Research, topics, and difficulties in academic papers written by American language assistants in Spain

Abstract

This paper focuses on the analysis of topics approached by American students enrolled in three of the Master's Degrees of the program 'Teach & Learn in Spain' in Madrid, Spain (Instituto Franklin- Universidad de Alcalá) in the academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 and challenges faced in the context of academic writing and research required for the development of a Master's Thesis. This article reflects on aspects previously discussed in Vitalaru and Vescan (2017) in terms of challenges in academic writing and adds a specific analysis of the topics approached in each of the three types of papers written by students, more details regarding the students' profiles, difficulties by type of paper and examples of the recommendations provided by the advisors to the different types of academic difficulties identified.