Improving teaching and learning outcomes in the overseas Chinese student population

Researchers: Kala Saravanamuthu and Christine Yap.

The aim of this stream of study is to enhance international students' learning experience in Australia whilst maintaining our educational standards. The research will attempt to first understand how overseas Chinese students learn, and second, use this knowledge to modify teaching strategies to enable these students to develop deeper learning strategies. Learning is shaped by a student's learning style and strategies. Learning style is fairly innate in the sense that it is affected by one's cultural preferences and educational experience in school. However, under certain circumstances, students may be motivated to adapt their learning strategies to satisfy more demanding educational standards and requirements. We use John Biggs' and David Watkins' Chinese Learner literature to frame this longitudinal, social constructivist examination of teaching and learning strategies in Business education. In the future, we hope to draw on this research experience to replicate this study to formulate better teaching-learning strategies for other international student groups.