Interim report: Chinese students’ experience

Interim report:Chinese students’ experience Teaching and Learning Project 2011 Dr. Jiamei Xiao University of Huddersfield July, 2011

Research Team Lead researcher- Dr. Jiamei Xiao Partner researcher- Prof. Mark Halstead Student researcher- Lan Lin, MA student -----School of Education and Professional Development

Aims and Objects • Common issues and difficulties most Chinese students are facing • Different learning needs and issues between Undergraduate and Masters level students • Characteristics of Chinese students’ learning & any observable sub-groups (in terms of approaches, attitudes to learning and levels of achievement

Data Collection:10 interviews in April - June, 2011 • 6 Groups and 4 individuals • in Chinese • over 12 hours’ recording • stressing the nature of ‘listening to the voices’ of Chinese students • culture-sensitive equal relationship with interviewees

Sampling

Data analysis- 21 participants in 9 interviews • Participants: • 4 Foundation/8 Undergraduate/9 Masters • Masters & Undergraduate experiences: • 4 M level (less than 1 year on our course - a case study • 1 Msc + 1 MA (less than 1 year • 3 (over 3 years -- Undergraduate & M level • 8 Undergraduate • 4 Foundation

Data analysis- 21 participants in 9 interviews • Varied periods of time: • 3- 6 months (n=4) • 6-12 months (n=6) • 1-2 years (n=4); • 2-3 years (n=3); • 3-6 years (n=4).

Initial Analysis- Common issues and difficulties Few and less satisfactory levels of interaction, communication and cooperation with ‘English people’

Initial Analysis- Common issues and difficulties ‘quietness’

Initial Analysis- Common issues and difficulties Little external support awareness of and access to

Initial Analysis- Common issues and difficulties Course work Constant challenges

Masters – case study • Despair and helplessness • Intensified reflection of the four aspects of Chinese students’ experience

Undergraduate students • diverse group • dominant ethos -- indifferent to each other except among the close circle of friends, apathetic • a sense of isolation and lethargy • a desire for more organised student activities and external assistance in promoting communication and interactions

Chinese students’ learning • language issue

Chinese students’ learning • psychology • initial inhibition -not ‘good enough’ or ‘better than others’ • a complex social, cultural and educational phenomenon which goes beyond the issue of ‘saving face’

Chinese students’ learning • continuity of their earlier experience in China • survival strategy • reticence or implicit acceptance or helplessness

Chinese students’ learning • Get used to • active engagement (if this is the case from the beginning) • merely surviving and keeping themselves aloof and away from the crowd • taking a clear stance of enjoying the ‘temporary stage of life’ and need ‘no more than a pass’

Chinese students’ learning • Value added---‘learning to live independently and obtaining maturity’ • Other expectations? • people, culture and experience • academic outcomes • English proficiency

Chinese students’ learning • self study and self-management • an individualistic approach to learning • unpredictable outcomes (Need for further study into Chinese students’ academic results)

Conclusion • a low level of activity in the university life • little involvement in external events • inadequate engagement in classroom interactions with teachers and home students

Next Steps • ‘self-hypnotising’ • ‘getting rid of drug addiction’ --- They are struggling --- calls for early-stage interventions and tailored supporting system

Other opportunities for insights • I initiated two group interviews with Chinese students and scholars in 2009 • Another project on a collaborative course in China was carried out in March, 2011

International students’ expectations • qualification • better English • new experience & new understanding (of culture, people, life & in learning)

Suggestions- a welcoming university • Admission arrangement & induction programme paying particular attention to practical needs – Chinese students induction programme? • Student Union allocating regular international and multi-cultural programme/venue – an international kitchen? • Arrangements, events & initiatives for international students – ‘personal touch’, at school & uni level, at the beginning of a term

Suggestions- a supporting university • Voluntary supporting system- mentor/ English club/ language centre/international kitchen – need initial arrangement, organisation and support • A Chinese officer as a key contact and first-stop support • Information of regulation, rules and procedures – available & disseminated through Chinese officer

Suggestions- internationalisation A synergy model – an aggregate of discrete consciousness and actions Who would take the lead?

Interim report: Chinese students’ experience