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

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Andy Andy is a 23 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 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 in the UK. He is from an inland metropolitan city in northern China. I got to know Andy via a student gathering in 2007 at Liverpool Hope University. Andy‘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 8.23 and 8.24 respectively. Figure 8.23: Andy‘s perception of his own learning experience between the ages of 8 and 23 292
Figure 8.24: Andy‘s perception of his own learning experience in the UK between September 2007 and May 2009 I was born in Wuhan, the capital city of the Hubei province. I cannot recall many things that happened in my childhood, however since I am able to remember and think about things around me, I find my life progresses in three-year cycles, after each cycle I will say goodbye to the old environment and step into a brand new uncertain area. The first cycle occurred to me when I was in the middle school. My parents seemed to be dissatisfied with the teaching quality in my old school and they suddenly transferred me into another school. I already knew most students in my old school, since the old school is the official designated school of my primary school. In the new circumstances, I was frustrated by leaving some many friends but I gradually got used to the new environment. Then three years later, when I was 17, a new cycle occurred. I moved to a small southern city, Zhu Hai, with my parents. Without any doubt, this time I had to learn to cope with a different culture, which is a great challenge to me. At first I could not understand what people around me were talking about. And I did miss my friends in Wuhan, so I often wrote to them and gave them a ring. However when I finished my first school year in Zhu Hai, I went back to Wuhan to celebrate the Chinese New Year and to meet my old friends. However I have to admit that there was a gap between us, for time seems to have changed many things. When they talked about their new experiences in school, I had a feeling of being an outsider and sometimes I could not get their jokes anymore. I did not feel frustrated, but I did feel loss. As the time went by, I made many friends in my high school, but most of them are from other provinces who shared a similar experience with me. Maybe that is the reason why I cannot speak Cantonese frequently even today. When I look back now, I really cherish my friendship with them. Again three years later, I graduated from my high school and entered a top university in Guang Dong Province. At the beginning of this cycle, I became a university student. However the campus is next to my home. So I did not get excited at all and went back home maybe three or four times a week. Every time I feel bad that I chose to go home. So to some extent, the university life does not make me mature. From that moment on, I thought I would never be independent unless I left there. Then another two years had passed, my school suddenly announced that a ‗two plus two‘ programme between my university and a university in Liverpool had been established. My first reaction was that I did not need this plan at all, because I can learn English very well in China. So I did not even tell my parents. One night when my father drove me home, I told my father there was such a programme and I did not want to go. My father told my mum, and my mum really fancied this program and urged me to sign up for it. So I talked to my classmates, and one of my best mates told me that he really wanted to go, but his family could not afford it. If my family could support me, I definitely needed to try. I reflected on his words and at last I thought I should go. Firstly, my major is English, there was a necessity to improve my English in an English speaking country. Secondly, my family is so close to my campus, I needed to be independent. Thirdly, I wished to look at the world outside China when I was young. And at last, I think Zhu Hai is not where I can go any further in terms of life experience. Then I left. A new cycle of my life began. Everything was new and fresh after I arrived in Liverpool. Three things left a great impression on me. Firstly, the studying resources here are better than I thought and my 293
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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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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
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Ministry of Education of the People
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Perl, S. (1979) The Composing Proce
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Shi, L. (2006) The Successors to Co
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Thomas, G. (2002) Who Should Call t
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Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1996) Cro
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Page 253 and 254: Notes: 1. Prompts for each question
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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
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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
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