Oral Feedback to Theses in Viva Sessions

The fact that writing a thesis may bring the candidates a long lasting effect emphasize the role of feedback which can supply the learners with developmental chance and aiding them to submit a more reliable and accurate piece of research. Having scrutinized the MA theses in terms of oral feedback, the current research was conducted with the following objectives to pinpoint: 1) the most frequently addressed regulations of thesis writing by examiners in the viva sessions; 2) the chapters that are mostly considered in viva sessions. To attain the aims of the study, 23 viva sessions in different universities of the north-west part of Iran were attended and recorded by the researcher as the final corpora of the investigation. Due to the lack of a clear cut framework qualifying to satisfy the goals of the present study, the framework set forward by Shirzad (2013) was adapted including Language, Departmental Guidelines for Thesis Writing, Universal Framework for Thesis Writing, and Technical issue in Research Conducting. To attain the second objective of the investigation, the frequency of oral feedbacks on each chapter was calculated. The findings of the investigation revealed that in providing oral feedback Universal Framework for Thesis Writing (i.e., APA Style, Academic writing style, and Content of chapters) is the most frequently addressed regulation. Furthermore, it was depicted that Chapter One was the target of the most of examiners’ feedbacks. The findings of the study are hoped to contribute the process of thesis writing and surviving a successful viva by candidates; and the supervisors who are responsible to help them with this demanding process as well as material and syllable designers.