Our presentation focuses on EAL doctoral candidates completing an English language goal in their first year of doctoral studies. Our interest is in their writing development experiences and engagement with academic activities in the early stages of their doctorate.
In a large research university in New Zealand, the number of students with English as an Additional Language (EAL) enrolling in doctoral programmes has been steadily increasing. Although incoming doctoral candidates may have developed academic literacy in their discipline through earlier studies, EAL candidates with little or no experience studying through English-medium may find the transition into a new academic setting particularly challenging. In our local context, doctoral candidates are given a set of goals to complete within their first doctoral year, including writing a research proposal and achieving an English language goal. The latter includes the successful completion of a post-entry language assessment and, if required, a language enrichment programme. The language goal works as a tool to support candidates' writing skills development as they negotiate the academic conventions of their discipline and institutional expectations.
Our presentation focuses on EAL doctoral candidates completing the aforementioned language goal. Our interest is in their writing development experiences and engagement with academic activities in the early stages of their doctorate, and in their process of developing a scholarly self. First, we discuss data from a narrative study investigating the experiences of first-year EAL doctoral candidates, analysed though the identity-trajectory framework (McAlpine & Amundsen, 2011). We then draw on our experience as staff working with early-stage doctoral candidates. In our professional roles, we assist doctoral candidates to build their doctoral genre knowledge, develop awareness of their emerging voice/ identity as academic writers, and negotiate tensions usually associated with thesis writing.
