Exploring Hegemonic Practices in Research Supervision: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Interactional Patterns

Abstract

Power dominance leading to injustice, unequal relational patterns and various issues, which Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) repels against and analyzes, obtains in the tertiary education system across the globe. The extent to which it obtains varies among tertiary institutions. This paper examines hegemony in research supervision through the lens of CDA. Relying on secondary data, it demonstrates that the hegemony in research supervision can be understood better through CDA. It concludes that language is the instrument through which the hegemony in the education system as a whole and research supervision in particular is made manifest. Stakeholders in the tertiary education system are charged to review the institutionalized hegemonic practices and ideologies affecting supervisees and academic research. Both students and tutors/lecturers are enjoined to familiarize themselves with CDA and master how to use it to solve problems in different situations.