An Exploratory Study On The Contribution Of SGD To The Perceived Development Of English Postgraduate Students’ Academic Competence

An increasing number of researchers have realized the importance of competenceof postgraduate students especially for academic competence. As a method to improvestudents’ academic competence, small group discussion has become graduallyimportant. However, little research has been conducted to explore the effect of smallgroup discussion on the perceived development of academic competence. Hence, it isworth conducting a research on it because the results will help postgraduateeducational system reform and postgraduate students will know how to improve theiracademic competence and to inspire their research enthusiasm. An exploratory studyon the contribution of the small group discussion to the perceived development ofEnglish postgraduate’s academic competence is reported in this thesis.The research is guided by two research questions:(1) What effect does the smallgroup discussion have on postgraduate academic competence?(2) How does smallgroup discussion contribute to academic competence?Questionnaires, interviews and observation methods are used to obtain data inthe study. First, a questionnaire survey was conducted.162questionnaires weredistributed and152questionnaires were returned, in which150questionnaires werevalid. Then, observation for two small discussion groups and interviews were carriedout to find out how small group discussion contributes to English postgraduateacademic competence. Discourse analysis is applied to the analysis of the data.The research results demonstrate that small group discussion has positive effecton the development of English postgraduate students’ academic competence includingprofessional knowledge, problem-solving ability and critical thinking. Results alsoshow that meaningful negotiation and interactive engagement facilitates theimprovement of academic competence. And with the long term goal of acquiringprofessional knowledge， English postgraduate students have developed a jointenterprise with negotiation and interaction, have built a relationship of mutual trustand have developed a shared repertoire.