Feedback on EFL Indonesian Studentsʼ Theses: Studentsʼ Concerns and Needs

Feedback is necessary for English language Teaching
(ELT) students due to their difficulties while writing
theses. Presently, limited research has been conducted on
students' preferences and perspectives regarding
feedback received on the thesis. Many undergraduates
extend or discontinue their four-year studies due to thesis
advisers' unprecedented expectations, which discourage
timely responses to feedback. Therefore, this research
examined students' opinions regarding the types of
feedback preferred during thesis preparation. This
research used a case design and recruited participants
from groups of students completing their theses under the
supervision of seven doctoral-level advisers. Key findings
were that thesis advisers' feedback on students' research
projects was insufficiently detailed as opposed to the
significant amount anticipated. In this case, the advisers
may have been unaware of the amount of significant
feedback required on initial and subsequent drafts.
Besides, advisors provided more feedback on linguistic
than content issues, as opposed to students of
undergraduate level due to limited research capacity. The
results showed that students are expected to have written
and oral feedback in the one-to-one consultation.