Outline

Rationales
Literature Review
Methodology
Results
Discussion
References
Rationales
Importance of thesis
fulfilling the requirement of the master or
doctoral degree programs
indicating their ability to understand the specific
topic of their selected field in depth. (Yale, 1975)
suggesting the new ideas in the specific fields
(Oliver, 2004).
 Problems in writing thesis

Contents problems Language problems

highly complex layers of
content in their academic
writing (Zhu, 2004).
synthesizing the content
systematically (Maimon,
Belcher, Hearn, Nodine, &
Oconnor, 1981).
using discipline-specific
rhetorical and linguistic
conventions to serve
their purposes as writers
(Berkenkotter, Huckin &
Ackerman, 1991)
 Writing strategies
a tool which is used for planning, competition,
conscious manipulation, and movement toward a
gold (Oxford, 1990)

helping writers mental processes to conceptualize

a framework of their writing (Riazi, 1997)

A Taxonomy of ESL Writing Strategies from Mu

(2005) based on five theories was used to
investigate writing strategies in the present study.
Purposes of the study

1. To investigate writing strategies used in writing

thesis by M.A. English major students from faculty
of Humanities and Social Sciences of Khon Kaen
University.

2. To study how to use each writing strategy in the

M.A. English major students from faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences of Khon Kaen
University.
Research questions

1. What are writing strategies used in writing thesis

by M.A. English major students from faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences of Khon Kaen
University?

2. How writing strategy was used by M.A. English

major students in their writing thesis?
Scope of the study

1.The participants in the present study will be

thirty English major students who are enrolled for
the course - Thesis (411899) - in both regular and
special programs from faculty of Humanities and
Social Sciences of Khon Kaen University.

2. The study focuses on writing strategies used by

the English major students in their writing thesis.
Significance of the study

1. The findings will be useful for the English major

students to be aware of their writing strategies for
improving their writing thesis.

2. The findings will be useful for instructors from

faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Khon
Kaen University to teach writing strategies to the
students for enhancing the academic writing skills.
 Literature review
1. Classification of writing strategies
Language Learning Strategies Oxford (1990)
 Learning Strategies OMalley and Chamot (1990)
- Writing strategies based on Meta-cognitive and
cognitive theories by Wenden (1991)

Metacognitive strategies Cognitive strategies

planning, Clarification
evaluation Retrieval
monitoring Resourcing
Deferral
Avoidance
Verification
 Composing strategies by Riazi (1997).
 Writing Strategies
1. Planning
1.1 Global planning
1.2 Thematic planning
1.3 Local planning
1.4 Organizing
1.5 Conclusion planning
writing
strategies 2. Retrieving
2.1 Plan retrieving
2.2 Information retrieving
developed from 3. Generating ideas
writing processes 3.1 Naturally generated
3.2 Description generated
by Sasaki (2000) 4. Verbalizing
4.1 Verbalizing a proposition
4.2 Rhetorical refining
4.3 Mechanical refining
4.4 Sense of readers
5. Translating
6. Rereading
7. Evaluating
7.1 L2 proficiency evaluation
7.2 Local text evaluation
7.3 General text evaluation
8. Others
8.1 Resting
8.2 Questioning
8.3 (3) Impossible to categorize
Definition
Detailed planning of overall organization
Less detailed planning of overall organization
Planning what to write next
Organizing the generated ideas
Planning of the conclusion
Retrieving the already constructed plan
Retrieving appropriate information from long-term memory
Generating an idea without any stimulus
Generating an idea related to the previous description
Verbalizing the content the writer intends to write
Refining the rhetorical aspect(s) of an expression
Refining the mechanical or (L1/L2) grammatical aspect(s) of an
expression
Adjusting expression(s) to the readers
Translating the generated idea into L2
Rereading the already produced sentence
Evaluating one's own L2 proficiency
Evaluating part of the generated text
Evaluating the generated text in general
Resting
Asking the researcher a question
Impossible to categorize
 Mu (2005) proposed A Taxonomy of ESL Writing
Strategies based on five theories.
Theory Definition of the strategies

1. Contrastive Rhetoric Theory
2. Metacognitive Theory
3. Cognitive Theory
Organizing and presenting their ideas with the
appropriate writing styles to native writers
Using the mental process consciously to control
their writing processes.
Using mental process consciously to manage
information or knowledge and to structure writing
processes.

4. Communication Theory Expressing their ideas to be the most

understandable for readers.
5. Social Constructionism Interacting with people in discourse community to
Theory help their writing achieved.
2. Related research
Xia and Luxin (2012) investigated strategies used in
writing a thesis proposal by Chinese six graduate
students. negotiations with their supervisors
strategies were the most frequently used.

Mu and Carrington (2007) and Nor, Hua and

Ibrahim (2012) investigated writing strategies in
graduate students and found that the participants
used rhetorical, cognitive, meta-cognitive,
communicative, and socio-affective strategies.
 Dehghan and Razmjoo (2012) found different results
from investigating of writing strategies used by 11
graduate students in Iran. Socio-affective strategies
were used frequently than other strategies.

In Thailand, Peeravudhi (2006) investigated writing

strategies adopted from Oxford (1990) in 58 graduate
students. Cognitive strategy was used the highest
frequency from all writing strategies. In addition, the
proficient group tended to use more strategies than
the less proficient group.