Self-Affirmation Strategies Prevailing in Thesis Defenses: Discourse Analysis of Iranian EFL Candidates

The thesis defense session is a formal academic event where the candidates are supposed to save face and protect their positive self-view in response to criticisms by various affirmation strategies. The present study aimed at investigating the most prevalent self-affirmation strategies EFL candidates employ in their MA thesis defenses. The investigation was based on affirmation strategies mainly derived from Sherman and Cohen’s study, along with other units of analysis designated by Taylor and Lobel, Wert, Fein, and Spenser. The data was gleaned from ten MA defense sessions conducted at two Iranian universities. Selected excerpts of talks collected by participant observation technique were transcribed and analyzed by the researchers, and interrater reliability was established. The data analysis showed that a considerable proportion of affirmation strategies used belong to two categories of accepting the threat and using it as behavioral change (۴۳.۵۸%) and presenting real causes for events (۳۳.۴۴ %). Yet, three strategies of upward comparison, downward comparison, and attaching to interpersonal relationship as affirmation resource did not have any occurrence in the current corpus. The results may give insight to the candidates to react in the most efficient manner in response to the examiners’ criticisms and help them develop a high level of self-awareness.

کلیدواژه ها:

Discourse Analysis ، Institutional Talk ، Self-affirmation ، Self-integrity ، Thesis Defense Sessions