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

een aware of the differences in relation to the role of the teacher in students‘ learning,
methods of teaching, learning strategies, and study skills being developed during learning.
The most salient difference identified by the participants was the role of the teacher in
students‘ learning. Teachers in China, according to the participants, act as instructors who
tell students what to do, and as an authority of knowledge. The Confucian teaching of
hierarchical relationships is frequently cited as the source of the teacher‘s status and
authority (e.g. Chan, 1999; Fischer, 2008; Turner, 2006). As discussed in Chapter 1,
under the Confucian tradition students in the Chinese education system are generally
expected to respect teachers and avoid contrasting ideas from the authority. In contrast,
what the participants experienced in the UK was the tutor as knowledge facilitator,
assisting students in their acquisition of knowledge, at the same time with the intention of
developing students‘ independent learning skills. It is commonly understood that western
universities aim to:
Increase individuals‘ capacity to learn, to provide them with a framework with
which to analyse problems and to increase their capacity to deal with new
information (Dawkins 1987, p.1)
… to look at problems from a number of different perspectives, to analyse, to
gather evidence, to synthesize, and to be flexible, creative thinkers (Aulich, 1990,
p.3).
As one participant commented:
Tutors here encourage students to be independent in the study. I remember I once
took a module called History and Development of English. If we had any questions
on the topic, tutors barely gave you any answers. They just guided you to think and
find out answers by yourself. It was something new to me. (Mia, interview)
This western idea of teaching and learning is reflected in its approaches to teaching. In
UK, a student-centred teaching approach is promoted, which is in contrast to the teachercentred
approach in China. The teaching style in Chinese education system is didactic
and trainer/teacher-centred as Kirkbride and Tang (1992) note. Just like participants in
Turner‘s study (2006) who perceived ‗a structured, teacher-centred emphasis on
propositional learning in China, compared to a more student-centred, discovery-based
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