What Happens in PhD Supervision? Types and Frequency of Written Feedbacks

Abstract

Feedback to students, how to give it and how it is received, has been the focus of studies for some decades. However, the specialised field of giving feedback to postgraduate students and particularly in electronic form, has not received as much attention. The present study is based on feedback given to four candidates on three iterations of their PhD proposals. It examines the types and frequency of the different language functions the supervisor uses. The results show that there is significant variation in the types and range of feedback used. We discuss these results and their implications.