TEFL master students' perceptions of their research training: Evidence from a selective university in Kazakhstan

Research training is the basis of TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) master'sprogram. While previous studies have explored undergraduate students 'attitudes towards research,the TEFL master students' perceptions of their research training and research methods courses intheir program have been relatively poorly studied. To fill this gap, the purpose of this study is toexplore TEFL master students' perceptions of their research training. The study used thematicanalysis to explore MA students’ perceptions of their research training, focusing on their previousresearch experiences, the challenges they encountered during research training, and how theyovercame these challenges. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews from10 master students in TEFL program at a selected University in Kazakhstan. The results of thestudy showed that graduate students have great interest in research and positive attitudes towardstheir research training. In addition, the results revealed the challenges graduate face during theirresearch training and shared the strategies they use to overcome these challenges.