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The Management of Uncertainty and Culture Shock by Graduate
Overseas Students in Australia
Elizabeth Christopher, Macquarie University, Australia
Abstract
The original research objective was to suggest teaching methods for increasing learning by
Northern European and Chinese graduate students at Macquarie University, Sydney,
Australia, by identifying and catering to differences in their respective need to avoid
uncertainty (as defined by Geert Hofstede and others).
Research began in March 2009, by four student team members as part of coursework for the
Master of International Business degree offered by Macquarie University Sydney Australia
and supervised by Elizabeth Christopher: Philip Alexander Heinz; Job Koorstra; Adrianus
Arnoud Reesink and Hella Laetitia de Weger.
187 relevant responses were made to a questionnaire from which it was possible to identify
significant and apparently culture-related differences in ways of dealing with the experience
of going overseas to study in a foreign country.
A more extensive literature search was made independently by Christopher in November 2009
into the concepts of culture shock and uncertainty avoidance to find results of any similar
previous research. A new questionnaire was sent by the University's International Office on
her behalf, to which 130 replies were received. Since these were from representatives of 13
nationalities the investigation was broadened to include them all. In total, responses
represented about 9% of the population of students enrolled by Macquarie International
Graduate Studies Office in 2008/9 - though this percentage was not evenly distributed among
the nationalities of those enrolled.
Results to some extent supported the original findings and relevant literature; for example the
26 European respondents (from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia) seemed more
independent and individualistic in their choice of accommodation than most of the Asian
respondents, less anxious in general, more comfortable in unfamiliar situations, and so on. A
related finding was that the German respondents were more concerned with precision and
accuracy in their answers to the survey questions than any other national group.
This and other observed differences do support relevant literature on cultural differences.
However, what emerged most clearly from the new research was evidence of a common
ability by all these students to handle anxiety and uncertainty in their overseas experience, no
matter what their cultural differences, that generalisation seems reasonable to a wider
population. Their only real anxiety in studying in a foreign country - and this finding applies
across the cultures represented in the survey - seemed to be concerned with achieving success
in their studies.
Admittedly their decision to respond to the survey argues these self-selected members of the
relevant populations may not be entirely typical in their high level of maturity and social
responsibility. Also investigator bias in interpreting their responses has to be taken into
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account. Nevertheless the implication seems clear; that these graduate students are far more
capable of dealing with the experience of studying overseas, including the anxieties of culture
shock, than is so far recognised in relevant literature.
Thus the principal findings of the present research are:
- Present literature suggests that Australian university lecturers and administrators assume a
need to adapt teaching methods to cross cultural differences in learning styles between
graduate students from overseas.
- However both teachers and learners may benefit more from teaching methods based on
assumptions of cultural convergence between graduate students no matter what their
backgrounds.
- Therefore teachers should focus on providing these students with the highest standard of
pedagogy as identified in relevant literature without being overly concerned over cultural
differences.
Keywords: Cultural convergence; teaching and learning
Introduction: relevance and importance of the topic.
The Australian national newspaper reported in October 2008 that the number of international
students in higher education in Australia increased 52% from 2002 to 2007. The Australian
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations in December 2008
published a review of higher education in Australia. Some findings relevant to this research
were that:
Our educational institutions and, in particular, our universities have built Australia’s
third-largest export industry – in education services – in the last two decades. A
quarter of our higher education students are from other countries and they make an
enormous contribution to our economy, our relationships with the region and our
demand for graduates.
However, their concentration in a relatively narrow range of subject fields, in levels of
study and by country of origin poses significant challenges both to institutions and to
the long-term viability of the industry. As well, we are not making the most of all the
opportunities they present to be ambassadors for Australia and to be part of the
solution to some of our more intractable problems in renewal of the academic and
research workforce.
Our universities lie at the heart of the national strategy for research and innovation –
itself a critical foundation of our response to a globalised world. There is abundant
evidence that government provision of funds for underlying infrastructure to support
research in universities is very significantly below the real costs. This is leading to a
pattern of quite unacceptable levels of cross- subsidy from funds for teaching,
adversely affecting the quality of the student experience.
Thus it is evident the Australian government sees "the quality of the (overseas) student
experience" to be of prime importance, not only as part of a "national strategy for research and
innovation (in) response to a globalised world" but also because of the contribution made to
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the national economy by higher education students from other countries; and to Australia's
"relationships with the region and..demand for graduates". Therefore all research to find ways
to minimize overseas students' negative experiences in Australia is potentially of value.
Definition of terms: Culture shock
The anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1960) first applied the term 'culture shock' in 1958 in his
doctoral dissertation, The Social Economy of the Tlingit Indians of Alaska. Peter Berger
(1963) reports that anthropologists use the term to describe the impact of a totally new culture
on newcomers and that to some extent at least this is the excitement of any first travel abroad.
Social scientists first used it to describe, for example, the experience of a person moving from
the country to a big city.
Carmen Guanipa (1998) describes culture shock as the anxiety produced when a person
moves to a completely new environment. The term expresses a sense of lack of direction, the
feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing
what is appropriate or inappropriate.
In 1958 Orberg wrote about culture shock and the problems of adjusting to a new cultural
environment and Paul Pedersen (1994) wrote that most if not all descriptions of culture shock
suggest that it generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place and these
descriptions:
indicate a progression of attitudes regarding one's self and others from a lower to a
higher level of development.
He states that a typical progression can be represented as a three-to five-stage U-curve starting
at a higher stage of fascination, adventure, optimism, or excitement that he calls the
honeymoon stage. He suggests that this will be followed by feelings of "inadequacy,
disappointment, disillusion, alienation, and self-blame" until finally there should be
reorientation or recovery, when the new situation can be viewed in perspective and the
viewer's morale is restored
Coffman and Harris (1984) suggest the actual progression of culture shock is seldom as neat
and orderly as a U-curve suggests and that only rarely will a person achieve as high a level of
functioning in the host culture as in the previous home culture. They surmise a backward Jcurve to be perhaps more authentic.
Adler (1975) offers what she describes as an alternative view of culture shock as a 5-stage
process. The first stage is 'contact' when newcomers find the new culture thrilling; then
'disintegration' on feeling the full impact of the cultural differences, followed by
'reintegration'. At this point, cultural differences are rejected with anger and rebellion. The
fourth stage is 'autonomy' when cultural differences and similarities are validated and
newcomers feel able to negotiate most situations and feel a sense of security in the new
environment. The fifth stage is 'independence' when cultural differences and similarities are
accepted and valued as significant and newcomers become proficient in interpreting meaning
from situations.
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In a related discipline, Furnham and Bochner in 1986 discussed culture shock in terms of
psychological reactions to unfamiliar environments; but their findings are not relevant to the
present enquiry, the results of which do not support any of the above assumptions. None of
the respondents to the survey reported an emotional transition from positive to negative to
positive feelings about their Australian sojourn or vice versa; and most of them seemed to
have functioned as effectively in their host environment as they do at home.
Uncertainty avoidance (UA)
Because of the fact that people don't know what will happen from day to day, the future is
understood to be uncertain and this uncertainty causes anxiety: "a diffuse state of being
uneasy or worried about what may happen." (Hofstede 1994:260). Anxiety is closely
correlated with stress and nervousness. People become stressed when they feel pressured by
time and/or uncertainty to accomplish a target or to solve a problem: but anxiety is not fear because fear has an object while anxiety does not.
Cross-cultural studies over the last two decades have found national differences in need to
avoid uncertainty. Hofstede (2001) pioneered the uncertainty avoidance (UA) construct with
his examination of national-level cultural values in more than 50 countries. He defined UA as
the extent to which people are “threatened by uncertain or unknown situations” (2001:113)
and argued that UA is not the same as risk avoidance (see also Wildavsky 1982). Uncertainty
avoidant people may in fact take a higher risk option, if it reduces their uncertainty. Ghosh
and Ray (1997) also make this distinction between risk and uncertainty avoidance (though
interestingly Weber and Hsee, 1998, report not only cross-cultural differences in risk
perception but also cross-cultural similarities in attitudes towards perceived risk).
In cultures whose members display a high need to avoid uncertainty there is an underlying
sense that everything different is dangerous; thus the majority tends to resist change and to
worry about the future, while the opposite is true for people in cultures with a comparatively
low need for UA.
Hofstede (1980) argues that ultimately the concept refers to human beings' search for 'truth'. It
indicates the extent to which a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or
comfortable in unstructured and ambiguous situations that are novel, unknown, surprising,
and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such
situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and
religious level by a belief in a Supreme Being.
Hofstede (2001) found, for example, that in Germany there is a reasonably high need for UA
compared to countries as Singapore and Germany's neighbouring country Denmark. He writes
that Germans are not too keen on uncertainty and by planning everything carefully they try to
avoid it. Theirs is a society that relies on rules, laws and regulations to reduce risks to the
minimum and proceed with changes step by step. Hong Kong Chinese are reported to own
lower needs for UA and indeed tend to avoid too many rules and formalities; they are more
likely to stimulate innovations and new ideas, being more flexible, acting on rather than
reacting to change.
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The research described in this report did not find significant differences in levels of UA
between representatives of the various cultures in the survey. On the contrary, cultural
convergence was evident in their responses.
This suggests that these men and women from many different countries, who chose to become
graduate students in a foreign country, speaking a foreign language, were well aware of the
resulting challenges and faced them with a fair degree of certainty. They represent about 9%
of the total enrolment of graduate students through Macquarie University's International
Office in 2009. Generalisation is difficult because this sample was self-selected, therefore
maybe these respondents are not typical of the entire population; but enough data were
gathered and analysed to suggest reasonably that the findings can be applied across the board.
Literature search
In November 2009 the principal researcher made a survey of relevant literature and found that
over the past thirty years (for example see Rao 1976) there have been many enquiries relating
to the quality of overseas students' educational experiences in Australia.
Today Australia is the third most popular study destination in the English-speaking world,
with more than 200,000 international students in Australian institutions across all education
sectors: higher education, vocational education and training, English Language colleges, and
schools (Australia Education 2010). The Australian government invests billions of dollars
each year in developing Australian education and in university research.
Australian institutions have an international focus within their courses and activities. They
exchange staff with institutions overseas, participate in international forums, and have
partnerships and joint projects with overseas institutions and international research centres.
The tenor of all relevant research to date is that major cultural differences between overseas
students are the principal cause of their academic success or failure; and that Australian
teachers should cater to these differences. Moreover the literature search revealed that in
universities with a high proportion of overseas students (as in postgraduate studies at
Macquarie University) indicators of "the quality of the student experience" are argued to be
particularly difficult to establish because of culture-based differences in teaching and learning
styles. It has also been accepted generally that with the spread of international communication
and increase in the commercial value of the export of education, such cultural differences
should be welcomed and catered for.
Examples of previous research based on these assumptions include Hodgkin; Harris; and
Burke (1978). Also Barker (1990) edited an omnibus on intercultural adjustment; and Ballard
and Clanchy (1991) wrote extensively on teaching multicultural students in Australia.
Between 1992 and 2008 there have been various government publications on the need for
teachers to respond appropriately to the increase of overseas students (e.g. DEET 1994, DEST
2001). In 1994 Cumo wrote an article for the Australian Financial Review, pointing out some
of the teaching implications in the fact that more foreign students were coming to learn in
Australia. Other researchers include Nowak (1995), McLoughlin (1995), Conlan (1996),
Menges et al (1998) and Sawir (2005). Also there are a number of firms that provide cross
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cultural advice and assistance to overseas students, such as The Study and Migration Centre of
Australia (2009).
Nigel Munro-Smith wrote a "culturally aware course design" in 2003 for the Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology. He drew on Hofstede (1994) and Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner
(1997), among others, to infer that culture has a profound influence over student expectations;
in particular in ways they engage with computer mediated teaching and learning. He suggests
that models of cultural analysis from international management literature can inform course
design to minimise cultural incompatibilities.
In 2004 Shuper et al developed a theory of uncertainty orientation with implications for the
study of individual differences within and across cultures; but these were not applied to
overseas students studying in Australia. In 2006 Quintal et al suggested a set of scales for
measuring attitudes towards risk and uncertainty but again these were not applied to overseas
students; though it would be possible and potentially useful to do so.
There have been studies outside Australia. In 1966 Atkinson and Feather devised a theory of
achievement motivation. In 1977 Frederick and Sorrentino wrote a scoring manual for the
motive to master uncertainty. In 1980 Weinstein discussed unrealistic optimism about future
life events. In 1986 Hui and Triandis published a study of cross-cultural research in the field
of individualism-collectivism (and Triandis wrote in 1989 on "the self and social behavior in
differing cultural contexts"). Again, these studies have not been, but could be applied by
extension, to populations of overseas students.
In 1991 Markus and Kitayama wrote on culture and the self, with implications for cognition,
emotion, and motivation. In 1995 Heine and Lehman, in connection with cultural variation in
unrealistic optimism, asked, does the West feel more invulnerable than the East? In 1993
Hofstede et al wrote "a methodological treatise" on individual perceptions of organizational
cultures; and in 1997 Ghosh and Ray provided some new data on risk, ambiguity, and
decision choices.
In 1998 Arikawa et al made a comparison of Japanese and American college students on
collectivism and social context decision making; and in 1999 Ryan et al studied international
selection practices and offered national and cultural factors as explanations for variability in
these. In 2001 Chang et al asked the interesting question, do Easterners really expect the worst
and Westerners really expect the best when predicting future life events?
These findings - including others such as "The Challenge of Understanding the Academic
Expectations of Gulf Sponsored Students" by Katerina Gauntlett, published in Post Script in
2004 for the University of Melbourne, lead to the assumption that if teachers can solve the
problem of cultural differences between their students and themselves, and their students and
each other, then their own teaching effectiveness and the learning capacity of the students will
somehow, magically, improve. This is not the conclusion of the present report, which
indicates that teachers in any discipline should focus more on their own teaching skills rather
than worrying too much about cultural differences in their students.
The findings of this present enquiry indicate that the surveyed graduate students are perfectly
capable of dealing with their overseas experience without outside assistance, do not feel
particularly insecure and are concerned mainly to learn as much as they can from their
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lecturers. If this is so, it follows that further research should assume a greater degree of
cultural convergence among overseas graduate students than has been the case previously and
should focus on pedagogy (teaching skills in general) rather than learners' cultural differences
in learning styles.
The research assumptions and questions
The survey questions were worded to test assumptions and find answers to two queries based
on the literature search. The research assumptions were that two critical factors in graduate
students' experiences of overseas study - and therefore their capacity to learn - are the extent
to which they can deal with the uncertainties of culture shock; and the extent to which the
managers of their host environment can cater to their cultural differences and so provide them
with a sense of security conducive to learning. Therefore the research questions, based on the
above assumptions, were:
1. Does it seem to be the case that cultural differences in levels of uncertainty avoidance (UA)
as defined by Hofstede affect overseas graduate students' experience of studying at Macquarie
University?
2. Does the sample of the graduate student population under survey reveal different levels of
uncertainty and culture shock depending on respondents' cultural backgrounds?
The survey
This was designed to answer the above research questions by testing assumptions in the
literature about cultural differences in experiencing and dealing with the phenomenon of
'culture shock'; and in behaviour to avoid uncertainty in new environments.
The survey consisted of 30 questions, the first being to establish country of origin. Questions
2 and 3 enquired about students' plans and decisions regarding choice of study destination.
Questions 4 and 5 asked about students' decisions regarding accommodation. Questions 5 - 9
were on any anxieties students might feel; Questions 10 - 12 referred to life on campus;
Questions 13 - 19 concerned teaching and learning; Questions 20 - 30 dealt with students'
feelings over time about their overseas experience.
The research method
In November 2009 the survey was sent by Macquarie University's International Office on
behalf of the principal researcher, to which 130 replies were received. Since these were from
representatives of other nationalities as well as those from China and Northern Europe the
investigation was broadened to include them:
Macquarie International Graduate Studies Office Enrolments 2008
Enrolments Responses to questionnaire
China: 706
42
France: 45
4
Germany: 99
14
Hong Kong: 33
7
India: 170
10
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Indonesia: 63
Korea: 24
Malaysia: 26
Netherlands: 17
Russia: 20
Taiwan: 132
Thailand: 119
Turkey: 16
21
2
2
1
7
6
7
7
Total population: 1,470. Total responses: 130, i.e. approximately 9% of the population,
though unevenly distributed among the 13 nationalities of enrolled students surveyed.
The samples for each nationality are too small for generalisation but the overall pattern was
one of cultural convergence in graduate students' responses to the uncertainties and anxieties
of their overseas experience.
The research findings
The research method was qualitative. Responses were too small for quantitative analyses to be
other than misleading. One major weakness in the method was the possibility of bias in
interpretation of survey responses. This was lessened by the design of the survey which
included requests for respondents to expand on their answers and these replies provided
evidence of accurate interpretation.
Another weakness was that the sample was self-selected, therefore may be a-typical.
Moreover it must be emphasised that any tentative conclusions can be related only to graduate
students from overseas enrolled at Macquarie University in 2009. A lot more research is
needed to establish whether the trends found in this study apply to a wider population.
Nevertheless the findings, as reported below, are so consistent that it is difficult to deny a
pattern of cultural convergence in responses by members of this sample population. The
pattern is so strong, of a common ability by all these students to handle anxiety and
uncertainty in their overseas experience, that generalisation seems reasonable to a wider
population.
Responses to the questionnaire
A related finding was concerned not with students' experiences of overseas study but with the
administration of the questionnaire itself. The 14 German respondents were all more
interested in precision and accuracy in their answers to the survey questions than any other
national group. This supports other cross cultural studies, for example by Hofstede (2010),
that German culture displays a relatively high need to avoid uncertainty. Moreover they were
more critical of the wording of the questions - again indicative of uncertainty avoidance. A
typical comment was:
Please find attached your questionnaire. I found it really hard to fill it in though as
many of the questions were not specific enough to give an ultimate answer or none of
the answer categories fits what I think or feel. And maybe it would be a good idea to
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either do this online or at least as a form to fill in...it would save some time for the
students.
Also the German respondents were the only ones to suggest that more than one answer would
be possible to some of the questions. For example, to the question "How long do you plan
your written work before you submit it?" 8/14 Germans replied to the effect that the question
didn't make sense because the answer would depend on the length of the assignment. They
were the only ones to make this comment.
However, in their responses to questions on their overseas study experience, the Germans
evinced no more and no less need to avoid uncertainty than did representatives of any other
nationality.
The most valuable finding overall is the degree of cultural convergence exhibited by these
students. From China to Turkey, from Europe to Asia, these students appear to be
individualistic, self-motivated, low in need to avoid uncertainty, comparatively low in power
distance, with high expectations of themselves and their teachers.
Twelve out of twenty one Indonesians and three out of seven Hong Kong Chinese made
relatively spontaneous decisions to study abroad, e.g. "It was not planned, I took advantage of
the opportunity when it arose". All other respondents reported a carefully planned decision.
All respondents gave similar rational reasons for choice of Macquarie University as a study
destination, e.g. on good advice from agencies, families, friends and fellow students; the
reputation of the University and availability of desired degree programs.
All respondents made sensible arrangements for at least temporary accommodation and were
competent in changing these when they wanted to. For example:
- I moved into a shared house after 8 days in a hostel (German).
- I decided to rent a shared apartment and then afterwards I started renting on my own
(Russian).
- I found new place by myself (Indonesian).
- I changed to a private apartment near the school in second semester (Hong
Kong).
- I lived with my uncle, he owns a house with his wife and two kids (China).
- I shared an apartment with a friend (Turkey, Russia and Germany).
Some respondents (3/130) reported anxiety about their finances but this did not seem to be a
major worry and in some cases students made sure in advance that money would be no
problem. For example:
- I am receiving a scholarship, so no financial pressure (Germany).
- My financials were worked out before study began; I worked a few years
before starting my Masters" (China).
Many respondents (70/130) found part time work to support their studies, though one Russian
commented:
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- It is difficult to stay psychologically unaffected by financial pressure to support
savings because of the limited income due the limits of working hours in Australia for
international students.
There seem to have been few concerns about health. For example:
- It’s great that private health insurance is provided for international students.
This
certainly adds value to the study location Australia (Hong Kong).
- The living environment is much better than where I lived – Beijing (China).
- I had to adjust to different climate and conditions (Russia).
- When I suffered health issues, I benefited from health services of the university. I
had no problem at all (China).
The majority of students (120/130) reported a reasonable degree of comfort in unfamiliar
situations. A German respondent noted a practical reason for stress:
- I felt comfortable after I found a place to live. However the arrival at the preorganised uni on-campus accommodation was not as good (although I was picked up
from the airport); there was nobody there at the accommodation reception and it was
in the middle of the night. I was lucky that another student helped me to get into one
of the rooms.
And a Russian reported anxiety:
- ...at the beginning of my course. The feeling of anxiety (sometimes reduced
sometimes heightened) lasted about 6 months.
But another Russian replied:
- Yes, I do feel comfortable because there are always people who can assist you in
unfamiliar situations. Australians are very friendly.
Most students, across nationalities (110/130) did not often feel nervous or tense about their
studies; most reported feeling happy most of the time.
In answer to questions concerning anxiety over their studies, on being picked on in class by
the lecturer, on planning and writing essays, on confirming details of assignments with
lecturers before starting the work, the majority of respondents of all represented nationalities
responded positively (90/130). They reported that when they gained a high grade for an
assignment they attributed it mostly to their own ability rather than circumstances and good
luck, though one German added:
- Sometimes it was extremely hard to get a high distinction, and in other times
reasonable easy (there were also some significant inconsistencies in terms of the level
of difficulty between different units and different lecturers
On being asked questions in class, one Chinese replied:
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- I don't like it BUT it’s still good, keeps students focused.
A Russian response to being asked about needing to confirm assignments personally with
lecturers was:
- In most cases all requirements are explained in details and very clearly by
lecturers before students start assignments.
A German replied:
I can always clarify (the assignment) if I have questions.
The majority of all respondents (100/130) prefer structured assignments where clear answers
can be provided, though some of the Chinese, Germans, Russians and Indonesians expressed a
preference for number of different viewpoints. One Russian commented:
- I don’t like memorizing things. Analysis in the assignment helps to do research and
come up with deeper understanding of the material.
And a German pointed out:
- For exams I believe the questions should be precise and the answers clear –
everything else is biased and should not be part of an exam but rather of a class room
discussion or essay.
The process of writing an essay seems to interest them more than getting it finished on time,
though a number of students qualified this:
- Both, trying to be efficient (highest quality in shortest possible timeframe)
(German).
- I am not sure that I understand what you are getting at. Obviously, you have to focus
on getting it finished to submit on time. However, you also have to focus on writing it
as otherwise you will not get the mark you may/would like to achieve (German)
- More on the process but also conscious of time it takes to finish my work
(Russian)
- I think of structure first and then try to follow it. No intention to finish it asap
(Russian).
The majority of all respondents (125/130) reported low levels of anxiety and a fairly high
level of trust in their lecturers, though the majority of the Chinese, Thai and Turkish students
replied that they needed to get to know them first and most of the Germans and Russians
replied:
- I neither trust nor distrust them but take them as I find them.
All respondents (130/130) expected a high standard from their lecturers and were critical if
they didn't get it. Most, when asked how they would feel if a lecturer were to reply to a
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question with "I don't know", replied they would be shocked, disappointed or at least
surprised. One Russian commented:
- It's understandable if the lecturer answers “I don’t know” to the question relating to
a wider area relating to the topic – everyone is human. However, when the lecturer
answers like that when students seek assistant with assignment – I find it
disrespectful, discouraging to achieve good results and unhelpful. I watched such
situation with 1 student this semester: the student asked a tutor which method should
be used in the project and the reply was “Whatever you want” without any further
explanation.
And a German replied:
- Lecturers can’t know everything, but I would expect that they try to find out for the
next lesson.
When asked how they would feel if a lecturer were to use words they didn't understand, no
respondent agreed with the reply that "The lecturer knows a great deal more than I do". A
small percentage (5/130) across the nationalities reported anxiety because they didn't
understand; and a larger percentage (20/130) that "The lecturer should use simpler language".
Individual responses included:
-I would try to look up the word, improving English is another reason for studying
abroad (German).
-I will just check it out from the dictionary in my cellphone (Chinese).
-Will write down the words and check them in a dictionary and try to remember them.
Or ask the lecturer (Chinese).
I would ask for an explanation or clarify it a bit later. Feels normal. Will learn a new
word! (Russian)
The majority of all students (110/130) agreed with the statement that "Many and precise
formal rules are important" though one of the Russians commented:
Rules? From my experience of dealing with MQ University there are not many rules
for MQ staff, no any system to help students with questions they have. Every
international student is sent to MQ International, where in most cases they are unable
to answer questions. Rules for students are good though (includes rules of behaviour
at exams, assignments’ deadlines etc.)
Students were asked whether they took part in non-academic activities on campus and the
majority (120/130) replied that they were involved in one or more activities. A couple of the
Germans reported they had become members of a bush walking club.
The majority of all students (120/130) preferred the statement: "Hard work never hurt
anybody" over "There's more to life than work". Individual comments included:
- I like to have fun as well but discipline is essential (Russian).
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- Not very easy to force myself work very hard, but I do my best during semesters.
With some lecturers it does not matter how hard students work (Russian).
Question 12 asked: If you feel there is something wrong with an aspect of the university
system that is adversely affecting your studies, are you more likely to make a formal protest,
find a way to work round the problem or seek an informal solution? The Russians and
Germans were the largest percentages to answer that they would make a formal protest.
Examples were:
- I would connect with the faculty concerned and the person who was in charge
(German).
- I would contact (the International Student Services) office first, if there is something
wrong (Russian).
- If there’s something I find unacceptable I will make a formal protest (Russian)
One of the German respondents replied in some detail:
- My study experience was very good, except one case where a lecturer has
breached the privacy rights – lecturer has opened the performance review letter
(which included the surveys that were filled out by students at the end of a semester).
The process should have been that the lecturer has no contact to the student surveys (it
is very easy to open the envelopes, read the surveys and then put them back into a new
envelop). Have complaint back to Economic office, and hope that the process has since
changed (have not received feedback).
All the other nationalities indicated they would find another way to solve the problem. Typical
Chinese answers were:
-...otherwise it will waste time focus on study.
- I think my choice (to work round the problem) will save more time, as it will
take
a while for the university to change its system answering individual calls from international
students.
All the Indonesians replied to the effect that:
- I would try to make an adjustment;
- I would just do what I could to improve myself.
Though one added the comment:
- I did not have many problems but the staffs sometimes are rude in responding (to)
questions, seems like they do not like to be asked.
Conclusions
The only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the survey is that academic staff at
Australian universities should employ the same teaching skills for overseas graduate students'
learning as they would for comparable local students. In fact to do otherwise, such as
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focusing on cross cultural differences rather than on pedagogy, would be to render them a
disservice. Therefore it is relevant to summarise some literature in this field.
Teaching and learning
Teaching strategies are argued to include active listening, questioning and giving constructive
feedback on students' learning on a number of levels (DET 2010). Bloom's (1956) Taxonomy
of levels of intellectual behaviour in learning has been updated by Lorin Anderson (a former
student of Bloom's) and is reported by Overbaugh and Schultz (2010) as behaviour in which
students should be able to:
1. Remember: show evidence of recall of knowledge;
2. Understand: be able to explain ideas or concepts;
3. Apply: use the information in new ways;
4. Analyse: distinguish between the different parts of an argument;
5. Evaluate: justify a stand or decision;
6. Create: create new products or points of view.
Therefore regardless of cultural background, academic teachers need to focus on their
students' achieving these abilities. However, this is not to argue that everybody learns in the
same way and that the same teaching methods can be applied to all students: but relevant
literature is consistent in reporting that learning styles vary between individuals no matter
what their cultural background.
Thirty years ago Schmeck and Grove, for example (1979), wrote on academic achievement
and individual differences in learning processes. Schmeck, Ribich, and Ramanaiah's 1977
Inventory of Learning Processes (ILP) was revised by Schmeck in 1983 as a self-report
inventory to assess learning styles on six scales: deep, Elaborative and shallow processing;
self-efficacy: conceptualizing; memorization and methodical study. The ILP was validated
across language and culture by Kozminsky at Ben-Gurion University in 1988.
Sternberg and Zhang edited Perspectives on thinking, learning, and cognitive styles in 2001
and David Kolb (2010) has been the inspiration for a large numbers of theorists. For example,
Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) is directly derived from Kolb's
theory. They argue that learners can be identified under four major sets of characteristics:
#Activists - who are ‘hands-on’ learners and prefer to 'have a go' and learn through trial and
error;
# Reflectors - who are ‘tell me’ learners and prefer to be thoroughly briefed before
proceeding;
# Theorists - who are ‘convince me’ learners and want reassurance that a project makes sense;
# Pragmatists - who are ‘show me’ learners and want a demonstration from an acknowledged
expert.
Kolb suggests that there are four stages in learning which follow from each other:
Concrete Experience is followed by Reflection on that experience on a personal basis. This
may be followed by the derivation of general rules describing the experience, or the
application of known theories to it (Abstract Conceptualisation), and hence to the construction
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of ways of modifying the next occurrence of the experience (Active Experimentation), leading
in turn to the next Concrete Experience. All this may happen in a flash, or over days, weeks or
months, depending on the topic, and there may be a "wheels within wheels" process at the
same time.
The most direct application of the model is to use it to ensure that teaching and tutoring
activities give full value to each stage of the process. This may mean that for the tutor or
mentor, a major task is to "chase" the learner round the cycle, asking questions which
encourage Reflection, Conceptualisation, and ways of testing the ideas. (The Concrete
Experience itself may occur outside the tutorial/mentoring session).
Another study of the ways in which people think and communicate is neuro-linguistic
programming (NLP). The purpose of NLP, as described by Chris Collingwood (2010), is to
explore the relationships between how people think, how they communicate verbally and nonverbally and their patterns of behaviour and emotion.
Different people have different distinct ways of acquiring information. Some people are
spatial/visual learners who learn by seeing. Some are tactile/kinetic learners who learn by
doing and/or touching. Others are auditory learners who learn by listening and talking. The
rest may be logical learners who learn by thinking. There are no right or wrong, bad or good
learning ways. It’s just about preferences with which people are born. Of course, visual
learners can also learn by talking and listening to other people. But they are very good at
visualizing pictures and images. Thus using their sights or visualization to learn, they will
learn easily and effectively (Ho 2006).
The above description does not acknowledge the fact that virtually everybody is capable of
learning by any of the above methods; but most people seem to have a preference for one
media and use it to conduct them through the others.
Summary
This research casts some doubt on present thinking about teaching methods for graduate
students from overseas at Australian universities (with Macquarie University as the example).
There is a huge literature on the export of Australian education and the need to serve such a
lucrative market as efficiently as possible. Present assumptions seem to be that this can best
be done by adapting teaching methods to suit cross cultural differences in learning styles.
This behaviour is argued to be effective in reducing overseas students' anxieties and
uncertainties, thus promoting their learning.
This new research suggests the opposite for graduate students from overseas who appear to
display much more cultural convergence that given credit for. The surveyed students were a
sample of 130 out of a total population of 1,470, i.e. approximately 9%, though unevenly
distributed among the 13 nationalities of enrolled students surveyed.
Almost all responses indicated a high degree of calm confidence by respondents in the
management of their lives and studies. There were exceptions, such as the Russian who
reported 6 difficult months of adjustment but they were very few. This suggests that both
teachers and learners may benefit more from teaching methods based on assumptions of
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cultural convergence between graduate students -no matter what their backgrounds - than on
presumed culture-related differences in learning styles.
Therefore perhaps teachers should focus on general principles of pedagogy as identified in
relevant literature without being overly concerned over cultural differences. This literature
assumes that teaching methods should include:
- Promotion of students' self-sufficiency (e.g. by setting individual creative assignments); deep
as well as surface learning (reinforcement of basic principles by exercises and activities),
conceptualisation (e.g through class discussions and tutorials); memorisation (through written
exams); and methodical study by way of a set syllabus (Kozminsky 1988).
- Provision of 'hands-on' learning activities (concrete experience) for learners who are
Activists; sound briefing (reflection) for Reflectors; sound reasoning (abstract
conceptualisation) for Theorists; and expert demonstrations (active experimentation) for
Pragmatists (Kolb 1984).
- Provision of spatial/visual learning material (e.g. charts, graphs, graphics, videos);
tactile/kinetic experiences (e.g. presentations and demonstrations by students to the class);
auditory learning by listening and talking; logical learning through discussions and tutorials
(Ho 2006).
Even this brief summary is sufficient to illustrate how much more students are likely to
benefit if teachers focus more on their own teaching methods and less on any possible cultural
differences between their learners.
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