Cultural differences, learning styles and transnational education

Heffernan, Troy; Morrison, Michael A.; Basu, Parikshit; Sweeney, Arthur

doi:10.1080/13600800903440535

Cited by 125 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/termsand-conditions Introduction A smooth transition to university is crucial for students as it has an important influence on their social life and academic performance (Tait and Godfrey 2001;Heffernan et al 2010;Pike and Harrison 2011). An in-depth understanding of students' experience of transition prepares universities to manage and support students effectively (Penketh and Goddard 2008;Barron and D'Annunzio-Green 2009).…”

Section: Please Scroll Down For Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

The transition experiences of direct entrants from overseas higher education partners into UK universities

Quan

Smailes

Fraser

2013

Teaching in Higher Education

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This two-year study was conducted to explore the experience of international direct-entry students making the transition from overseas higher education partners to a UK University. Using mainly qualitative data from forum discussion, focus-group interviews and face-to-face interviews with students and staff, we document how international direct-entry students cope with academic and social anxieties during their transition. The findings reveal that there are some similarities, such as language issues, which are experienced by most international students. However, this study has highlighted a distinguishing factor for direct-entry students which relates to the use of intra-networks to overcome their social anxieties. The exploratory analysis also indicates that international students entering directly into an academic programme at a later study stage face a steep learning curve and require additional support to adapt quickly to a UK educational system.

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Section: Please Scroll Down For Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

The transition experiences of direct entrants from overseas higher education partners into UK universities

Quan

Smailes

Fraser

2013

Teaching in Higher Education

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“…This has been especially of interest in China, where differences in learning styles are affected by cultural traditions and thought that diverge sharply from Western, capitalist-dominated teaching and learning methods. Heffernan et al (2010), in their study of Australian university courses taught in China, make the important observation that Chinese students are increasingly subjected to the Western-based academy, through international programs and study. Ensuring an effective learning environment with these students must take into account differences in learning styles, the role of culture, and the extent to which these influences are present for the modern Chinese adult student.…”

Section: Cultural Differences and Learning Stylesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…More specifically, Chinese cultural orientation conflicts with Western values that promote behaviors such as challenging the status quo, questioning authority, divergent thinking, creativity, and individualism. Heffernan et al (2010) identifies several Chinese pedagogical-related values attributed to their Confucian heritage. They note that China typically places more emphasis on instructor-lead large student-group instructional delivery methods and limited use of highly interactive teacherstudent and student-student exchanges accompanied with team-based problem solving.…”

Section: Cultural Differences and Learning Stylesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concrescent Conversation as a Group Communication Tool in a Chinese University MBA Course

Akan

Andres

Medley

2014

Journal of Teaching in International Business

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In order to be more competitive in the global marketplace, China has adopted a long-term plan to reform their higher education system. One specific aim of this plan is to facilitate the achievement of China's goal of building a world-class market-driven economy through the development of an adequate supply of MBA-trained professional managers to lead their organizations. This case study presents an exploratory and descriptive research approach to assess the effects of an instructional delivery scenario in which concrescent conversation was used as a communication tool to create a cooperative learning setting in a mainland Chinese MBA course. The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) model was used to determine the learning style preference of the Chinese students. The study also investigated the relation between a student's preferred learning style with gender and major (business, engineering, math, and science). Sensing-intuitive was the only ILS subscale with a significant difference across gender and major. Females exhibited a moderate preference for sensing learning while males exhibited a mild preference for sensing learning. Among majors, only business and engineering were significantly different from each other. Business majors tended to prefer the moderate sensing learning style and engineering majors indicated a preference for mild sequential learning style. Contrary to the literature on learning style differences attributed to specific cultural orientation, additional observations and results revealed that the Chinese MBA students accepted the instructional delivery scenario in which concrescent conversation was used to implement a student-centered learning setting.

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“…Since the data collected in this study was categorical, the statistical analysis performed was a Pearson's Chi Square to analyze and determine if there is a significant association between the learning styles of the students and their demographics [21,49,[68][69][70][71][72].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Construction Management and Engineering Student Learning Styles

Holt

Shaurette

Chasek

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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This paper presents the findings of a study analyzing the learning styles of undergraduate construction management (CM) students in bachelor degree programs in the U.S. and compares them to engineering student learning styles. The study utilized the Felder-Silverman model and the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) as a survey instrument. The population of the students surveyed was 1,069 CM students from 36 university CM programs across the Associated Schools of Construction regions. Past studies with engineering students were utilized for the engineering student data. The results were analyzed and comparisons were made of both the CM students and other similar studies done with engineering students. It was found that CM students were visual, active, sensing, and sequential learners. They are also significantly higher in all the learning style dimensions than engineering students.

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Cultural differences, learning styles and transnational education

Cited by 125 publications

References 14 publications

The transition experiences of direct entrants from overseas higher education partners into UK universities

The transition experiences of direct entrants from overseas higher education partners into UK universities

Concrescent Conversation as a Group Communication Tool in a Chinese University MBA Course

A Comparison of Construction Management and Engineering Student Learning Styles

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