CULTURE SHOCK - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Even for a science exam, not all pertinent aspects are discussed in the textbooks. Onestudent mentioned that his social studies teachers liked to ask questions about the'long-term' and the 'short-term' significance of an historical event, aspects that had notalways been addressed by the textbook authors.Nonetheless, another student felt that lecturers in his course did not take exams asseriously as teachers in China did. They did not spend much time helping students toreview the material that had to be covered for the exam, so that students would obtainthe best possible marks. In contrast, Chinese teachers would look at the scores of theirstudents as a means for measuring the quality of their teaching as well as measuringthe ability of their students.English language learning and cultural adjustmentMastering the English language as a means of communication is certainly the majorhurdle for all Chinese students. A lecturer commented as follows on the problemsthey experienced:“Except for the students with disruptive refugee backgrounds who missed much oftheir formal schooling, Chinese students are the group who have the hardest timelearning English. Their main problem is spoken English, whereas they do well ingrammar and understanding. The typical student from China, I can see, can getthrough a demanding reading test with the use of a dictionary, looking words up andgetting the main ideas.”Although English has long been part of the elementary and secondary school curriculain China, the results are mediocre. Students' comments have confirmed the findings ofthe literature. As Wong (1989) has pointed out, (in China) English is taught byteachers for whom English is a foreign language, and many of them are also poorlytrained. Most importantly, Chinese teaching methodology usually lacks the emphasison communicative competence which Western language teachers consider essentialfor effective second language learning.25