Negotiating Differences in Learning and Intercultural Communication

Research on ethnic Chinese students studying in a Western (New Zealand) learning environment exposed differences in communication and learning between their first culture and the host culture. Thirteen ethnic Chinese students in a New Zealand university business school participated in an 18-month ethnographic study. The findings indicate that these students were not prepared for the dialogic nature of classroom communication, which created difficulties in listening, understanding, and interacting. Written assignments embodied different expectations of writing styles, and understandings of critical analysis and plagiarism. The findings raise challenges for teachers in responding to difference rather than deficit approaches to teaching and learning, for ethnic Chinese students to be better prepared for the new learning environment, and for host institutions and local students to find ways of developing diversity awareness and appreciation.