To what extent are postgraduate students from China prepared for academic writing needed on UK master's courses?

Language, Culture and Curriculum

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 299-319

  Tian, Jing ^a   Low, Graham David ^b  

^a RENMIN UNIVERSITY OF CHINA   (China)

^b UNIVERSITY OF YORK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

academic writing; Chinese students; higher education; training; writing in a foreign language

Indexed keywords

EID: 84868574358     PISSN: 07908318     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/07908318.2012.734313     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Andrews, R. 2010. Argumentation in higher education. Improving practice through theory and research, London: Routledge.
2. Andrews, R., Bilbro, R., Mitchell, S., Peake, K., Prior, P., Robinson, A. and Torgerson, C. 2006. Argumentative skills in first-year undergraduates: A pilot study, York: The Higher Education Academy.
3. Association of Learning Development in Higher Education. (2008). LDHEN services spreadsheet. Retrieved May 10, 2011, fromhttp://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/docs.htm
4. Beaumont, C., O'Doherty, M. and Shannon, L. 2011. Reconceptualising assessment feedback: A key to improving student learning. Studies in Higher Education, 36(6): 671-687. (doi:10.1080/03075071003731135)
5. Brown, C. A., Dickson, R., Humphreys, A., McQuillan, V. and Smears, E. 2008. Promoting academic writing/referencing skills: Outcome of an undergraduate e-learning pilot project. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(1): 140-156.
6. Chanock, K. 2000. Comments on essays: Do students understand what tutors write?. Teaching in Higher Education, 5(1): 95-105. (doi:10.1080/135625100114984)
7. Chen, J. W. and Ma, G. C. 2002. (Chinese Source) [On several issues of the reform of writing course]. Journal of Xiangtan Normal University (Social Science Edition), 24(3): 239-241.
8. Cheng, X. 2000. Asian students' reticence revisited. System, 28(3): 435-446. (doi:10.1016/S0346-251X(00)00015-4)
9. China University Alumni Association. (2006). Chinese university rankings 2006. Retrieved June 9, 2006, fromhttp://www.cuaa.net/2006
10. Cottrell, S. 1999. The study skills handbook, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
11. Drew, S. and Bingham, R. 2001. The student skill guide, Aldershot: Gower.
12. Durkin, K. 2008a. The adaptation of East Asian masters students to western norms of critical thinking and argumentation in the UK. Intercultural Education, 19(1): 15-27. (doi:10.1080/14675980701852228)
13. Durkin, K. 2008b. The middle way: East Asian master's students' perceptions of critical argumentation in U.K. universities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 12(1): 38-55. (doi:10.1177/1028315307302839)
14. Evans, C. and Waring, M. 2011. Exploring students' perceptions of feedback in relation to cognitive styles and culture. Research Papers in Education, 26(2): 171-190. (doi:10.1080/02671522.2011.561976)
15. Fairbairn, G. J. and Winch, C. 1996. Reading, writing and reasoning: A guide for students, Buckingham: Open University Press.
16. Ganobcsik-Williams, L. 2004. A report on the teaching of academic writing in UK higher education, London: The Royal Literary Fund.
17. Gillett, A., Hammond, A. and Martala, M. 2009. Inside track to successful academic writing, Harlow: Pearson Longman.
18. Gillham, B. 2000. Developing a questionnaire, London: Continuum.
19. Godfrey, J. 2009. How to use your reading in your essays, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
20. Gu, Q. (2009). Maturity and interculturality: Chinese students' experiences in UK higher education. European Journal of Education, 44(1), 37-52.
21. Handley, K., Price, M. and Millar, J. 2011. Beyond 'doing time': Investigating the concept of student engagement with feedback. Oxford Review of Education, 37(4): 543-560. (doi:10.1080/03054985.2011.604951)
22. Hattie, J. and Timperley, H. 2007. The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1): 81-112. (doi:10.3102/003465430298487)
23. Hill, P. (2008). Making writing invisible: A study into the complexities of standard written English acquisition in higher education (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Huddersfield, UK.
24. Hoadley-Maidment, E. 2000. "From personal experience to reflective practitioner: Academic literacies and professional education". In Student writing in higher education: New contexts, Edited by: Lea, M. R. and Stierer, B. 165-178. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
25. Huang, C. L., Ai, L. and Tan, X. L. 2005. (Chinese Source) [Developing a modern writing spirit in writing courses]. Journal of Chengdu University (Social Science Edition), 3: 89-91.
26. Huang, M. X. 2006. (Chinese Source) [Laying a foundation for the second breakthrough: Review and introduction on The essentials of undergraduate thesis writing of college students in the 21st century]. Journal of Radio and TV University (Philosophy & Social Sciences), 137: 73-74.
27. Jin, L., Cortazzi, M., & Leetch, P. (2009-2010). Real communication, an integrated course, teacher's book (Vols. 1-4). New Standard College English. Beijing: Macmillan/Beijing Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
28. Lea, M. R. and Street, R. V. 2000. "Student writing and staff feedback in higher education: An academic literacies approach". In Student writing in higher education: New contexts, Edited by: Lea, M. R. and Stierer, B. 32-46. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
29. Leedham, M. (2011). A corpus-driven study of features of Chinese students' undergraduate writing in UK universities (PhD thesis). The Open University.
30. Lewis, M. and Reinders, H. 2003. Study skills for speakers of English as a second language, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
31. Li, D. 2012. Coping with linguistic challenges in UK higher education: The use of strategies by Chinese research students. The Language Learning Journal, 35(2): 205-219. (doi:10.1080/09571730701599237)
32. Li, J. 2006. (Chinese Source) ["Three in one" of college-level writing teaching]. Journal of Guizhou Normal University (Social Sciences), 140: 124-127.
33. Li, W. R. and Chen, X. 2003. (Chinese Source) [Eight abstains in paper writing]. Journal of Changchun Institute of Technology (Social Science Edition), 4(4): 27-29.
34. Lian, Q. and Shi, X. 2003. (Chinese Source) [On composition of university student's graduation thesis]. Journal of Radio and TV University (Philosophy & Social Sciences), 1,: 46-49.
35. Liang, S. M. 2005. (Chinese Source) [A discussion of the role of writing courses in education for all-round development at universities]. Journal of Zhaoqing University, 26(1): 62-63.
36. Lillis, T. 1997. New voices in academia? The regulative nature of academic writing conventions. Language and Education, 11(3): 182-199. (doi:10.1080/09500789708666727)
37. McIlroy, D. 2003. Studying @ university: How to be a successful student, London: Sage.
38. Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. (1981).(Chinese Source) [Interim measures for implementation of the regulations of the People's Republic of China on academic degrees]. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/moe_620/200409/3133.html
39. Mo, S. B. and Meng, L. H. 2004. (Chinese Source) [A survey on the writing practices of Arts and Humanities students]. Journal of Lingling University, 25(5): 195-201.
40. Nesi, H., Sharpling, G. and Ganobcsik-Williams, L. 2004. Student papers across the curriculum: Designing and developing a corpus of British student writing. Computers and Composition, 21(4): 439-450.
41. Orsmond, P. and Merry, S. 2011. Feedback alignment: Effective and ineffective links between tutors' and students' understanding of coursework feedback. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(2): 125-136. (doi:10.1080/02602930903201651)
42. Paltridge, B. 2004. Academic writing. Language Teaching, 37(2): 87-105. (doi:10.1017/S0261444804002216)
43. Pears, R. and Shields, G. 2010. Cite them right: The essential referencing guide, 8, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
44. Peng, Y. Z. 2002. (Chinese Source) [What is writing?]. Journal of Xianning Teachers College, 22(5): 92-93.
45. Shen, M. 2003. (Chinese Source) [University students' barriers in writing and the analysis of causes]. Journal of Lingling University, 24(3): 55-57.
46. Shen, W. A. 2001. (Chinese Source) [A discussion of the writing course in the new curriculum for English majors]. Journal of Liaoning Technical University (Social Science Edition), 3(4): 91-92.
47. Shen, W. A. 2005. (Chinese Source) [Improving teaching-methods in the teaching of English-writing and raising students' writing skills in their dissertations]. Journal of Liaoning Technical University (Social Science Edition), 7(1): 91-93.
48. Sun, M. 2004. (Chinese Source) [A few thoughts on how to instruct college students to write good graduation theses]. Journal of Yanbian University (Social Science), 37(2): 110-112.
49. Tian, J. (2008). The influence of undergraduate learning contexts on Chinese graduate students' argumentation and critical thinking in writing (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of York, UK.
50. Tian, J. and Low, D. G. 2011. Critical thinking and Chinese university students: A review of the evidence. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 24(1): 61-76. (doi:10.1080/07908318.2010.546400)
51. Tian, M., & Lowe, J. (2012). The role of feedback in cross-cultural learning: A case study of Chinese taught postgraduate students in a UK university. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, iFirst article, 1-19. doi:10.1080/02602938.2012.670196
52. Turner, Y. 2006. Chinese students in a UK business school: Hearing the student voice in reflective teaching and learning practice. Higher Education Quarterly, 60(1): 27-51. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-2273.2006.00306.x)
53. Wang, C. 2003. (Chinese Source) [The influence of the first language on English writing]. Journal of Mudanjiang Teachers College (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 1: 48-50.
54. Wang, M. H. 2011. "Chinese postgraduate students learning to write in English: Toward an understanding of L2 academic writing". In Voices, identities, negotiations, and conflicts: Writing academic English across cultures (studies in writing), Edited by: Ha, Phan Le and Baurain, B. 41-58. Bradford: Emerald Group.
55. Wang, W. J. 2005. (Chinese Source) [A creative method of teaching writing in higher education]. Journal of Social Science of Jiamusi University, 23(2): 71-72.
56. Wang, X. J. 2001. (Chinese Source) [In search of a training system for Chinese writing]. Journal of Xi'an Petroleum Institute (Social Science), 10(3): 68-71.
57. Wingate, U. 2012. "Argument!" helping students understand what essay writing is about. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11(2): 145-154. doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2011.11.001
58. Yan, C. Y. 2006. (Chinese Source) [Attitudes towards traditional ideas: Maintaining the correct and evolving the new: Comments on basic writing course, one of the new types of university writing textbook series]. Journal of Radio and TV University (Philosophy & Social Sciences), 137: 67-69.
59. Yang, H. W. 2004. (Chinese Source) [A note of academic writings]. Journal of Yanshan University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 4: 42-46.
60. Ye, H. 2003. [Avoiding eight things in academic writing]. Journal of Jianghan University (Humanities Sciences), 22(6): 91-94.
61. Yelland, C. 2011. A genre and move analysis of written feedback in higher education. Language and Literature, 20(3): 218-235. (doi:10.1177/0963947011413563)
62. You, X. 2004. "The choice made from no choice": English writing instruction in a Chinese university. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(2): 97-110. (doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2003.11.001)
63. Zhai, S. Y. 2004. (Chinese Source) [A discussion of a reform of a practical writing course under the educational policy of all-round development]. Forward Position, 10: 143-144.
64. Zhang, H. P. 2005. (Chinese Source) [Promoting creativity by students in teaching writing]. Journal of Liaoning Teachers College (Social Sciences Edition), 38: 93-94.
65. Zhao, X. Z. and Yin, L. J. 2001. (Chinese Source) [Writing and publishing scientific papers]. Journal of Beijing Institute of Technology (Social Sciences Edition), 3(1): 90-92.
66. Zhou, D. C. 2001. (Chinese Source) [The position of writing courses in higher education and the independence of writing as a discipline]. Journal of Tibet Nationalities Institute (Philosophy and Social Sciences), 22(1): 85-89.
67. Zimmerman, B. J. 2008. Investigating self-regulation and motivation: Historical background, methodological developments, and future prospects. American Educational Research Journal, 45(1): 166-183. doi:10.3102/0002831207312909