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

ecause I knew too little English to understand. Finally, my English developed very slowly. I
really disliked English very much. I failed most of my English exams in those six years.
At the same time, my parents planned to send me to study abroad. They thought it was a good
chance for me, to know more about another country and study another culture. In addition,
English is the global language. I thought maybe my English can develop faster when I have
to speak English every day.
I studied one year‘s foundation in China, which prepared me for a UK University‘s business
degree. After that, I applied for a UK University‘s foundation course in 2006, which had the
main purpose of upgrading my English and acclimatizing myself to the new place.
Subsequently, I continued my degree study in the same university. I chose business and
psychology, because I thought I am interested in those two subjects; however, I found
psychology is very difficult for me.
The first issue for me was communication with local students. Some of my friends suggested I
should make friends with local students, who could improve my language, but I found that not
easy. I always sit or gather with Chinese students, and then the local students maybe do not
want to join us. Once in campus, I met a girl. She introduced her church to me and wanted
me to join the church. She was very friendly and kindly, then I accepted her invitation. We
swapped our phone numbers and email-addresses for keeping in touch. In addition, I just
went to the church twice. The people in the church are very kindly, they were talking with me
in a friendly way and sharing their stories. I was invited to a pub in the city centre by several
young people. It was a very simple pub. People were just drinking, chatting and listening to
the music. I felt it was so boring and very late, I wanted to go back home but others were
really enjoying themselves. In the end, they sent me back home at two o‘clock in the morning.
They never invited me to that kind of party again, and also I do not like their life style.
Secondly, I had a job in a Chinese restaurant. Most of customers are very gentle. They are
living around the restaurant, so they came to the restaurant very frequently. And then, they
can remember my name and I also can remember their names. It is very nice to talk with
them. They like to correct me when they heard some thing wrong with my English. And my
manager is also very kind, he is always very happy to teach me how to speak with more
propriety with customers. His wife suggested I should to read some magazines, such as Look,
OK. These magazines help me to improve my English. However, those magazines are just for
fun.
Finally, some of my tutors realized I‘m an overseas student, and they know the language is a
big problem for me to study here. They would like to give me extra surgery hours. One of my
tutors, from the psychology department, always pointed out my grammar mistakes in my
assessment‘s feedback. I appreciate what she did in this way, and also it encouraged me a
lot.
Until now, I am still considering if I should continue to further studies. Firstly, I think the
undergraduate degree is enough for my business in the future. Secondly, it is too expensive to
study and live here. Finally, I do not think I can apply academic theories in real business.
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