Most existing studies focus on revealing the problems or difficulties of Chinese international students in adapting to the overseas higher education academic environment and attribute the cause of these problems or difficulties to the cultural gap, but that has oversimplified or problematized the overseas learning experiences of these students. Hence, this study aims to explore such experiences further, especially in the context of these students making the transition into a new academic environment. After the ethnography and interview study, this study has revealed that Chinese international students’ overseas learning experiences developed in a British university learning environment are mixed, non-static, and complicated, which are composed of both these students’ constant efforts in negotiation with the elements of the new environment and the students’ dynamic perception, evaluation, and response toward the outcomes of the above negotiation, simultaneously. This study has also found that there are several contextual forces or factors that could greatly influence such a process of experience development or transformation, for example, their preparation of academic English capability and understanding towards the requirement of academic English at British postgraduate study; their perceptions of the attitudes and the offers of pragmatic and emotional support from the British lecturers, non-Chinese peers, and Chinese peers; their perceived advantages or benefits within the co-cultural relationships; their inherent familiarity with the home learning practices; and the quality of the educational practices in their British university in terms of supporting their willingness to participate and their resolutions to learning difficulties. This study further revealed that Chinese international students have actively and pragmatically adopted different coping strategies to overcome challenges or perceived difficulties, though not every coping strategy was truly beneficial to their authentic comprehension and successful adaptation to the learning environment of a British university.
| Date of Award | 27 Jan 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Georgina Blakeley (Main Supervisor), Jackie Malone (Co-Supervisor) & Andrea Gaynor (Co-Supervisor) |
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