With the growth of English medium instruction (EMI) on a global level, the number of multilingual students writing their master’s theses in English is increasing. However, research on students’ experiences of writing them in English in non-English speaking contexts is scarce. This paper reports on the challenges and strategic learning efforts of eight Kazakhstani students while working on their master’s thesis projects in a Kazakhstani EMI university. The qualitative data collected from a written narrative and three subsequent semi-structured interviews revealed that almost all the participants had a clear preference for a directive supervision style, whereby supervisors give stage-by-stage guidance. The result was a clash of expectations, miscommunication and confusion between supervisors and supervisees in some cases, especially since most supervisors come from English-speaking countries. Two participants, however, favoured a laissez-faire supervisory style where the supervisor orchestrated their supervisees’ learning efforts implicitly by giving them room to work independently. All participants also articulated certain effective strategies to confront the diverse challenges associated with constructing a new identity for themselves as researchers, time management, and ‘imposter syndrome’. From this qualitative study, practical recommendations for developing the effectiveness (quality) of master’s thesis supervision in EMI universities are made.

随着英语中等教育（EMI）在全球范围内的发展，用英语撰写硕士论文的多语种学生人数正在增加。然而，关于学生在非英语环境中用英语写作的经历的研究很少。本文报告了八名哈萨克斯坦学生在哈萨克斯坦 EMI 大学从事硕士论文项目时面临的挑战和战略学习努力。从书面叙述和随后的三个半结构化访谈中收集的定性数据表明，几乎所有参与者都明确偏好指导性监督方式，即监督者逐阶段提供指导。在某些情况下，结果是主管和被主管之间的期望冲突、沟通不畅和混乱，特别是因为大多数主管来自英语国家。然而，两名参与者赞成自由放任的监督风格，监督者通过给他们独立工作的空间来暗中协调他们的学习努力。所有参与者还阐明了某些有效的策略，以应对与为自己作为研究人员、时间管理和“冒名顶替综合症”构建新身份相关的各种挑战。从这项定性研究中，提出了提高 EMI 大学硕士论文监督有效性（质量）的实用建议。