How do Chinese international students impact American classrooms?

How do Chinese students influence American classrooms? [Reported by Chen Chen, compiled by Qiaobao.com on December 6] Inside Higher Ed website December 6...

[Reported by Chen Chen, compiled by Qiaobao.com on December 6] The Inside Higher Ed website published an article titled "How Chinese Students Navigate American Universities" on December 6. The full text mainly focuses on "Inventing the World Grant University: Chinese International Students? Mobilities," Literacies & Identities (hereinafter referred to as "Creating World University") introduces this new book about Chinese students and American higher education, and analyzes the "underground" network of relationships between some students to complete classwork and the friction between some American universities in finding adaptive models. The full text is excerpted as follows:

At Michigan State University in Lansing, the number of Chinese students soared from 600 in the fall of 2006 to 4,527 in 2016. Generally speaking, colleges and universities like Michigan State University "are not equipped to accommodate so many students from the same area, or sometimes they are not able to adapt to the huge differences in culture and language. In these cases, whether or how to adapt to these differences becomes a question that educators need to face."

Chinese students "occupy" physics classes

For example, in a writing class at Michigan State University, it is not uncommon for students from China to account for 80% to 90% of the total number of students. Teachers face difficulties as they try to adapt to rapidly changing student populations and manage relationships with students. The book writes: "Many international students from China cannot integrate into the Western education system, and they lack the language skills to participate in discussion-based classes."

Even teachers who are very sensitive and considerate to cultural differences feel that the situation is difficult. One of the physics department lecturers who participated in the research for this book described the challenges he experienced in a 200-level course. Among the 30 students who chose this course, 27 are from China. According to the lecturer's guess, the reason why his course attracts many Chinese students is because they have a very solid foundation in physics and the course requires relatively low language skills.

The lecturer whose pseudonym is Manuel Antonio said: "In other words, there are three American students in my class, what should I do? Should I place an American student in each Chinese student group? Or should I let them choose? Generally speaking, I will let them form groups freely, and the result is that these three American students will always sit together."

In this regard, Antonio made many adjustments. He hired Chinese-speaking learning assistants, and he no longer used PPT to display courseware because he found it difficult for students to watch courseware while listening to lectures. Still, Antonio estimates that 10 to 20 percent of students struggle with language problems. The book explains that although these adjustments are teaching practices that would be used in any good classroom, these problems were particularly significant in Antonio's class because the changes were so significant in terms of proportion and size.

There are advantages and disadvantages to establishing online learning groups

"Creating World University" also conducted research on many learning networks created by Chinese students. Some "students" will seek help from those they consider "students" through this network. "Through this method used by Chinese students to seek help, a dynamic cooperative learning is established, which has both good and bad consequences. For example, students often create study groups named after courses in WeChat and QQ."

" On these online platforms , students can discuss difficult concepts, prepare for exams together, and help each other with homework can also cross the line into cheating. Students will obtain and disseminate answers through illegal means during exams. "

American college teachers should practice empathy.

In response to these issues, the authors elaborated in detail through the pedagogy they studied:

" We recommend a reciprocal pedagogy, which broadly speaking means having a real dialogue with international students and trying to understand their personal backgrounds and experience. We believe that in this two-way communication, teachers and students must change their positions."

The book points out that the key to getting along well with international students from China is to understand the social, cultural and educational environment in which they live. Because China's education system is highly structured, primarily through the national college entrance examination, Chinese students are more accustomed to memorizing large amounts of information. They listen to teachers and schools and believe that there is only one correct way to solve a problem. As a result, many international students from China need more time to adapt to this open-ended problem-solving concept while learning to take a stand and point of view. In addition, the reason why most Chinese students are not adaptable to discussion-based classes is that they think it will "lose face" to them.

Overcoming language issues Leveraging Chinese students’ networks

The authors also stated: “Students’ reluctance (to integrate) is also exacerbated by language problems. Although many students do start learning English from a very young age, generally speaking, their language learning places more emphasis on grammar. Or do questions, so they don’t have enough opportunities to practice the language. Based on these backgrounds, we recommend that teachers use more models and examples when assigning homework, and clearly explain the goals they hope to achieve through the homework. We also encourage teachers to break the homework into several stages to give students more opportunities to receive feedback. Another important point is to find and create opportunities to analyze concepts and examples that are taken for granted in the American environment. The last key point is to present the content to be taught in various forms when using PPT to teach. After having too much knowledge to absorb in a short period of time, I took a simpler approach - explaining mathematical problems on the blackboard and writing down the key points. "

Among the research results, the most critical part is about the importance of collective or intensive social interaction among Chinese students. Although in some cases, inappropriate use of network is not helpful for their deep learning, the authors also found that most of the time, the network created by students will bring rich resources to their studies.

It is crucial for teachers to use these relationships and design group assignments that can benefit everyone in the group.

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