Difficulties Faced by Postgraduate Students of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Thesis Writing in Turkey

There are a growing number of students who continue postgraduate degrees in English Language Teaching (ELT) in state and private universities in Turkey. It is taken for granted that thesis writing is a significant aspect of postgraduate education and postgraduate students are experiencing some difficulties with the thesis writing process. In this process, supervision is a complex process and sometimes supervision is the element that makes things easier for postgraduate students or exacerbates the process. Therefore, supervisor–supervisee relationship is a topic that has been explored much abroad lately but relatively few are written about the Turkish case. Considering this research gap, this article investigates postgraduates’ views on master’s and PhD thesis supervision and difficulties they faced in thesis writing in ELT. The participants from different private and state universities received a link to an online survey engine. The aim was to understand how thesis writing in ELT and supervision are experienced in Turkey. In this study, qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. The data collected in the study were analyzed by content analysis technique and frequency counting. The findings are important as they show that there are serious linguistic challenges inherent in thesis writing that are complicating the process but also supervisory process that needs delicate attention. The paper suggests that supervisors and universities should consider the positive and negative aspects of their attitudes and behaviors throughout this process. Some measures can be taken to enhance the quality of supervision at universities in Turkey