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Download Document - Office for Learning and Teaching

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(3) Do you find it hard to communicate with your lecturers/fellow students inEnglish?Thirteen students said they did not have problems in communicating. One of themsaid, “I don’t think I have problems communicating with lecturers”. Ten students saidthey still have some problems. For example, one student said, “Yes, I always feelsenvious, because I can’t speak good English”.(4) Do you still prefer to speak your own language to your fellow students wheneverthere is opportunity?There were 7 students who preferred to speak English. One of them said, “… I willreply them by my own language. If they chat with me by English, I would reply byEnglish”. Eleven students preferred to speak their own language. One of them said,“I prefer to speak my own language to my fellow students … because it is easier tocommunicate via my first language”.(5) What assistance has the university provided to help you with your languageproblem?Students said they could get help from different sources. Some students had aspecial person to ask <strong>for</strong> help, <strong>for</strong> example, “There is an officer who helps us correctour grammar”, one student commented. Some students would ask local students tohelp: one student said “but I prefer to practice with my Australian friends”. Somestudents sought help from university organisations: “The learning <strong>and</strong> teachingcentre had free workshops <strong>and</strong> so did the education Dept so I attended those”.Some students found their own way to solve this problem, <strong>for</strong> example, one of themsaid “… the English bridging course”.(6) Do you believe the university has done enough to help you with your languageproblem?Seven students thought the university had done enough to help them with theirlanguage problem. One of them said, “I believe they have done enough, <strong>and</strong> triedtheir best. I remember in my first trimester here the … tried to help us as newinternational students here by asking Rosemary to teach us more about thelanguage”. There were 8 students who thought the university had not done enoughto help them with their language problem. One of them said, “Not really because Icame here as a final year student so I don't know”.5.1.5 Culture-based <strong>Teaching</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Learning</strong> Concepts(1) Apart from language, what were the main study difficulties you encountered in1st year?Students had different answers to this question. Some of them admitted that culturaldifference was a problem. “I felt the culture difference is the main problem to me”<strong>and</strong> “Culture a little bit…” Others thought there was culture shock: “I think that I didnot get used to the Australian study way… I worried about those things. I don't haveany problem with Australian culture”. Some of them couldn’t get used to the teachingmethod, as shown by these comments: “… that case, I think finding material <strong>for</strong>assignments”; “the lecturer should help us when we did our group assignment”; “theuniversity could have an induction class <strong>for</strong> the first year students to teach you howpeople teach here <strong>and</strong> what the expectations are”; “the Western style of writing, inChina it is a different style”.77

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