The challenge of academic writing for Chinese students within ...

To ensure the reliability and validity of the research, a methodological triangulation
approach (Mathison, 1988) was employed to cross-check the data obtained via the
narrative stories and interviews; the narrative stories will be studied against the notes
of interviews. For the purposes of validation, the transcript and translation of the
interview was sent to individual participants for them to confirm the accuracy.
The research site
I chose Liverpool Hope University as the research site because I have adequate access
to a group of Chinese students. I had been working at this university for a number of
years before I started the research degree.
Liverpool Hope University is one of the newest universities in UK, as shown in Table
2.1. It was established on the foundation of three teacher education colleges for
women in Liverpool: St. Katharine's College (1844), Notre Dame College (1856) and
Christ‘s College (1965). Liverpool Hope University is unique as it is the only liberal
arts ecumenical university in Europe. It positions itself in UK HE as a ‗teaching-led,
research informed and mission focused liberal arts inspired university‘ (Hope
University 2009). In its mission statement (2008), it states that it strives: to provide
opportunities for the well-rounded personal development of Christians and students
from other faiths and beliefs, educating the whole person in mind, body and spirit,
irrespective of age, social or ethnic origins or physical capacity, including in
particular those who might otherwise not have had an opportunity to enter higher
education; to be a national provider of a wide range of high quality programmes
responsive to the needs of students, including the education, training and professional
development of teachers for Church and state schools; to sustain an academic
community, as a sign of hope, enriched by Christian values and worship, which
supports teaching and learning, scholarship and research, encourages the
understanding of Christian and other faiths and beliefs and promotes religious and
social harmony; and to contribute to the educational, religious, cultural, social and
economic life of Liverpool, Merseyside, the North-West of England and beyond.
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