ABSTRACT
The research literature draws a bleak picture of Chinese students studying in the
Western world and focuses on differing learning styles, a passive attitude in lectures
(Chen, Bennett, and Maton 2008), and a lack of contact with domestic students
(Brunette et al. 2011). Chinese students do not integrate with domestic students but
often mingle with other Chinese students and, consequently, fail to improve their
language skills (Bartlett and Fischer 2011) and to build friendships with students
who are not from their own national group. Such friendships are found to improve
the level of satisfaction (Hendrickson, Rosen, and Aune 2011) and improve
acculturation, and psychosocial adjustment (Zhang and Goodson 2011). In their
study of Chinese engineering students, Du and Hansen (2005) found that Chinese
students in Denmark need to deal with a number of practical issues, e.g. cooking,
transport, and appointments with group members and supervisors. Furthermore,
they are surprised by the directness of student/teacher interaction, and they are
overwhelmed by experiencing Danish students interrupting teachers and supervisors
and not necessarily following the supervisors’ advice (Du and Hansen 2005). In addition to investigating Chinese students’ study experience in a Western
university, this article addresses Chinese students’ experience of problem-based
learning (PBL) and group work, where students are expected to be active and
reflective, and to challenge both teachers and textbooks. If the sinister picture
sketched in current research literature holds true, it could be anticipated that it would
be very difficult for Chinese students to transfer into a PBL system, where all their
known points of orientation are out of play.
