'Being and doing' in a new academic environment : challenges faced by seven Chinese post-graduate students at a South African University.

摘要

This research explores a range of academic and socio-culturaludchallenges faced by seven Chinese post-graduate students at theudUniversity of the Witwatersrand. The main aims of this study are toudidentify and understand any academic discourse challenges theseudstudents have been experiencing, together with any challenges in theirudnew socio-cultural environment, such as financial or social challenges,udand then to investigate the impact of these challenges on their studiesudand their identities as students. The study is based on data gathered fromudin-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven Chinese post-graduateudstudents, from location ‘maps’ completed by each student and from someudexamples of the writing of three of the students. The findings suggestudthat these Chinese students are encountering great challenges in relationudto English language proficiency and adjustments to new Discourses (Gee,ud1996) – both academic and social. The data provide evidence thatudalthough these students feel socially disempowered in many respects,udtheir attitudes toward academic study remain positive and each is makingudsteady progress in his or her progamme of study and research. Thisudfinding indicates that there seems to be no explicit connection betweenudpositive social experiences and academic achievement and contrastsudwith findings from other research studies in which there is a correlationudiiiudbetween positive or negative socio-cultural experiences and success orudfailure in the academy.