Aleph
Volume 8, Numéro 2, Pages 263-290
2021-06-05

Exploring The Challenges Encountered By Efl Students In Writing The Literature Review Chapter Of Their Master’s Dissertations: The Case Of Didactics’ Students At Blida 2 University, Department Of English

Authors : Benbellal Abla .

Abstract

The present study aims at exploring the challenges encountered by didactics’ students, from the department of English at Blida 2 University, in writing the literature review chapter of their Master’s dissertations. Data for our research were based on two data collection tools namely a semi-structured interview with 10 students and a document analysis of their literature review chapters. The results revealed that writing this chapter was a hard task to do especially that the students were still novice researchers. Examples of the generic difficulties identified in this study include synthesizing, paraphrasing, summarizing, identifying research gaps, and language writing issues. According to the students, these issues were mostly caused by lack of opportunities to practice writing the literature review chapter. In response to these challenges, some pedagogical implications are provided. This involves organizing training workshops and seminars for both students and supervisors on writing the literature review chapter.

Keywords

Didactics ; Dissertation ; EFL Master Students ; Literature Review ; Writing Challenges