Faculty of Education and Arts

The lived experience of Chinese students communicating in English with native speakers while studying abroad

PhD Candidate: Karen Pruis Principal Supervisor: Dr Jane Mummery Associate Supervisor: Dr Xiaoli Jiang

My context •  Chinese students’ experiences

communicating in English while studying abroad

•  Second language background •  Dutch family

•  Federation University Library •  Indian and Chinese

students •  No magic wand •  I can listen to their voice

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Max Van Manen’s phenomenology •  Phenomenology •  Life experiences as we live

•  In the moment •  Pre-reflectively

•  Student voice to inform change •  Self-improvement •  Institutional level

•  Empower future Chinese students (Van Manen, 1990, 2014)

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Image of Max van Manen from https://www.maxvanmanen.com/

English education in China •  Communicative aims of curriculum •  Ineffective in developing oral skills •  Zhongkao, Gaokao

•  Do not test speaking •  Listening contributes 15%

•  Reading and writing •  Grammar, pronunciation,

vocabulary •  Little speaking practice

•  Daily 20 minute exercise

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Image: Lovely education concept with flat design by Freepik

(Daoyi, 2015; Fang & Garland, 2013; Shaoqian & Jian, 2015 ; Zhang & Liu, 2014)

Communicating in English Functioning in a second language

•  Nerve-wracking •  Never met a Westerner •  Emotive language

English language support •  Academic English •  Too many Chinese students

Urgently needed conversation practice •  Understand lectures •  Participate in tutorials •  Make friends

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First few months

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•  Understood 30% of lectures •  Accents, jargon, speed

•  In tutorials •  Fear making mistakes •  Answering random questions •  Confucian beliefs

•  Expressing own opinion •  Making friends

•  Poor oral fluency •  Different sociocultural backgrounds •  Drawn to comfort of Chinese circle

Image: Young student man tired of computer sitting at cafe table with laptop from Freepik

Phenomenological anecdotes •  Examples of lived experience

•  Evocative language •  Stir emotion •  Thought provoking •  Layers of meaning

•  Edmund Husserl •  Draw on participant quotes

•  Echoed in the literature •  Represent a typical experience

(De Boer, 1980; van Manen, 2014)

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English Language Support “… everything we learn is academic… We are … living here … we [are] drunk … in [the] English …. situation. We need to use English every day … [with] the Aussie”. “I think if you … can … study with … student[s] from other countries … then [you] can’t talk … Chinese so, that would be helpful”. “the [EAP] course should be designed to help … [Chinese students] to have more opportunity [sic] to communicate with … English speakers”.

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Lectures While “translating the words, I miss … what the lecturers are speaking”. I wish “the lecturer … [would] explain those terms or sentences in a more plain way … so I can understand.” Australian accent: “the speech is not very clear … just like … speak something with eating.” Indian accent: “I just couldn’t understand … not a clue”

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Random questions in tutorials “In China the teacher will not like you to say I don’t know. He will … say … you didn’t work hard enough”. If we “don’t know, we … feel embarrassed. Yeah feel shame”. “I can’t hear anybody’s opinion before me … I’m just too nervous … “Oh my God! What am I going to say?” [I] feel a little … embarrass[ed] … the atmosphere stop[s] for a time. So, not feel good … quickly pass me!“

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Group assignments “I just never say anything… [I] do what I need to do to my parts and … send email to them.” “I truly can’t understand what they are talking to me.” Aussie students “speak very fast!” So, it’s “very hard to get the …idea.” Oral presentation: “I practice, practice, practice … I try not to … make [a] mistake in public.”

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Making friends “I couldn’t communicate with them really well so how can I make friends with them?” “They can’t spend most of [their] time … [with] new students who cannot speak English very well”. “They speak really quick. Like flying! I can’t really … get into their conversation”. “I don’t know your … culture, I don’t know … what questions can I ask so, we have no topic”.

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My participants’ voice •  Practice •  Mistakes •  Chinese circle

•  Live with locals •  Get a part-time job

•  Institutional change •  English language support •  Teaching practice •  Course delivery

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Image: Happy colleagues sitting on floor and eating pizza from Freepik

Importance of student voice •  No magic wand •  Student voice

•  Policy development •  Curriculum design •  English language support •  Conversations with them

(Heng, 2018) •  Collaborative solutions •  Empowerment of future

students •  Support the emotional needs

Image: People's hand overlapping on center by Unsplash

References References Daoyi, L. (2015). English curriculum development for schools in China: Tradition, reform, and innovation. In L. Daoyi & W. Zhaoyi (Eds.), English language education in China: Past and present (pp. 62-116). Beijing: Ren min jiao yu chu ban she.

De Boer, T. (1980). Inleiding. In T. D. Boer (Ed.), Edmund Husserl: Filosofie als strenge wetenschap. Amsterdam: Boom Meppel.

Fang, X., & Garland, P. (2013). Teachers and the new curriculum: An ethnographic study in a Chinese school. Education as Change, 17(1), 53-62. doi:10.1080/16823206.2013.773925

Heng, T. T. (2018). Chinese international students' advice to incoming first-year students: Involving students in conversations with them, not about them. Journal of College Student Development, 59(2), 232-238. doi: https://doi.org//10.1353.csd.2018.0020

Shaoqian, L., & Jian, H. (2015). English language assessment: Shifting from an examination-oriented to a competency-based approach. In L. Daoyi & W. Zhaoyi (Eds.), English language education in China: Past and present (pp. 219-244). Beijing: Ren min jiao yu chu ban she.

van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for action sensitive pedagogy. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.

van Manen, M. (2014). Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

Zhang, F., & Liu, Y. (2014). A study of secondary school English teachers' beliefs in the context of curriculum reform in China. Language Teaching Research, 18(2), 187-204. doi:10.1177/1362168813505940

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