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Report on Chinese Students Learning Experience on a UK Campus
Coming to Terms with Intercultural Context:
Developing Intercultural Personhood
Lihong Wang
Beijing Language and Culture University
Durham University
[email protected]
Research Background
Phenomenal presence of Chinese students in the UK in 20042005
Overseas students in the UK:318,410
Increasing number of Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC)
students studying abroad
P.R.C.—52,675
Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan;45,00)
‘Chinese Learner’
‘rote learning’, ‘surface learner’
‘passive’, ‘silent’
‘deferent to authority’
‘lack critical thinking’
Plagiarist?
‘Culture of learning’
a whole set of expectations, attitudes, beliefs,
values, perceptions, preferences,
experiences and behaviours that are
characteristic of a culture with regard to
teaching and learning (Jin & Cortazzi, 1993;
Hu, 2002).
Research perspectives
•Socratic vs. Confucian academic discourses (e.g. Greenholtz, 2003; Tweed &
Lehman, 2002)
•Dialogic vs. dialectic modes of teaching and learning
(Hammond and Gao, 2002)
• Culture of learning and Cultural synergy model ( Jin and
Cortazzi, 1993, 1995, 1996,1998)
•Eclectic approach (Biggs & Watkins, 1996; Biggs, 2003)
• Synergetic culture (Feng, 2007)
Socratic discourse vs. Confucian discourse
l Knowledge is generated within
l
Interaction and inquiry-based
learning
l
Verbal
communication
is
central
(through
constant
questioning and evaluating)
l Analytical and critical thinking
are highly valued
l Cognitive-instrumental reasoning
l Innate ability
l
Independent self
l
Separate knowing
l
Knowledge is from omniscience
of authority (through transmission)
l
Paternalistic leadership for the
teacher
l
Memorization and repetitive
learning
l
Text-based learning
l
Competition/Test-oriented
l
Moral-practical reasoning
l
Success comes from efforts and
will power
l
Interdependent self
l
Connected knowing
….
Dialectic vs. Dialogic
(Hammond &Gao, 2002)
Teacher holds power,
knows all, controls space
Student follows
instruction
Learning is transmitted,
fragmented, fixed
Protect status quo,
encourage competition
Power and experience are
shared, create space
Students contributes,
make proposals,
Learning is constructed,
connected, emergent
Create future, encourage
collaboration
Cultural Synergy
Cultural synergy refers to mutual or reciprocal
cultural movement between people from two or
more cultures so that they can ‘interact
systematically, cooperating for a common purpose
with an attitude of being willing to learn,
understand and appreciate the other’s culture
without loss of their own status, role or cultural
identity’
(Jin & Cortazzi, 1993:95)
Eclectic approach
‘Teaching for education’: inclusive
contextual approach
The widely-believed norms and differences
between the two cultures are more ‘myths
than reality’.
(Biggs, 2003)
‘Synergetic culture’
 This culture can be something entirely new;
 It can also be intermediate zones where
mediated ways of behaving and modes of
thinking can be identified and individual
identities are negotiated and partially
transformed.
 (Feng, 2007, Durham Symposium)
Research Questions
Foreshadowed questions:
Whether exists a Chinese learning culture?
If it does, whether Chinese students bring it to the UK
classroom?
What happens to their approaches to and conceptions of
learning while studying in a new learning discourse?
Has any new form of learning culture been created by
Chinese students while studying abroad?
What is the impact of overseas learning on their personal
growth?
Ethnographic Research Methodology
Participants: 15 MA /PhD students from different disciplines
Time: October,2005- July, 2006
Setting: a research university in the northeast of England, UK
Data collecting instruments:
Classroom observation
Participant observation
Ethnographic interview
Data analysis: grounded theory ((Glaser & Strauss, 1967;
Strauss and Corbin, 1990, 1998)
Research Findings
1. There exists a Chinese learning culture, but Chinese
students are more responsive and adaptive to the new
learning culture in terms of approaches to and conceptions
of learning than stick to their traditional learning culture.
2.’Learning shock’ and ‘cognitive dissonance’ can become
learning opportunities to increase intercultural awareness and
facilitate personal maturity and growth, emotionally and
intellectually
3.The students mediating between the two learning cultures
can move from an ‘either/or’ stage and enjoy a ‘both/and’
stance, consciously negotiating and creating new space to
assert their unique identity: intercultural personhood.
1.Changes in approaches to and conceptions
of learning
“ The assessment here is different. There are no
exams, so you don’t need to memorize lots of stuff
to prepare for the exams as in China.”(LY)
“ In the past, I believe ‘practice makes perfect” and
immersed myself working out hundreds and thousands of
(mathematical) problems, otherwise I couldn’t enter
university. But now, that won’t do. Thinking is more
important.” (ZJ)
Learning autonomy
“I like this mode of assignment, writing papers.
Though we wrote papers at home university as
well, it is totally different in requirements. The
process of writing papers is really painful, but it
is a very good form of learning autonomy. I feel
that I learn mostly from writing papers.” (JJ)
Classroom participation
I didn’t dare to ask questions, because I was always afraid
of being laughed at. But here, they (British classmates—
my comment) do not judge you, whether your questions
are silly or smart. Neither do the teachers. So I won’t
wrestle in mind whether the question is worth asking or not.
If I want to ask questions, then I’ll ask. (F1)
2.
Intellectual Development
“It is more obvious in humanities and social sciences,
there is no single correct answer to the issue.
Different people have different interpretations of the
text. We can’t just wait there complaining there is no
right answer, you should analyse the situation to find
your own answer. You answer couldn’t be absolute
right, but you find it through your own thinking and
reasoning.” (JJ)
3. Development of intercultural competence.
Attitudes: curiosity, openness, readiness to suspend disbelief
and judgement with respect to other’s meanings, beliefs and
behaviours.
“First, I felt that the classroom was less structured, but I believe it
has its own strength and I observed carefully their interaction in the
classroom. I found that they asked questions to train their
thinking abilities instead of just for an answer” (Ryan).
Open-mindedness
“I came here without the preconceptions that our ways are
better than yours, and I think I could see their ways of life
objectively, how they treat people. I know some students complain
all the time and they think only their ways are right. Their mindsets are not good. We should respect, not criticize, other cultures
and customs.” (RT)
Awareness of one’s own identity
“I think it is very important. I can’t ask them to treat me as they
do their folks. You can do nothing about it. Now I’m interested
in cultural identity. I feel as long as you were born with an
Asian face you would be treated differently by the foreigners.
Your primary school peers would treat you very nicely, for they
knew you very well. But at first sight of your face, they would
categorize you into a different group, no matter whether you
are educated or uneducated. You can do nothing about it.
That’s identity. (CY)
On the one hand I think it unfair for them to treat me differently;
on the other, I know that I want to be treated as different.
I have to look straight at my difference. That is not kind of
“disable”, but just difference. You can’t say that they are good
and I’m bad. We are just different. If they could speak Chinese,
they wouldn’t know as much Chinese educational system as I do
the British. It’s not a matter of better or worse, stronger or weaker.
Just difference. This is a valuable experience as I’m going in for
education studies. When I admit that difference I find that I feel
better and I can take it easy in my studies. I shouldn’t be haunted
with these thoughts, and I am different, and the weakest as well,
for I don’t know English educational background. (CY)_
Empathy: trying to understand the “otherness” “from
within”, in its own world.
“ I have my own way to write essays. I’ m used to starting by
telling stories: what happened and what motivated me to do
the research, and gradually brought up my main ideas. But
here people write differently. My way is kind of bottom-up,
and theirs “top-down”. My tutor told me to make explicit in
the introduction what you are going to do. They also
emphasized bibliography, and in the beginning I didn’t
understand why, probably because I didn’t read much. Later,
I had to write an essay every three or four weeks and had too
many materials to consult, I suddenly found the merits of
good bibliography. We are not only responsible for
ourselves but also for the reader.”(EC)
Tolerance of ambiguities and negotiating ambiguities: inviting
interpretation and help, explaining one’s own position; asking
for and giving reasons.
“At beginning of our seminars, I found they had a lot of
misunderstanding about China and I was very angry and eager
to correct them, but my English was not good. I couldn’t get my
ideas across successfully; therefore, I failed to convince them.
But I would like to listen to their evidence and arguments why
they think in that way. I asked them where they got the resource
and I would look into them myself. And I found myself
confronted with many conflicting ideas, different voices on the
same issue. You can’t jump to a quick conclusion, so we need do
research.” (YY)
The students have their own orientations and priorities to
make choices:
“We only stay here for one year and you should think about how
to live this year. If you spend all the time reading books, I don’t
think it is worth the money we paid for the tuition. But if you
have more opportunities to access their society, you will have a
deeper understanding of their culture, for example, their notions
of equality and respect, their attitudes to different opinions and
negotiations, and these will give you another perspective to see
the world. If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t feel so strongly
about this contrast. Subject knowledge could be learnt anywhere,
and will probably be soon out of date, but these notions will
have profound impact on your life, and I think this is the most
valuable part I learnt here. I hadn’t expected much before I
came, and now I think the gains are worthwhile. ( TZ)
Change in mind-set: see things in a different perspective
“When I came here, what I was most concerned about was
getting the degree. You know it cost a fortune to study here and it
(the certificate) is what we are here for.
….. Gradually, I began to enjoy their way of learning and
frequent the library to explore, and then discuss with our tutor. I
come to realize that what the university offer to me is not just a
degree. Actually, the degree is not given priority now. I have
learnt how to learn and how to do research. And most
importantly, your mind-set is changed. …... You cannot be truly
Westernised, but at least you can see the reality from their point
of view. It is your choice how to view the matter, either from the
West or from the East.” (ZJ)
Concluding remark
Intercultural competence is not only the preparation for
Chinese learners’ successful overseas academic adaptation
but also the outcome of their intellectual development.
During the process of distancing oneself from one’s beliefs,
reflecting on one’s own cultural practice to gain new
perspectives to view the world, Chinese students have
embarked on the journey to develop intercultural
personhood— ‘something that will always contain the old
and the new side by side to form a ‘third kind’ (Kim, 2001)