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

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Compared with the students from big city, my spoken English was really bad. The English education in small cities like my hometown is mainly for the Entrance Exam. As it is not included in the exam, speaking was seldom taught or encouraged at all in high school. Therefore, after I began my English study in the university, I struggled to catch up with others in oral English. (Celine, autobiographical account) In contrast, some participants had a relatively pleasant English learning experience. Ellie, grew up in a coastal metropolitan city in southern China, enjoyed her English studies in schools. The pleasure and joy of learning English were revealed in her positive account of English learning in schools: … I was the student representative of English course in our class, so I took an active part in English study and maintained strong incentives … to be fair, I benefited a lot from my English study at the secondary school. I was offered ample opportunities to practise my oral English and my scores in English course remained high (Ellie, autobiographical account) Nonetheless English language proficiency appeared an issue in her study when she talked about her learning experiences in UK. She found it challenging to communicate her ideas precisely during group discussions and in daily conversation. Current learning situation This section explores difficulties the participants encountered in their study in UK in relation to linguistic proficiency, learning and teaching styles, and academic writing. According to the data, the participants experienced academic culture shock at the outset in terms of linguistic competence, learning and teaching styles and academic writing. English competence has been a constant challenge in their study in UK, and they felt less confident of using English in communication and in writing. The learning, teaching and assessment methods in UK were different from the ones the participants had been accustomed to. Academic writing was perceived as most demanding aspect of language in their study in UK. Linguistic challenges There was a pronounced consensus among the participants that English proficiency has been an issue in their study in UK, although the level and area of difficulties may vary. A student‘s 160
prior English learning experiences have a huge impact on their learning in UK. Academic life in UK universities challenges their competence in English. Their English ability is tested in understanding lectures, discussing in seminars, and completing group work and individual assignments. The participants reported they found it difficult to fully understand lectures, to keep up with lecturers and other classmates in seminar discussions, to find appropriate words to express their ideas, and to fully comprehend reading materials. Taking into consideration the realities of English learning in China the problems seem unavoidable. English language proficiency is also an issue associated with disciplinary studies. Lack of and unfamiliarity with disciplinary vocabulary and contexts were perceived to have caused problems in their acquisition and comprehension of subject knowledge. The participants voiced the obstacles that inadequate knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary and terminology was causing. One of my degree subjects was Law. I have found it very difficult without high language proficiency. The study of Law requires a wide range of vocabulary and terminology. Also, you know that law practitioners and learners speak differently. It is very hard for me. (Mikki, interview) I‘ve found it difficult to understand some words in a different context. For example, the same word in accounting has a very different meaning from how it‘s normally understood. (Peter, interview) You know, you can read novels and fiction very well but it‘s different for academic reading. For academic books, it‘s very difficult to get a grasp of what authors want to tell you – the underlining meanings of the text. My vocabulary is far from enough to cope with the demands of academic works. I have to read several times before I can come to terms with the meaning. (Rita, interview) In order to cope with these problems, some participants reported to have read relevant literature on the topic extensively and beforehand while others looked up words in a dictionary. The participants have acknowledged that English competence is more than a matter of knowing academic vocabulary; it is involves understanding cultural aspects of the subjects. For instance, one participant stated: Apart from the language problem, cultural difference is another challenging issue in my study life, which is generally impossible to overcome in a short period. Lack 161
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TRANSFORMATIONS THROUGH LEARNING: T
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have many people
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ABSTRACT This thesis explores the e
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CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........
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Learning and teaching styles ......
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LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Layers of
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CHAPTER 1: CONTEXTS OF ORIGIN Intro
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of openness (Deng 1984). China‘s
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p.249). They are restricted by the
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These schools of philosophy pervade
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and Northern Dynasties (386 - 581)
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Benevolence (ren) is the characteri
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Daoism‘s doctrine of non-action (
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Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism w
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Chinese education values / underlin
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imperial civil service examination.
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The Chinese education system As the
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National College Entrance Examinati
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eferred to as a ‗jargon of broken
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Private learning of English has bee
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proficiency by taking the Test of E
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CHAPTER 2: CONTEXTS OF DESTINATION
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The original six civic universities
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University and Liverpool Hope Unive
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People‘s (1949) to policy change
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Massification of higher education T
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Thatcher‘s Conservative governmen
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Internationalisation ‘at home’
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modules at the University of Wales
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prospective students would certainl
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The lower satisfaction of East Asia
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Some international students take up
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challenged linguistically and cultu
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From the perspectives of psychologi
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four-stage acculturation theory, an
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ange of disciplines and areas. The
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settings; when reaching the end of
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(comprehension) in order to grasp e
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overwhelming advantage over any oth
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approach - by Biggs. The strategic
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version of the SBQ inventory - Stud
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The concepts and constructs of appr
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attend not only to his or her own t
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L2 research on transfer in writing
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their native language to assist the
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The next section of this chapter ex
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the teacher‘s role is consistent
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PART II - RESEARCH DESIGN This part
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I started primary school at the age
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after my study. However, in 1998, t
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In my previous studies, I taught th
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- and I use that capability to push
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education from medieval or ‗ancie
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The methodology has built on - grow
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Page 115 and 116: Data collection phase two Value of
Page 117 and 118: PART III - INTERPRETATIONS This par
Page 119 and 120: These particular six student storie
Page 121 and 122: I think this culture shapes a very
Page 123 and 124: much in the first year except I mad
Page 125 and 126: was like a nightmare with fear and
Page 127 and 128: Figure 5.6: Ridi‘s perception of
Page 129 and 130: Again I was especially weak in list
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Page 133 and 134: Figure 5.11: Peter‘s perception o
Page 135 and 136: The academic life here is higher th
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Page 139 and 140: CHAPTER 6: COMMUNITIES OF LEARNING
Page 141 and 142: … Since I was a child, my father
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Page 145 and 146: Chris was another participant who h
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Page 149 and 150: just have some short conversations
Page 151 and 152: found in Appendix 9. This finding c
Page 153 and 154: It was the kind of student-tutor re
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Page 159: in exams, such as grammar practice.
Page 163 and 164: een aware of the differences in rel
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Page 167 and 168: Writing for academic purposes All p
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Page 171 and 172: Previous studies (Arndt, 1987; Cumm
Page 173 and 174: perceived better practice than that
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Page 177 and 178: I believed that it would be more ch
Page 179 and 180: they spent some time studying in th
Page 181 and 182: get to learn their culture and to l
Page 183 and 184: of consulting with their parents ha
Page 185 and 186: awareness or intercultural understa
Page 187 and 188: I‘m disappointed with things are
Page 189 and 190: the interview that they have develo
Page 191 and 192: CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMEN
Page 193 and 194: elationship for these students is t
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Page 201 and 202: Academic and pedagogical support Th
Page 203 and 204: their place of origin. They appreci
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Having said all this, academics nee
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students‘ voices which are not of
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Angelova, M. and Riazantseva, A. (1
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Brown, R. (2009) The Operation of t
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Coffield et al. (2004) Learning Sty
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Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, cited in
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Guclu, N. (1993) A Study to Identif
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T. Duffy (2002) Psychometric Proper
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Krapels, A. R. (1990) An Overview o
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MacLeod, D. (2005) Colleges to Gain
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Ministry of Education of the People
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Perl, S. (1979) The Composing Proce
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Shi, L. (2006) The Successors to Co
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Thomas, G. (2002) Who Should Call t
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Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1996) Cro
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Zamel, V. (1984) In Search of the K
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Appendix 2: Consent form Title of r
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SECTION 4. CONSENT Is written conse
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SECTION 5. RISKS AND ETHICAL PROCUD
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Deanery Research Ethics Coordinator
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Appendix 5: Instruction on writing
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Notes: 1. Prompts for each question
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to come back and I regrouped with m
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Peter: I came to the UK in Septembe
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with them even more. Let me give yo
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second, or to say, my third languag
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Appendix 8: Student learning journe
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way as your first language. In othe
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When I recall my high school years,
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Figure 8.6: Mia‘s perception of h
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Max Max is a 24 years old male Chin
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My father arranged a house for me t
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Figure 8.10: Vincent‘s perception
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Alex‘s graphs of his learning exp
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classmates, I do not know why. Prob
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cultures, economic and legal system
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the fame of Foshan‘s china indust
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Figure 8.17: Kent‘s perception of
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languages. They had been chosen by
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teaching styles were different. In
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I have studied in UK for almost two
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Figure 8.24: Andy‘s perception of
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