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

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plus 2 years in the UK) with his current university in the UK. He is from a coastal city in southern China. I got to know Chris via another participant in this study in February 2009. Chris‘s graphs of his learning experiences between the ages of 6 and 21, and of his learning experiences in the UK between September 2008 and April 2009 are shown in Figure 8.15 and 8.16 respectively. Figure 8.15: Chris‘s perception of his own learning experience between the ages of 6 and 21 Figure 8.16: Chris‘s perception of his own learning experience in the UK between September 2008 and April 2009 I am from the city of Foshan in Guangdong Province of China. Talking about my home town, Foshan is usually related to and famous for its china industry. Foshan is one of the cities with the longest history and strongest background in this field in south China. But nowadays 282
the fame of Foshan‘s china industry is no longer a pride for the local government or the citizens, because the pollution of this industry has become a big issue that cannot be ignored. Moreover, traditional industries like china and the clothing industry are not welcomed any more due to its low economic benefits. As far as I know, the city government of Foshan has determined to move these traditional industries to other undeveloped cities and aimed to develop a series of new and modern industries, such as financial industry, E- commerce, and software industry and so on. But personally I doubt if it is practical for Foshan to set its goals in these fields. It seems to me that Foshan‘s ambitions, or the ambitions of the city government is not based on the facts and true situation of the city. It is more like a slogan that can also be heard from any other city nowadays in China. Hundreds of cities set their goals to become ―International financial, economic and business centers‖. But I think most of these cities are too arrogant and will end up with a failure if they do not change their directions. As I understand it, the number of the cities today in the world that are recognized as a real ‗international financial and business center‘ is no more than five. These are New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai. I do not think any of the cities those have set itself the goal of becoming a financial center can be a potential competitor of these five cities. However, today I am not surprised any more when I heard more and more cities in China have set this kind of unpractical goals, just as I am not surprised with the phenomenon that among all the students studying aboard, the Chinese students are the highest proportion to pursue a degree in top business schools worldwide. Is that because the Chinese students are good at business Is that because the fast growth of China‘s economy and the increasing opportunities in business today in China promote the confidence of these students In my opinion, these are part of the reasons, but it is far from the truth. Some of these students do not even know what exactly a financial analyst does when they apply for an MS in Finance. Some of them have no idea in what kind of industry and company actuaries are needed when they accept the offer for this major in top business schools. Why Personally I think the reason cannot be more similar to the case of the city of Foshan which I discussed above. Some of these students just follow the path that was set by their parents, just as the cities in China follow the order of the central government. Some of them are largely affected by their friends when they make their choices, just as Foshan follows the fashionable trend to develop modern industries as other cities do. Few students have analyzed themselves in terms of interest, weakness and ascendency. Few students have questioned themselves if they really fit the major they are going to study. Few students think about the exact job these majors will lead them to and if it is their ideal job. Unfortunately, I used to be among these students I am now criticizing. When I was 10 years old, a year before the middle school entrance exam, my father sent me to a foreign language school in Guangzhou, because the local middle school had a very bad reputation. Since then, I have never been able to get rid of learning language, mainly English. I studied in this school for 7 years, including the sixth grade in the primary school, three years in the middle school, and another three years in the high school. My experience in this school was not uncommon, compared to other teenagers of the same age as me. ‗An average good student with a mature mind‘ is the comment of most my teachers. Partly because I talk little but often reveal an uncommon mind when writing a composition, partly because I started a relationship with a girl in the sixth grade in primary school. She became my girl friend and we are still in love. This is my school experience before stepping into the university. 283
Page 1 and 2:
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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Chinese students are studying in co
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confidence gradually increased with
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in exams, such as grammar practice.
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prior English learning experiences
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een aware of the differences in rel
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learning and study skills, research
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Writing for academic purposes All p
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insufficient subject knowledge. In
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Previous studies (Arndt, 1987; Cumm
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perceived better practice than that
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factors, two other driving elements
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I believed that it would be more ch
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they spent some time studying in th
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get to learn their culture and to l
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of consulting with their parents ha
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awareness or intercultural understa
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I‘m disappointed with things are
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the interview that they have develo
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CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMEN
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elationship for these students is t
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students in this study value learni
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students from their home country an
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elated to professional practices, c
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Academic and pedagogical support Th
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their place of origin. They appreci
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are felt being genuinely accepted a
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support services and departmental a
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assistance to facilitate the achiev
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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
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
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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
Page 255 and 256: to come back and I regrouped with m
Page 257 and 258: Peter: I came to the UK in Septembe
Page 259 and 260: with them even more. Let me give yo
Page 261 and 262: second, or to say, my third languag
Page 263 and 264: Appendix 8: Student learning journe
Page 265 and 266: way as your first language. In othe
Page 267 and 268: When I recall my high school years,
Page 269 and 270: Figure 8.6: Mia‘s perception of h
Page 271 and 272: Max Max is a 24 years old male Chin
Page 273 and 274: My father arranged a house for me t
Page 275 and 276: Figure 8.10: Vincent‘s perception
Page 277 and 278: Alex‘s graphs of his learning exp
Page 279 and 280: classmates, I do not know why. Prob
Page 281: cultures, economic and legal system
Page 285 and 286: Figure 8.17: Kent‘s perception of
Page 287 and 288: languages. They had been chosen by
Page 289 and 290: teaching styles were different. In
Page 291 and 292: I have studied in UK for almost two
Page 293 and 294: Figure 8.24: Andy‘s perception of
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