The communication patterns of Chinese students with their lecturers in an Australian university

Abstract

Chinese students are now the largest group of international students in the Australian higher education sector. The patterns of Chinese communication and education affect the ways that Chinese students engage with their lecturers and manage their learning relationships. A case study of these patterns provides a small window through which to observe the progress of higher education internationalisation in Australia. In this study, the experiences of seven Chinese students in a multicultural educational context are explored, with a focus on their communication practices and relationships with their lecturers in Australia. This paper contributes to understandings of how student–teacher communication practices affect learning experiences for Chinese students in Australian or other international universities.

Keywords:

• Chinese students
• Australian lecturers
• teacher–student relationships
• dialogic communication
• internationalisation of higher education

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Erratum

Acknowledgments

All the names used were changed so as to protect their privacy, and informed consent was secured from the participants involved before doing this project. The researcher’s thanks go to Professor Alex Kostogriz, Dr. Christina Houen and the anonymous reviewers for constructive and critical comments on earlier versions of this article.