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

I am an overseas student doing a BA Business with Law in Liverpool Hope University since
2006. My home town is located in the middle of China, and is famous for the coal industry
and vinegar products. I am from a typical three member family in China. I have received an
education from the age of 5, I used to study in the school during the day and join the evening
special skill classes every day: the reason for this was that my parents wanted me to have a
bright future, therefore, I learned painting, dancing and singing and many more other skills
at an early age. I enjoyed spending time with my family.
I am always fascinated by language. This passion for language has driven me to attend
different language courses, such as taking General Japanese as my second language course
outside school. Luckily, my parents supported me to study overseas after I finished high
school. I believed that was a great opportunity to develop my skills further, and therefore, I
decided to study in a Japanese college in Tokyo in 2002.
Things were not as easy as I thought in the beginning of my life in Japan, as a teenager,
because I was used to growing up beside my parents--they looked after my daily life. After I
went to Japan, my life changed dramatically. I stayed in accommodation which was on the
top floor of my college, I started to learn how to cook meals and get on with foreign tutors
and class mates. Unfortunately, about half year after I started studying in that college, I
received the first exam result, which was not good at all. It shocked me more than ever. I
started to notice that a good balance of study and life was hard. Maybe because of my
childish age, I blamed the cruel environment at that time, and did not think that I could do
better if I tried harder. However, I am a very competitive person and do not like losing,
because I do not want to waste my life and parents‘ money, so I started to do my best in the
study and making more friends. Since then, my life was getting better and better, I started to
hang out with many friends and felt happier, and I got my first class Japanese language
certification in 2004, then a year later I finished college, which was also the end of my days
in Japan.
There was no particular reason for coming to England. It was only out of my interest. I love
to know new stuff and experience different life styles, maybe because of the historical
building design and the attractiveness of the special European romantic city life style, or the
world famous higher education system or maybe because I am meant to be here in my life,
who knows. I went on the plane to this unknown country – England—in the summer of 2005. I
came here and entered the higher level education in Liverpool Hope University. Refreshing
my memory of the last 4 years, I went through a lot. In the beginning of my International
Foundation Programme year, I missed Japan and my friends over there so much, I was used
to the ‗easy-busy-Japanesy‘ days, when I came to England, after the exciting fresh period,
everything in my life suddenly turned to be so boring and slow, however, as I learned from
the life experience in Japan that if you cannot change the environment, change yourself. So I
started to work hard at ‗academic English‘ and make new friends, enjoy the new life, then I
was slowly accepted by this historical and passionate place. I started to think this life is not
bad at all. It is all about the way to enjoy it.
English is my third language. In the beginning of my university life, how to use proper
academic English to finish the report was hard work for me. I was always mixed up in my
head between Japanese and English. Luckily, I did not try to think about those two languages
in Chinese, otherwise it would be a nightmare. In my opinion, a good way to master a
language is to use it as much as you could. At the same time, try not to think it in the same
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