Unlearning and Relearning: Chinese Students in a New Zealand First Year Undergraduate Class

Abstract

For almost two decades New Zealand’s tertiary institutions experienced growth in international student enrolments with Chinese students making up the largest proportion of the numbers. Many of these students experience ‘culture
shock’ both inside and outside of the classroom. To succeed they need to ‘unlearn’ previous ways of studying and adjust to the new academic requirements. This study reports the experience of Chinese undergraduates in a first year management paper as they encountered different styles of lecturing, group work, tutorials and an emphasis on application rather than textbook based study. Data were obtained from observations of lectures and tutorials, and from student and lecturer interviews. The findings highlight the difficulties many students faced – meeting written and spoken English requirements, dealing with challenging internal assessments and different styles of lecturing. For many, the paper was a major hurdle to overcome in their studies in New Zealand.