Formulation of feedback comments: Insights from supervisory feedback on master's theses

Supervisory feedback is crucial for students to accomplish graduate research and learn from the process. Despite its importance, supervisory feedback on master's theses has been under-researched. This article presents the findings of a mixed-methods study that examined supervisory feedback on English medium master's theses in the English-as-a-foreign-language context of Nepal. The study sample consisted of 118 thesis drafts and 32 interviews across four disciplines at a comprehensive public university in Nepal. Analyses revealed that a considerable amount of supervisory feedback was outright criticism, which students found demotivating, discouraging, and self-esteem busting. Overall, supervisory feedback seemed to create little affordance for students' academic discourse socialisation. The analyses also demonstrated disciplinary variations in the formulation and functions of feedback comments. Pedagogical implications derived from findings are provided to enhance the effectiveness of supervisory feedback.