Perceptions of Graduate Students and Supervisors on the Effectiveness of Chinese EFL Academic Socialization: Interview Results

The paper explores the perceptions of graduate students and supervisors on the effectiveness of Chinese EFL academic socialization through an interview study from the perspective of Discourse System (DS) proposed by Scollon and Scollon (2000). The investigation, which was conducted in one leading Chinese university of foreign studies in 2010, was participated by 24 graduates and 13 supervisors. The results revealed that both students and supervisors were dissatisfied with the inadequate supervision, unstructured tutorial and unmanaged time in the process of supervision. The study implies that the non-bureaucratic administrative system, which is exemplified by no division of supervision power, informal and relaxed supervision and an absence of detailed and explicitly stated rules and regulations to regulate and restrict supervision behavior and supervision practice, serves as the greatest limiting factor which hinders the professional development of individuals and adversely affects the effectiveness of academic socialization. It is suggested that a pro-supervising research community should be designed to enable its students to generate quality research outcome and its supervisors to focus on academic duties only.