Evaluation and instruction in PhD examiners’ reports: How grammatical choices construe examiner roles

One of the principal roles of a PhD examiner is to judge ‘both the potential of the researcher and the quality of the research’ ( Holbrook, Bourke, Fairbairn, & Lovat, 2014 , p. 986). While examiners may be guided by criteria supplied by universities, the descriptors they are provided with can often be open to interpretation. Interpreting an examiner's report can present a challenge to students and their supervisors, exacerbated by the often...