreover, trouble in internet signal will make it difficult for students and also the supervisor in conducting online supervision.
Similarly, Zaheer and Munir (2020) also researched about research supervision's
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challenges in distance learning. The result showed that technological problems could hinder the supervision process. In this study, technological problems include non- availability of internet, internet speed, and interrupted power supply. Connections are often lost and cause communication to run ineffectively. This eventually delays the progress of the thesis. These few studies pointed out that online supervision connection influence the supervision activities, when students faced unstable connection and technological problems, it will be challenging for them.
2.2.2.5 Supervisors’ Negative Feedback and Comments
According to Ali et al (2016), a supervisor should provide critical feedback on his/her student's written work in good time. Feedback and comment have an important role when conducting supervision. Students will be very dependent on what their supervisor says. Hence, if students get negative feedback and comment it will affect them as well as their research. Costa (2018) did a study related to this case. He did an investigation about challenges regarding postgraduate research supervision in Zambia. The result showed postgraduate students got negative feedback from their supervisors. Student performance would decrease because the feedback provided by their supervisor did not provide encouragement and made students pessimistic about their abilities. The review of this study indicates that supervisors' feedback and comments have an important role in the supervision process.
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2.3 Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Supervisory Experiences: A Review of Strategies
In this section, the researcher will give an overview about strategies used by undergraduate EFL learners when doing supervisory experiences. The strategies used in supervisory experiences is the one of the research problems that researcher wants to examine. The researcher reviews some articles related to strategies used by undergraduate EFL learners in doing supervision. The researcher uses some websites to gain the articles by using keywords strategies used by undergraduate students in doing supervision, supervisions’ strategies, undergraduate students’ solutions when doing supervision. The researcher uses and reviews the research articles that was published within the last 15 years. These articles discuss about the strategies used by undergraduate students. The researcher collects and finds some of the strategies based on the articles that have been reviewed using the table below.
Table 2 The Categories of Literature Review of Undergraduate EFL Learners’ Experiences:
Strategies
No Key Points Articles
1. Self-management strategies Razali et al (2020), Krauss & Ismail (2010), Ismail et al (2011), Zainal Abiddin (2007), Fhonna (2020) 2. Managing the supervision’s
schedule
Nurkamto et al (2022), Fhonna (2020), Razali et al (2020),
37
Almeatani (2019) 3. Maintaining communication with
supervisors
Ismail et al (2011), Razali et al (2020)
4. Peer-review Ismail et al (2011), Fhonna (2020)
2.3.1 Self-Management Strategies
In conducting thesis supervision, undergraduate EFL learners have to use some strategies when facing the challenges. One of the strategies is self-management strategies. Self-management strategies are strategies that are carried out by students themselves by overcoming a challenge that they are facing. Razali et al. (2020) conducted a research about the perceptions of supervisees and how do they faced their challenges during supervision. The result showed that students must be played an active role in managing their thesis. Reciprocally, Ismail et al. (2011) who conducted a research about postgraduate experience in supervision. The result showed that students must be managed their time effectively and personal responsibilities when doing supervision.
In different studies, Krauss and Ismail (2010) investigated a research about experience PhD students in managing a supervision. The finding showed that their participants had various strategies in doing supervision. They were being well- preparation before starting supervision with their supervisor and making the most of
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the supervision time. Furthermore, the students also tried to understand the supervisor's schedule and background as an approach in managing the relationship.
Additionally, Zainal Abidin (2007) conducted a study about students' perspective on effective supervision. The finding showed that one of the participants in this research used a strategy by trying to figure out about methodology, analysis, and literature review by himself without his supervisor helps. Furthermore, the students also sometimes lend his supervisor's books and journals to make him easier in writing thesis. It is supported by Fhonna (2020) who investigated students’ thesis supervision. The result showed that students used grammar application to correct the mistake of their writing to avoid negative feedback when doing supervision. In this regard, students' self-confidence also continues to increase in writing.
These reviews of the literature showed that self-management strategy is one of the strategies that can be used by undergraduate EFL learners in conducting supervision. The students can manage their time effectively, being well-prepared, checking their supervisor’s schedule and background, trying to lend some books and journals from various sources particularly from their supervisors, and using grammar application to correct their mistakes in writing.
2.3.2 Managing the Supervision’s Schedule
The other strategy that can be used for undergraduate EFL learners when facing supervision's challenge is managing the supervision's schedule. This strategy
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will make it easier for students and their supervisors when they want to do supervision. This has been highlighted by Nurkamto et al. (2022) in their mixed method study. They found that the students had to remind the supervisors about the online supervision schedule. It is in line with what Fhonna (2020) found in her research that students could communicate via e-mail due to some reasons, such as time available for supervision and distance.
Apart from that, Razali et al (2020) also conducted a study about students' perceptions about supervision and the strategies they used to cope with supervisions' challenges. The result showed that students could invite their supervisors discussed about deciding and organizing meeting dates and deadlines of the thesis together.
Moreover, Almeatani (2019) investigated a study about student-supervisor communication in thesis supervision. Students and supervisors could make schedule meetings either face to face or virtual through some video conference applications.
The review from these studies indicates that managing the supervision's schedule is one of the important strategies in doing thesis supervision. The students have a big role in reminding their supervisors to carry out supervision according to a predetermined schedule. In addition, students can also discuss with supervisors about their schedule of supervision and this is done face to face or virtually.
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2.3.3 Maintaining Communication with Supervisors
Communication is the most vital thing when doing supervision. Maintaining communication with supervisors is one strategy that will be very useful for undergraduate EFL thesis in conducting their supervision. Ismail et al. (2022) conducted research to expose the challenges and strategies encountered by students.
The findings revealed that students' strategies include communicating and working well with their supervisors while without feeling overwhelmed or frightened in the relationship. Razali et al. (2020) also conducted a study used semi-structured interviews. It aims to explore undergraduate research supervision in a Malaysian university. The result showed that students and supervisors communicated with one another via synchronous (face-to-face meetings) and asynchronous (emails and/or the WhatsApp application) is a strategy that the students used for facing the challenge in doing offline or online supervision. Besides, students regularly contact their supervisor to get some advices, information, suggestion, and confirmation related to their thesis.
Those literature reviews indicate that maintaining communication with supervisors is one of the strategies that can cope with supervision's challenge. The students tend to always keep in touch with their supervisors. This strategy can also help supervisors know how far their students have progressed in conducting theses.
41 2.3.4 Peer-review
The other strategy that can be used when conducting supervision by undergraduate EFL learners is peer-review. Peer-review is an activity where colleagues or people who are experts in certain fields who have close relationship help to sort out or give advice about their friends’ theses. Ismail et al. (2011) also emphasized that peer-review has an important role when conducting thesis supervision in their study. They found that students have to build relationships with colleagues. This can help students to minimize errors contained in their thesis and can facilitate the supervision process. Fhonna (2020) also argued that some students suggested doing peer-review before doing supervision. This action can be believed to make supervision activities more effective and efficient. The review from these studies indicates that peer-review can also be a strategy that can make it easier for students to overcome the challenges in doing supervision by involving other parties.
2.4 Online Learning and Supervision in Online Learning
Online learning is a condition where students learn in a completely virtual environment and not like traditional methods that apply face to face. Currently, several universities and schools of various levels apply online learning. This distance learning began to be implemented when the COVID-19 pandemic had spread to all corners of the world. Coman et al. (2020) investigated a study about online learning in higher education. The result showed that universities, teachers and students are not ready for the sudden shift to being exclusively online learning and teaching, but they
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tried to find strategies to adapt and face new challenges. According to Cohen and Nycz (2006), communication tools are needed to support online learning such as technological tools and design, users/participants, e-learning platforms, and content.
On the other hand, the pandemic not only affects aspects of learning and teaching in universities but also affects the supervision process. Supervision in universities began to be carried out online due to the pandemic situation which did not allow supervisors and their students to meet and carry out direct supervision.
Suparman (2021) argued that supervision in online learning will make it easier for supervisors and students to be able to do it anywhere and anytime. In his research, he found that people who conducting online supervision are more efficient and effective, especially in guiding the writing of their thesis. In this context, supervision in online learning is not only done through video conferences but also involves all internet media such as e-mail, Whatsapp application, and so on. Hence, supervision in online learning can be done more varied depending on the agreement between students and their supervisors.
2.5 Previous Study
In this previous study, there are some studies that discuss topics related to this research. There are some researchers also conducted research topics related to challenges or strategies in supervision.
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The first researcher is Prihandoko et al. (2022) “Complexities of Online Thesis Supervision during the Covid-19 Pandemic: EFL Lecturers’ Perception”.
These researchers used qualitative method. Moreover, they were using interviews and using an interactive model for analyzing data. The subjects were 30 lecturers from universities in Central Java and Papua. It aims to investigate the problems and solutions in doing online EFL undergraduate thesis supervision. The finding showed that several problems with online thesis supervision such as facing difficulties in following the transition from offline to online supervision, ineffective communication between lecturers and students, the time available to access online media continuously, difficulty in collecting data because many students the schools that were the target of their data collection held online learning, and experienced a decrease in student motivation. For the solutions, students should remind about their online supervision schedule, actively uses communication technology, and students can communicate with the authorities related to the object of research through their supervisors' help.
The next previous study is by Jannati et al. (2021) which entitled “Persepsi Mahasiswa Mengenai Layanan Bimbingan Skripsi Online”. The purposes of this research are to find out the perceptions that students have of online supervision and to perceive the challenges faced by students. The method of this study is qualitative, in which interviews and observations are used to collect data. In this study, the participants were ten students of Islamic Guidance and Counseling at UIN Raden
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Fatah Palembang. The result showed that most of the participants had a negative view of online supervision due to some of the challenges they faced such as the availability of online supervising time, time to do thesis repairs, unhelpful feedback provided by supervisors, and communication between lecturers and students that went fully obstacle.
There was a previous study by Naim and Danaphal (2017). They were also conducted research about students’ perception toward supervision and what challenges they might face entitled “Students’ Perception of the Supervisory Process:
A Case Study at a Private University in Malaysia”. The researchers used survey to obtain the students’ view about their supervision experiences. In addition, the sample in this research consisted of 100 students in a private university in Malaysia. The goal of this research is to seek undergraduate student perception and their challenges in doing supervision. The finding revealed that most of the students were dissatisfied with the guidance and support provided by their supervisor. In addition, the students felt the supervisor did not adequately guide them in terms of the research required.
Another research conducted by Sandria (2022) entitled "EFL Students' Perceptions of the Online Undergraduate Thesis Supervision Process", aimed to describe the students' perceptions during online supervision, especially students in English Education at University of Islam Malang. This study utilized a qualitative case study. In collecting the data, the researcher used a questionnaire for all students and interviewed four selected students for approximately 30 minutes. The researcher
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found students' perceptions regarding online supervision has two sides, namely positive and negative perceptions. The students stated that the positive things they felt included they did not have to pay for printing, flexible time, and did not get infected with Covid-19. On the other perception, the students expressed that feedback was slow to be sent by their supervisors and sometimes students also experienced misinterpretation from feedback that was not clear from their supervisors.
Henceforward, Djatmika et al. (2021) also conducted a research about online supervision which entitled “Lecturer Supervisors' Perception on Challenges in Online Thesis Supervision”. In this study, the data were collected through in-depth interviews with 23 lecturer supervisors from higher educational institutions in Papua and Central Java as participants. The researchers found that the challenges encountered by the participants were lack of time to always access the online media, the process of adjusting from offline to online thesis supervision, students' difficulties in collecting data in the field, less effective communication between students and supervisors, and a reduction in active student participation in online supervision.
In addition, there was a previous study by Kintama et al. (2021) “Online Thesis Guidance during the COVID-19 Pandemic for UWKS PGSD Students:
Obstacles and Solutions”. In this study, a questionnaire was used as a descriptive qualitative research instrument. It aims to investigate the obstacles and solutions from online thesis supervision during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers used descriptive qualitative method by asking 17 questions to 20 PGSD UWKS students
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who took thesis course in 2019 as subjects in this research. The result showed that the obstacle faced by students was that students did not understand the feedback and materials conveyed by their supervisors during online supervision. On the other hand, the solution applied by students to handle the obstacle is that students communicate more intensely with their supervisors by using several applications such as WhatsApp, Zoom, Skype, Teams, and E-mail.
The last research conducted by Nurkamto et al. (2022) was entitled “Students' Problems of Academic Writing Competencies, Challenges in Online Thesis Supervision, and the Solutions: Thesis Supervisors' Perspectives”. The researchers used mixed-method research. The objectives of this study are to explore the problems faced by students in academic writing competencies, challenges in doing online supervision, and solutions to overcome those challenges based on the thesis supervisors' perspectives. The data collection technique was undertaken by giving closed-ended questionnaires, interviews and employed focus group discussions. The participants of this research were 50 thesis supervisors from Central Java and Papua.
They would fill out the questionnaires and 23 of them participated in the interviews and focus group discussion sections. The researcher was analyzed the data using interactive model-driven analyses. The results of this research indicated that the challenges faced were related to problems of technological competence, time management, unstable student motivation, and limitations of students doing field research.
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This research is similar to those previous studies in terms of challenges and strategies in conducting thesis supervision. Nonetheless, there are differences between this research and the previous research. The focus of this research is challenges and strategies in doing supervision mostly online. Furthermore, the participants of this research are undergraduate EFL learners at one public university in Jambi.
48 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design
The aim of this research is intended to elicit challenges experienced by undergraduate EFL learners and their strategies during their online supervision at one public university in Jambi. To achieve the purpose of this research, the researcher utilized qualitative research with a case study approach. The researcher used this research design because the researcher wanted to explore in depth the phenomena that occur in a supervisory relationship, particularly the challenges faced by undergraduate EFL learners and their strategies to overcome them.
Griffin (1985) also stated that qualitative research could focus on the operation of social processes in greater depth. As Willig (2013) has argued, qualitative research is usually concerned with meaning and, in particular, focuses on how participants experience events from their perceptions.
A case study is an approach chosen in order to provide new insight into the case regarding the challenges experienced and the strategies used by undergraduate EFL learners during online supervision at one public university in Jambi. As defined by Merriam (1998), a case study is an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a bounded phenomenon such as a program, an institution, a person, a process, or a social unit. Hence, the researcher used this method so that the case of this research can focus on phenomena that occur in an
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institution and were experienced by students in which this case has an interest in supervisory relationships based on the perceptions of undergraduate EFL learners.
Merriam (1998) further stated that a case study is an approach that is very suitable for focus research that has not been thoroughly investigated, as is the case of challenges faced by undergraduate EFL learners towards supervisory relationships.
3.2 Research Participants
In selecting the participants, the researcher used purposive sampling to figure out the answers to the research. Rai and Thapa (2015) also argued that the purpose of purposive sampling is to focus on particular populations who have an interest and very specific need that can answer the research question in a research.
Creswell (2008) stated that purposive sampling is a non-representative subset of a broader population intended to match a specific need and purpose. The research could select and get representatives following the study with this sampling.
In this research, the researcher selected 10 students in English department at one public university in Jambi. The researcher took 10 students because it could help researcher to have a broader and deeper understanding. The selected participants must fulfill the consent form and they were suitable for the criteria set by the researcher. The criteria for selecting the participants in this research included; Firstly, the participants who contributed must be full-time students who are currently pursuing undergraduate level, especially as EFL learners; Secondly,
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participants had completed the seminar proposal stage; Thirdly, the participants mostly did the online supervision; Fourthly, participants were willing to participate in this research. Moreover, the selected participants have been explained by the researcher about what benefits they get in this research. They could realize what challenges and strategies they have applied during the online supervision process they were doing. The researcher also had an agreement with participants that all data they shared and their identity will be confidential.
In this research, these are 10 students were chosen purposively as participants, which can be seen in the following table:
Table 3. Research Participants
No Name Gender Year of the Study
1 P1 Female 2017 (11th)
2 P2 Female 2018 (9th)
3 P3 Male 2018 (9th)
4 P4 Male 2019 (7th)
5 P5 Female 2018 (9th)
6 P6 Female 2019 (7th)
7 P7 Female 2018 (9th)
8 P8 Female 2017 ( 11th)
9 P9 Female 2017 (11th)
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10 P10 Female 2018 (9th)
From the table above, it can be seen that only two participants were male while the rest participants were female. In addition, the participants have various semesters included; two participants from the seventh semester; five participants from the ninth semester; and three participants from the eleventh semester. The selected participants met the criteria set by researchers. Moreover, the researcher also considered the willingness of participants to take part in this research.
3.3 Data Collection
Collecting data is an essential part in research. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher must use data collection techniques correctly. For this research, the data were collected through interview and audio diary. Below are the definitions of each technique of data collection technique that the researcher used.
3.3.1 Interview
The researcher used interviews to collect data because this technique is often used for qualitative research. According to McNamara (1999), interviews are used to understand a participant's background and obtain in-depth information about a topic. The interview design and question phrasing influenced the depth and freedom with which a subject can engage. Based on Dawson (2002), the interview is divided into structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. For this study, the researcher used semi-structured interviews. According to Lewis et al.,
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(2003), a researcher can further follow up most of the time, all verbal and non- verbal responses, such as hunches, laughter, and silence, to reveal confidential information that may turn out to be helpful in the final data analysis of different themes extracted from the conversation. Through this semi-structured interview, the researcher allowed the interviewee for unanticipated responses and issues to emerge through open-ended questioning (Tod, 2006). Therefore, the researcher used semi-structured interviews to prepare questions and develop questions based on the responses given by the participants.
In interview, the researcher selected 10 participants who have done the supervision mostly online. The researcher contacted the participants and they had filled out the consent form before the interview process started. The entire interview process was recorded through devices used by researcher such as laptop and mobile phone. There were 4 participants who conducted the interview offline and 6 participants conducted it online via Zoom. The duration of each interview was about 20-60 minutes. During the interview process, participants could either answer the questions in Indonesian or English. One of the reasons of using preference language was because the participants can share their experiences more freely. It could also help the researcher to get more data from the participants.
Furthermore, the researcher used an interview protocol to lead the interview process (see appendix 2). The interview protocol was developed by
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considering the theories and some previous studies in chapter two (Prihandoko et al. 2022; Jannati et al. 2021; Naim and Danaphal 2017; Sandria 2022; Djatmika et al. 2021; Kintama et al. 2021; Nurkamto et al. 2022). The interview protocol questions are expected to answer the research questions. The specification of questions can be seen in the table below.
Table 4 Specification of Interview Protocol
No Specification Question Item
1 Greeting Question no 1
2 General experiences Question no 2, 3 and 4
3 First research question Question no 5, 6, and 7 (Challenges)
4 Second research question Question no 8, 9, 10, and 11 (Strategies)
3.3.2 Audio Diary
Another method the researcher used to collect data is an audio diary.
According to Monrouxe (2009), the audio diary is a qualitative tool used in the social sciences to study participants' experiences in action and situ within a particular context over time. This method could also help participants freely share what they felt during supervision in real time. On the other hand, audio diary tool has also been implemented as teaching and educational resources to nurture
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reflective practice (Káplár-Kodácsy & Dorner 2020) and clinical professionalism (Collett et al. 2017). It is in line with why the researcher chose an audio diary as a method of collecting data for educational purposes.
In this method, the researcher asked participants to record and send the audio recording after they did the online supervision via the WhatsApp application for approximately eight weeks after conducting the interview process.
There were only four participants who submitted the audio diary. The duration of each recording was about 1-5 minutes. Participants shared their recent experiences after conducting online supervision led and assisted by their supervisors. In addition, participants also shared how they felt, the challenges they faced, and what strategies they apply to overcome them.
3.4 Data Analysis
Data analysis is an essential thing in conducting research. The data that the researcher has collected were analyzed to get a finding and research results. Bakri (2003) stated that data analysis is the process of reviewing, categorizing, grouping data and then converting them into conclusions or theories based on the research findings. To achieve the objectives of this research, the researcher used thematic analysis. Before the researcher analyzed the data, the researcher transcribed the results of the collected interviews and audio diaries. Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Those steps are outline in the following figure:
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Figure 1 the phases of Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis (2006)
Boyatzis (1998) also argued that it organizes and describes your data set in (rich) detail to the bare minimum. However, it often goes beyond this, interpreting many aspects of the research topic. This data analysis technique is used to explore an undergraduate EFL learner’s perspective in society, especially in this context which is educational.
The researcher utilized the phases of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006). For the first phase, the researcher listened to the recording of interviews and audio diary sent by participants. After that, to be more familiar with the data, the researcher transcribed and read it repeatedly. For the next phase, the researcher highlighted the words that were important and often appear in the transcription for generating the initial code. In searching the themes, the researcher collected and then grouped the themes found. The next phase is reviewing themes. In this phase, the researcher reviewed every theme in the transcription. Then, the researcher defined and named the themes. In this phase, the researcher did discussion with the supervisor. After that, the researcher moved to the next phase, namely producing the report. In this phase, the researcher started writing finding and discussion in detail for this research.
Familiarizing with the data
Generating initial code
Searching for themes
Reviewing themes
Defining and naming
themes
Producing the report
