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

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esearch said that they would have benefited from subject-specific support related to academic writing, academic conventions, study skills and assessment procedures. Different subjects have their own different terminology and vocabulary. Academic writing is subjectspecific, consisting of various types of writing, each with particular requirements. Assessment tasks vary across subject areas; for instance, examinations of different subject might require students to write short texts to answer questions, or to answer multiple choice questions. It became more challenging when the participants were studying combined subjects. Some participants expressed their confusion and disorientation with regard to distinct academic discourse, requirements and expectations of their two different subjects. Subject-specific support provision at departmental level, available prior to the commencement of the course and throughout the course of their study, would help facilitate their learning by familiarizing them with, and making explicit academic requirements and expectations of, a particular subject. The support might take the forms of intensive presessional and on-going training courses, regular workshops and tutorials. The participants also mentioned their lack of time to seek help and attend workshops. It would help promote the attendance if the training sessions or intensive pre-sessional course be integrated into the curriculum. Department should provide their academic staff with training on how to work with international students. The training would help increase academic staff awareness of specific needs of international students and provide practical solutions to responding effectively to these needs in their teaching. Academic staff might be in need of assistance on the development of teaching strategies and approaches to address the needs of international students. Arkoudis (2006) has identified six major strategies that can be adopted for use in the teaching, including internationalising the curriculum, making lectures accessible, encouraging participation in small group work, adopting an educative approach to plagiarism, supporting students in developing critical thinking skills, and explaining assessment expectations. These six areas of strategies can be modified, and further developed in the staff training programme. Moreover, a dedicated international coordinator in each department might be appointed as the first point of contact for international students regarding problems in their studies and daily life. The departmental coordinator is expected to have a whole picture of the subjects taught in the department, a better understanding of departmental policies and procedures concerning international students, and knowledge of university and departmental support provisions for international students. Through liaising with university 206
support services and departmental academic staff, the coordinator would be able to offer international students subject-specific advice, or refer them to relevant support services or academic staff where appropriate. The academic department should encourage international students‘ participation in and engagement with the academic community. Active participation in the academic community would help increase their knowledge of subject areas and the academic culture of a particular discipline, develop their communicative and interpersonal skills, and improve their English language proficiency and enhance their learning experiences. The international students might be encouraged to attend institutional or departmental public lectures, seminars or tutorials. Student study forums and blogs might be set up to provide international students with a space for discussion of issues related to their study, and seeking subject-related help and support from academic staff and fellow students. The department might like to produce an international student newsletter, communicating events and activities within the department that international students might find interesting and useful to their learning. For instance, international students might be encouraged to partake in essay competitions organised by the department or external organizations to help foster their sense of achievement, and develop their academic confidence. The participants of the research mentioned in the interview that they would welcome the appointment of an international student representative in the department, and his/her presence in the departmental level committee meetings. On behalf of all the international students in the department, the student representative would be able to raise issues related to their courses, be consulted regarding policy and practices related to international students, and be informed of the latest departmental news, policy changes and support provision. The effective implementation of strategies and approaches at departmental level to ensure adequate support provision and to address specific needs of international students cannot be achieved without the full backing of the university in relation to leadership and provision of resources. The university might like to review their strategic plan and incorporate international dimensions into policy making, aiming to create a university community responsive to the needs of international students at departmental level. 207
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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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esearch, reliability and validity n
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Its total student population is rel
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contacts. The researcher once taugh
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Data collection phase two Value of
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PART III - INTERPRETATIONS This par
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These particular six student storie
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I think this culture shapes a very
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much in the first year except I mad
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was like a nightmare with fear and
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Figure 5.6: Ridi‘s perception of
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Again I was especially weak in list
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ecause I knew too little English to
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Figure 5.11: Peter‘s perception o
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The academic life here is higher th
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High School. In the second year, I
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CHAPTER 6: COMMUNITIES OF LEARNING
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… Since I was a child, my father
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would love to repay my family by be
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Chris was another participant who h
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having them completed as soon as po
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just have some short conversations
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found in Appendix 9. This finding c
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It was the kind of student-tutor re
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Page 161 and 162: prior English learning experiences
Page 163 and 164: een aware of the differences in rel
Page 165 and 166: learning and study skills, research
Page 167 and 168: Writing for academic purposes All p
Page 169 and 170: insufficient subject knowledge. In
Page 171 and 172: Previous studies (Arndt, 1987; Cumm
Page 173 and 174: perceived better practice than that
Page 175 and 176: factors, two other driving elements
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
Page 195 and 196: students in this study value learni
Page 197 and 198: students from their home country an
Page 199 and 200: elated to professional practices, c
Page 201 and 202: Academic and pedagogical support Th
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Page 211 and 212: Having said all this, academics nee
Page 213 and 214: students‘ voices which are not of
Page 215 and 216: Angelova, M. and Riazantseva, A. (1
Page 217 and 218: Brown, R. (2009) The Operation of t
Page 219 and 220: Coffield et al. (2004) Learning Sty
Page 221 and 222: Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, cited in
Page 223 and 224: Guclu, N. (1993) A Study to Identif
Page 225 and 226: T. Duffy (2002) Psychometric Proper
Page 227 and 228: Krapels, A. R. (1990) An Overview o
Page 229 and 230: MacLeod, D. (2005) Colleges to Gain
Page 231 and 232: Ministry of Education of the People
Page 233 and 234: Perl, S. (1979) The Composing Proce
Page 235 and 236: Shi, L. (2006) The Successors to Co
Page 237 and 238: Thomas, G. (2002) Who Should Call t
Page 239 and 240: Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1996) Cro
Page 241 and 242: Zamel, V. (1984) In Search of the K
Page 243 and 244: Appendix 2: Consent form Title of r
Page 245 and 246: SECTION 4. CONSENT Is written conse
Page 247 and 248: SECTION 5. RISKS AND ETHICAL PROCUD
Page 249 and 250: Deanery Research Ethics Coordinator
Page 251 and 252: Appendix 5: Instruction on writing
Page 253 and 254: Notes: 1. Prompts for each question
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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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