Memorisation is not rote learning: rethinking memorisation as an embodied practice for Chinese students

ABSTRACT

Despite the many critiques of views that categorise and simplify Chinese international students’ use of memorisation as deficient or rote learning, these views persist. Using ethnographic methods to collect data over 18 months, this study identified the key practices employed by students as they negotiated their learning experiences in an Australian university. Through a practice lens, this paper disputes the oversimplification and extends existing knowledge of memorisation. It advocates memorisation as an embedded bodily activity in learning, via its deep connection to Chinese cultural and educational systems. In particular, it proposes greater theoretical nuance by suggesting (i) memorisation as entailing bundled practices; (ii) repetition in memorisation as generating new meanings, and (iii) memorisation as embodied and routinised practice. It concludes by discussing the implications of these key findings for academics seeking to understand Chinese students and support their learning experience.

KEYWORDS:

• Memorisation
• Chinese international students
• higher education
• practice-based theory
• embodiment
• rote learning

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on my PhD thesis. My deepest thanks go to my PhD supervisors: Dr Christopher Sykes and Dr Lynne Keevers for their support and encouragement in the PhD journey. I would also like to express my special gratitude to Professor Lorraine Smith for her critical comments on this paper, and Professor Tess Lea for her comments on the abstract and the title. Thanks to Sabine Straver for her help in designing Figure 1.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Chinese learners refer to as Confucian Heritage Culture, such as Chinese mainland students, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.