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

In my opinion, the Chinese students would not get the choice to design their life until the
university entrance examination. For the first time, they can decide what major they are
going to study, which university they like and which city they want to stay in, at least in the
following four years. However, I missed this chance. I got admission to SYSU without the
university entrance examination, only by an election exam. I still remember the day I got the
offer from SYSU. It was my 18th birthday. The major for me is translation and interpretation.
I remember I have once considered whether I really liked this major. To be honest, I prefer
science rather than arts, and I do not like learning language. But at last the will of studying
in a top-10 university, or the reputation of SYSU conquered the wish to study what I really
wanted. Actually it is me who abandoned the choice to design my own future. After a few
days studying in SYSU, I found I could not stand it any longer. Not because I felt it hard to
catch up with the others, but because I still kept in mind that this is not the exact major I
wanted to study. For a time, I thought about dropping out of SYSU and applying for another
university. At the moment I was preparing for the exam for another university, Liverpool
Hope University came and promoted its programmes and I chose it.
I have spent almost a year here. I think I have got quite a lot out of being here, but which has
nothing to do with the study. I have travelled around Britain. I have been to Scotland, York,
the Lake District, Leicester and London. Actually I do not travel as my habit, but I do
appreciate what I can get from travelling. I still remember I travelled to York just after a
week I arrived here. It seems for me that travelling is a way for me to build up my confidence
when I need it. By travelling around a new city, I can get the feeling that I can turn myself
from a stranger into one familiar with this city. This gives me a sense of conquering and
enhances my confidence.
The studying experience is the last thing I want to talk about. I do not think the learning and
teaching here is very different from that in SYSU. Maybe it is because I have already lost the
heart and passion to study. In the next five years, first of all I plan to go to the US for further
education, mostly because my girlfriend is currently studying there. Otherwise I will hunt for
a job after graduation from Liverpool Hope University. Hopefully I will run my own trading
company in the future, because I do not think I can be a good member of staff in a big
company. I like working for myself and working alone, just as I like travelling alone. Most
interestingly, doing business in international trading once again indicates that I cannot get
rid of English for quite a long period in the future.
Kent
Kent is a 22 years old male Chinese student. He is in his 3 rd year of a BA Business and
English Language course. He came to the UK in September 2007, and he has been studying
here for almost two years. Prior to that, he studied in a university in China for two years. His
Chinese university has a ‗2+2‘ exchange undergraduate programme (2 years study in China
plus 2 years in the UK) with his current university. He is from a city in southern China. I got
to know Kent via a Chinese students gathering in 2007. Later, he kindly agreed to participate
in the research when I invited him to be a research subject.
Kent‘s graphs of his learning experiences between the ages of 6 and 22, and of his learning
experiences in the UK between September 2007 and April 2009 are shown in Figure 8.17 and
8.18 respectively.
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