An Investigation of the Experiences of Working with Multilingual International Students among Local Students and Faculty Members in Chinese Universities

Yawen Han, Wenxuan Li, Min Bao and Xinyu Cao
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Yawen Han: School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Wenxuan Li: UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London WC1H 0AL, UK
Min Bao: School of Foreign Languages, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Xinyu Cao: College of Foreign Studies, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing 210014, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: In recent years, as a response to the internationalization of higher education worldwide, China has begun to enroll international students to study at the tertiary level on an increasingly large scale. While the majority of the programs and courses are open to international students via Chinese as Chinese-medium instruction (CMI), there are also an increasing number of programs and courses delivered through English-medium instruction (EMI). In order to understand higher education multilingual contexts, this qualitative study examines how local students and faculty members make sense of their engagement with international students in three Chinese universities. In the study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 11 academics who worked with international students as project supervisors and 25 Chinese university students regarding their experiences of working with international students. The findings that emerged from the thematic analysis revealed that international students’ learning engagement was profoundly mediated by language barriers, cultural assumptions and the academic conventions in host institutions. The study revealed that Chinese academics are concerned about international students’ learning attitudes, their academic progress and a lack of participation due to their language ability. Local Chinese students also reported a lack of satisfaction in working with international students. Some of the local students felt that some international students may have been enabled to enroll in the academic programs as a result of national and university policies, which has led to a ‘dumbing down’ of the curriculum offered in English. The findings indicate that more needs to be done to promote mutual exchanges and better understanding among international students, Chinese faculty members and local students.

Keywords: multilingualism; internationalization; international students; Chinese higher education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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