Does a ban on thesis editing put higher degree/research candidates for whom English is a Second Language at a disadvantage to their colleagues?
Yes. This is akin to the medieval European academic practice of communicating in Latin. Whilst those advocating against thesis editing obviously work hard to bring the candidate to a higher degree standard of academic English, the policy effectively constrains ESL candidates in their efforts to get published in a highly competitive field. They require an extraordinary proficiency in academic English to compete and generally collaborate with English-speakers in order to get published. However, there is the option of editing to reach this standard. Literacy educators are ambivalent about professional editing. Whilst they understand that the work is supposed to be students’ own, they also realise that even professional writers have editors, and even in the case of graduate students, they are required to acknowledge other sources of assistance on their acknowledgement page. In fact, when a graduate student needs support, they actually do a little editing (although the aim is always to show
Related Questions
- Does a ban on thesis editing put higher degree/research candidates for whom English is a Second Language at a disadvantage to their colleagues?
- What are the minimum English language proficiency requirements for entry into a Higher Degree by Research?
- What is the English Language proficiency of candidates?
