Understanding the problem of the Anglophone personal statement in an EFL context: A case study of Czech student and local advisors´ experiences
Understanding the problem of the Anglophone personal statement in an EFL context: A case study of Czech student and local advisors´ experiences

Summary/Abstract: The personal statement is a written genre that spans the gap between English as a foreign language (EFL) and English for academic purposes instruction as international applicants to American and British universities must express their backgrounds, qualifications, motivations for international study. This case study is extracted from a  larger Master’s dissertation and focuses on a  Czech student’s and local advisors’ experiences of writing and advising on personal statement writing. Through the lens of pragmatism, challenges that emerged between the participants’ experiences of the features of the genre and Czech students’ socio-educational backgrounds are evaluated as sources of this genre as problematic. The results are discussed with implications for EFL students and teachers in the Czech Republic, Anglophone EFL curriculum developers and universities, and pedagogical research.

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