with Barry Pierce, Sheffield University Management School

Please post up any generic characteristics or observations you have experienced teaching Chinese students on:-

The delivery of learning materials The tutor–learner relation (inc tutorials) Assessment and its preparation Any other socio-cultural or pedagogic aspects

Responding to stereotypes THE CHINESE LEARNER

Agenda

Your role

1. Choose a theme of interest • Delivery of material

• Tutor-learner engagement

• Effective group working

• Prep & assessment • Inc use of TEL/ICT re the above

• Other (eg non-curricula)

2. Discuss in groups 3. 3-5 pedagogic strategies

4. Plenary debate

My role

1. Preamble on stereotyping

2. Assimilation of post-it notes

2. Group tour

3. Feedback on strategies

3. Suggested strategies

4. Plenary on stereotypes & their causation

Feel free to challenge and to offer good practice

…though they’re around. I think it’s possible to make general observations about any population or student cohort providing it’s based on accurate insight… then that helps me as a teacher.” Daragh O’Reilly, SUMS “What is good for the Chinese learner, is good for all learners”

SU FSS survey respondent

“Nobody likes the idea of stereotypes

Delivery of material

Tutor-learner engagement

‘Scaffold’ their learning

• simple > complex > holistic; demonstrative > formative > summative

• tutorials as a formative device; directed (manageable) reading

Didactic lecture delivery is the conventional mode • “to be popular as a teacher… is to give a very engaging monologue”

• build rapport to build trust Megan Blake, School of Geography, SU

• until then, ‘table’ questions for discussion, to get a response

• any questions? don’t assume understanding, as they are deferential

• use Responseware to provide anonymity, and save face

Chinese universities do not use a small-group tutorial format • unfamiliarity with our practice exacerbates (initial) passivity

• familiarise them with its purpose and your style & format

• making mistakes is good, alternative opinion is good: no criticism

Further tips on teaching strategies

Effective group working

© author 2015

Group as a vehicle for engagement

Groupwork is normal in the PRC. ‘Spontaneous collaboration’

Homogenous groups • students will segregate themselves

• allow them to talk in their native tongue

• enables a deeper discussion & the selection of a fluent speaker to present to class

Envoy approach • Chinese students “are very conscientious about being a representative,

know what they’ve got to say… I explode the groups so they’re always talking and there’s never any dead group time…”

Andrey Rosowsky, School of Education, SU

Group assessment • the Chinese will not criticise others but will tolerate peer assessment if

it is anonymised

• WebPA can be used formatively-summatively

Prep & assessment

© Tes Global Ltd

Assessment

Individual coursework is rare; exams are declaratory, uncritical

Silo-based preparation • a large minority of students will pre-prepare answers in full for what they

expect will be on the exam paper, then

• select the answer which is the closest ‘match’ to the question asked

Discuss, advise or be explicit about requirements • use clear and simple language in exam ‘requirements’

• scaffold questions by division into parts

• demonstrate question deconstruction; verb hierarchy; contextualisation

Students tend to adopt an ‘achieving’ strategy to assessment • those who are linguistically weaker will deliberately adopt a shallow,

rote-learnt approach to counteract time pressure

Other observations

Post-it note stereotypes

• didactic lecture delivery is the conventional mode

• students are used to ‘concentrated listening’ and tend to be passive

• Chinese universities do not use a small-group tutorial format, neither do they systematically arrange ‘personal tutors’

• groupwork is not unusual in the PRC but is self-selecting & often permanent. Students will ‘spontaneously collaborate’.

• exams are the dominant form of assessment in the PRC and may include a short essay. Group presentation is secondary.

• tutors are intensively scheduled & avoid onerous assessment formats

• knowledge, rather than independent thinking, is rewarded

• access to sources of independent reading are more limited

• questioning standard texts challenges the tutor; critique is rare

• the need for and intrinsic motivation to do so is thus lessened

• students’ performance is publicly ranked

• a collective sense-of-self heightens sensitivity to loss of face

Learning norms in the PRC

Thank you for your participation

“I think people learn better if they actively engage because it can be such huge fun…”

Daragh O’Reilly

If you wish to participate in this on-going research

then please leave me your card

• Baildon &. Lim (2009) Notions of criticality: Singaporean teachers’ perspectives of critical thinking in social studies. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(4), p407-422

• Biggs. J. B. (1993) From Theory to Practice: A Cognitive Systems Approach. Higher Education Research & Development, 12(1), p73-85

• Biggs, J. B. (1998) Learning from the Confucian heritage: so size doesn’t matter? International Journal of Educational Research, 29, p723-738

• Gieve & Clark (2005) ‘The chinese approach to learning’: Cultural trait or situated response? the case of a self-directed learning programme, System 33, p261-276

• Gram, Jæger, Liu, Qing & Wu (2013) Chinese students making sense of problem-based learning and Western teaching – pitfalls and coping strategies. Teaching in Higher Education. 18(7), p761-772

• Kember & Gow (1991) A challenge to the anecdotal stereotype of the Asian student. Studies in Higher Education. 16(2), p117-128

• Li & Wegerif (2014) What does it mean to teach thinking in China? Challenging and developing notions of ‘Confucian education’. Thinking Skills and Creativity. 11, p22-32

• Mathias, Bruce &. Newton (2013) Challenging the Western stereotype: do Chinese international foundation students learn by rote? Research in Post-Compulsory Education. 18(3), p221-238

• Moufahim & Lim (2014) The other voices of international higher education: an empirical study of students' perceptions of British university education in China. Globalisation, Societies and Education,

• Ren & Tao (2014) The Critical Thinking and Chinese Creative Education. Canadian Social Science. 10(6), p206-211

• Richardson, J., & Sun, H. (2016). Approaches to studying among international students from China. In D. Jindal-Snape & B. Rienties (Eds.), Multi-dimensional transitions of international students to higher education (pp. 106–122). London: Routledge.

• Watkins & Biggs (eds) (1996) The Chinese Learner: cultural, psychological and contextual issues. Comparative Education Research Centre, Hong Kong University

Bibliography

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added clarity & simplicity, in the materials & presentation • provide a glossary, a link to a glossary, or set up a MOLE Wiki

use moderated language

• avoid colloquialisms, repeat key words, controlled pace, intonation

• record for subsequent playback: ECHO; podcast

use more non-textual & non-verbal content

• quantitative expression, formulae, models

• visuals, sketches, gestures, mind-maps

offer several points of access including TEL

• eg video, Padlet, Google Docs, lots of links on MOLE

use Chinese scenarios/studies

The foundations