Mapping written assignments across the sub-disciplines of a Master’s programme

Abstract

The last decades have witnessed an exponential growth of Master’s programmes in many parts of the world. The new landscape of Master’s education is characterised by immense diversity among the student population, including in their level of preparedness to write in their disciplines. Yet little research has been conducted to investigate the nature of writing requirements in Master’s programmes, reflecting an under-appreciation of the complexity of Master’s writing, which typically occurs at the juncture of academia and the professional world. Our study addresses this research gap by characterising the kinds of written assignments found in a Master of Education (MEd) programme at a university in Hong Kong. Based on analyses of assignment prompts, an under-construction corpus of exemplary assignment papers, as well as interviews conducted with a sample of lecturers who teach MEd courses, our study shows that MEd assignment tasks place emphasis upon integrating “theory” with “practice”, but in divergent ways across different MEd specialisms or subdisciplines. Our study has implications for designing writing instruction for Master’s students in education and other disciplines; the study can also folster a reflective stance amongst educators on the implications that writing assignments may have for students’ professional learning and development. (Our study characterises the kinds of written assignments found in a Master of Education (MEd) programme at a university in Hong Kong. The dataset used consists of assignment prompts, an under-construction corpus of exemplary assignment papers, and interviews conducted with a sample of lecturers who teach MEd courses).