Extending Post-Entry Assessment to the Doctoral Level: New Challenges and Opportunities

Since 2011, first-year doctoral candidates at The University of Auckland have been required to take the Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA) as part of a university-wide programme to identify students who are in need of significant language enrichment. This step was taken in response to research by the School of Graduate Studies suggesting that language difficulties often impacted on effective relationships between supervisors and their doctoral candidates, and progress in general. To ensure that such difficulties are addressed early in their study, candidates whose performance in DELNA indicates they need further language development attend an advisory session to discuss appropriate academic English enrichment programmes, and set specific goals to be achieved by the end of their provisional year. Although the doctoral learning process has often been studied from a variety of perspectives, there has been considerably less investigation of the language learning experiences of international doctoral students. This study focuses on 20 doctoral candidates in their first year and includes their reaction to DELNA, their response to the language advice they received, their evaluation of the language enrichment activities they engaged in, the strategies they used to adapt to their new environment, and their relationship with their supervisors. Results suggest that they welcome the fact that the University is proactive in responding to their language needs, and find that the specific programmes undertaken have increased their confidence in writing and their ability to express themselves better in all academic contexts.