20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Paper
Designing Pedagogical Concepts based on Cultural Intelligence in Teacher Training in Higher Education
Dolly Eliyahu-Levi1, Avi Gvura2
1Levinsky College of Education, Israel; 2Beit Berl College
Presenting Author: Eliyahu-Levi, Dolly;
Gvura, Avi
In recent decades, the formal and informal education frameworks in Israel and around the world have been dealing with accelerated migration processes that expose children and educators to diverse populations in terms of national, religious, racial, cultural, linguistic, and more. Educators face complex challenges at the individual level and the organization of differential teaching-learning processes, responding to differences and social integration (Ang et al., 2007).
Educators work to deal with the challenges of migration in a global multicultural environment in which children are integrated into their learning abilities, forms of communication, learning styles, mastery of the school language, interests, experiences, socio-economic background, and background. To succeed in this task, they are required to show understanding, flexibility, and balance between the different dynamics of different cultural environments, an appreciation of the differences that exist between them, and the ability to deal with situations of uncertainty (Ng et al., 2012; Erez et al., 2013).
As a response to these challenges, Earley and Ang (2003) developed a multidimensional model for cultural intelligence based on the cultural intelligence model of Sternberg and Detterman (1986). Cultural intelligence is one of the many types of intelligence which related to the ability to solve practical problems from the "real world" (Gardner & Moran, 2006) and not only issues in the academic context that fit the IQ definition of Schmidt and Hunter (2000). Reiter and Luria (2021) note that this ability includes mental, motivational, and behavioral skills focused on solving problems in a culturally diverse environment. Those with a high level of cultural intelligence can deeply understand intercultural situations and make effective adjustments in how they interpret a particular case, react to it, or conduct themselves in it.
According to Earley and Ang (2003), the four CQ (=cultural intelligence) components are abilities that are distinct from each other and correlated with each other. The combination of them creates overall cultural intelligence. This ability is an acquired ability that can be developed:
1. The metacognitive factor - deals with the mental ability to understand cultural knowledge.
2. The cognitive factor - related to the general knowledge of norms, practices, and conventions
3. The motivational factor - the individual's tendency to focus his attention on learning intercultural differences and improving his ability to function in situations involving new cultures.
4. The behavioral factor - the individual's ability to present in culturally diverse interactions with verbal and non-verbal responses.
From the pedagogical point of view of teachers' trainers, it was found that many students who experience teaching in elementary school report a fear of meeting socio-cultural, linguistic, socio-economic, national, and religious diversity, skin color, and more (Caspe, Lopez, Chu, & Weiss, 2011; Patte, 2011). Education researchers (Hammerness, 2006; Feiman-Nemser, 2011) claim that shaping a multicultural educational concept is a lengthy process that refers to the child's personal, family, and cultural contexts. Whereas in practice, teacher training is content with a simple theoretical look at the culture of the children's families as a collection of holidays, foods, and special days while avoiding an authentic encounter with family heritage or knowledge resources that can be harnessed to the learning experience in the classroom and the cultivation of cultural intelligence among educators (LeFevre & Shaw, 2012; Iwai, 2013).
The two goals of the study are to examine perceptions and attitudes about cultural intelligence among education students studying for a teaching certificate in elementary school at two large colleges in the center of the country and to indicate actions in the teacher training process that promote the development of cultural intelligence among students.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis is qualitative research, based on the assumption that social reality is the product of interpretive processes influenced by personal and social structures such as gender, nationality, culture, and more. Qualitative research helps to reveal the interpretations given to the social reality by the individual while referring to personal and social structures. The researchers who engage in qualitative research seek to examine phenomena in their natural state while trying to derive meaning and interpretation in terms of the meaning humans produce for us (Sabar Ben-Yohusha, 2016). This approach allows us to locate and present the personal and authentic voices of education students with first-hand knowledge of educational concepts, attitudes, and beliefs related to cultural intelligence (Zur & Izikowitz, 2015).
Twenty-six students and students studying in the elementary school track at two education colleges in Israel participated in the study: Levinsky College of Education and Beit Berel College in Kfar Saba. All born in the country, Jews and Arabs aged 25-32, speak Hebrew or Arabic as their mother tongue and try out once or twice a week in state schools in the country's center.
The research tool was an interview that focused on the pedagogical perceptions of elementary school education students regarding cultivating cultural intelligence as part of professional training in higher education. The interviews took place at the teacher training college for about an hour for each participant. The interviews were analyzed with an interpretive approach to identify central motifs and find connections between them. Processing was based on content analysis focusing on what the students said in words, descriptions, their place in the interview, and how they presented their words (Braun & Clarke, 2006). According to Shkedi (2003), content analysis is a kind of window that allows a look into the inner experience that reflects the perceptions and actions in the classroom and school spaces.
In the analysis phase, the researchers separately read all the interview transcripts to determine which category the section belongs to according to the research objectives. In the second stage, the matching of the segments to the categories was determined. The reliability test was based on "reliability between judges" (Lincoln & Guba, 2000). In individual cases where differences of opinion were discovered, a discussion was held until an agreement was reached. The reliability between the judges is 86%.
In the research, the ethical rules were carefully observed.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe research findings reveal that beliefs, attitudes, and pedagogical concepts also influence the choice of teaching methods and their adaptation to students. All the more so in a multicultural classroom where children of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are integrated. A complex reality that forces teachers to respond to unique needs, develop diverse teaching materials, think outside the box, and initiate adapted teaching approach.
In the emotional aspect, the students revealed educational concepts that advocate strengthening the relationship with the student's family while mediating academic tasks from the literacy and technological factors: personal meetings and cooperative learning in small groups - learning in small sessions allows listening to others and may strengthen functioning in the emotional, social, academic, and cultural aspects. In the educational part, it seems that the student's perceptions are focused on the importance of flexible time management, adapting the learning framework to the students in the class, and diversity in teaching methods and learning materials while integrating technological means.
Examining the actions in the teacher training process that promote the development of cultural intelligence among the students, it was found that authentic experiences in the community-urban space and direct meetings with social leaders enriched the social knowledge and the understanding of different norms of diverse minority groups. The students also testified that experiencing school and planning lessons based on principles of social-emotional learning (SEL) helped them cultivate abilities such as awareness of strengths and weaknesses, understanding social situations, understanding different and unfamiliar positions, stress management, self-discipline, and problem-solving. All of these strengthened the students' motivation as future teachers to take the initiative and develop teaching methods that consider the culture of the country of origin and the tradition of the student's home, cultivate cultural intelligence, and strengthen the feeling of being able to function in educational contexts in which students from other cultures are integrated.
ReferencesAng, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K., Templer, K., Tay, C., & Chandrasekar, N. (2007). Cultural Intelligence: Its Measurement and Effects on Cultural Judgment and Decision Making, Cultural Adaptation and Task Performance. Management and Organization Review, 3(3), 335-371.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2008). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research.
Earley P. C., & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural Intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures. Stanford University Press.
Erez, M., Lisak, A., Harush, R., Glikson, E., Nouri, R., & Shokef, E. (2013). Going global: Developing management students' cultural intelligence and global identity in culturally diverse virtual teams. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), 330-355.
Feiman-Nemser, S. (2011). From preparation to practice: Designing a continuum to strengthen and sustain teaching. Teachers' college record, 103(6), 1013-1055.
Gardner, H., & Moran, S. (2006). The science of multiple intelligences theory: A response to Lynn Waterhouse. Educational psychologist, 41(4), 227-232.
Hammerness, K. (2006). Seeing through teachers' eyes: Professional ideals and classroom practices (Vol. 46). Teachers College Press.
Iwai, Y. (2013). Multicultural Children's Literature and Teacher Candidates' Awareness and attitudes Toward Cultural Diversity. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 5(2), 185-196.
Krumer-Nevo, M. (2005). Reading a Poor Woman’s Life: Issues and Dilemmas. Affilia, 20 (1), 87–102.
LeFevre, A. L. & Shaw, T. V. (2012). Latino parent involvement and school success: Longitudinal effects of formal and informal support. Education and Urban Society, 44(6), 707–723.
Lieblich, E. (2015). Personal narrative of introduction. In R. Josselson, how to interview in qualitative research: A referential approach (pp. 9–23). Moft Institute.
Ng, K.-Y., Van Dyne, L., & Ang, S. (2012). Cultural intelligence: A review, reflections, and recommendations for future research. In A. M. Ryan, F. T. L. Leong, & F. L. Oswald (Eds.), Conducting multinational research: Applying organizational psychology in the workplace (pp. 29–58). American Psychological Association.
Patte, M. M. (2011). Examining preservice teacher knowledge and competencies in establishing family-school partnerships. School Community Journal, 21(2), 143–159.
Reiter, A. and Luria, J. (2021). The effect of cultural intelligence on organizational performance in a culturally diverse work environment. Psychoactualia, 43-38.
Schmidt, F.L. and Hunter, J.E. (2017). Select on Intelligence. In The Blackwell Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behaviour, E.A. Locke (Ed.).
Shkedi, A. (2003). Words of meaning: Qualitative research - theory and practice. Ramot.
20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Paper
Partnership in Pedagogical Training Encourages Experiences in Interdisciplinary Teaching
Michal Ganz-Meishar1, Lilach Tencer-Herschkovitz2
1The Academic College Levinsky-Wingate, Israel; 2The Academic College Levinsky-Wingate, Israel
Presenting Author: Ganz-Meishar, Michal;
Tencer-Herschkovitz, Lilach
Educational colleges in Israel and the world must adapt the training structure and teaching content to the challenging and multi-channel reality of life in the 21st century. They must adapt the teaching-learning methods and their teaching experiences to the new world where the boundaries of knowledge acquisition are open, and the tendency to use artificial intelligence to strengthen linguistic literacy is increasing (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Gaudelli, & Ousley, 2009).
The training process of pre-service teachers in Israel combines the acquisition of theoretical knowledge with practical training acquired during the experience at school. This training focuses on one discipline, although solving real-world problems requires integrating knowledge and understanding across multiple disciplines. Moreover, there is a decrease in children's ability to acquire linguistic knowledge, explain messages, reason, and organize the acquired knowledge while ensuring its cohesion (Schleicher, 2017).
Studies (Berninger, & Abbott, 2010; Giroux, & Moje, 2017) prove that integrating linguistic literacy in various disciplines, such as science, mathematics, history, and more, enables children to strengthen their ability to ask questions, understand complex texts, develop critical thinking while expressing an opinion in writing and orally, present an argument, and more. Therefore, international tests such as PISA and PIRLS (OECD, 2013) and integrative programs such as SERP Generative Word - (https://access.serpinstitute.org/wordgen-elementary/) have become significant. Furthermore, acquiring linguistic literacy is critical for children from immigrant families and non-native Hebrew-speaking children who are integrated into multicultural and multilingual schools (Kramsch, 1998).
Science and technology education aims to develop adults using scientific and technological knowledge to manage and improve their lives. It is the role of teachers to create activities for children who will begin to think like scientists and allows for opportunities to develop literacy skills such as reading comprehension, expressing an opinion in writing and orally, merging information, drawing scientific conclusions, writing observation reports, and more. That is to aid them in becoming well-informed scientists like adults. These will promote a better understanding of the scientific phenomena in broader contexts (Catts, & Kamhi, 2017; Goldman, et.al, 2016).
It can be proven that pre-service teachers training to teach are not skilled enough to teach linguistic literacy and integrate it into other disciplines (Brassler, & Dettmers, 2017; Hikida, et.al, 2019). This study emphasizes the partnership training of two pedagogical instructors whose expertise is in different disciplines: language and sciences. This partnership contributes to a unique training process for the pre-service teachers: (1) Expands the possibilities for acquiring pedagogical and disciplinary knowledge to promote interdisciplinary teaching: (2) Strengthens their linguistic knowledge and literacy skills to adjust teaching methods for children whose mother tongue is not Hebrew.
Integrating disciplines is a challenge in the training process of teaching pre-service teachers. The training partners, including the pedagogical instructors, teacher trainers, and pre-service teachers, are experts in a specific discipline. That's why the teaching experience at schools, especially culturally and linguistically diverse schools, is a powerful platform for a partnership between two pedagogical instructors to show the process of interdisciplinary teaching-learning. In this method, the study presents unique and innovative training.
In this study, we examined the contribution of integrative and co-training of two pedagogical instructors from the fields of language and science. Research questions: (1) What were the perceptions of the science education pre-service teacher regarding the integration of linguistic literacy in science lessons? (2) What actions did the pre-service teacher undertake to integrate linguistic literacy into her science lessons? (3) What were the implications of the integration training on the pre-service teacher's ability to teach a multicultural and multilingual class?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe research is a qualitative interpretive case study of Koral, a 5th-grade elementary school science pre-service teacher’s experience in a school that is in a diverse city. The school receives children from culturally diverse families, Jews, Arabs, and non-Jewish immigrants. Due to the difficulty in acquiring the Hebrew language, we integrated the teaching of the language into science classes to give the children additional opportunities to strengthen their linguistic skills. The case study allows us to collect information and first-hand experience, observe the pre-service teacher's actions during her school experience, and examine her pedagogical activities and insights. A qualified science teaching trainer accompanied Koral through integrative and co-training of the two pedagogical instructors, that of language and science (Flyvbjerg, 2011; Creswell, et.al., 2018).
The integrative and co-training of two pedagogical instructors took place continuously throughout the year in a digital and personal space: (1) It manifested in the preparation of 12 lesson plans, in classroom teaching, and in evaluating lessons and scientific assignments; (2) Evaluating lessons by observing and writing documentation of seven lessons; (3) Koral perceptions and insights were reflected regarding the learning-teaching process; (4) Collaborative learning meetings of the two pedagogical instructors for examination adjustment and interdisciplinary learning.
Qualitative research tools were used to collect the data: (1) an interview was held with the pre-service teacher at the end of the academic training year to gain a retrospective point of view following the integrative training; (2) an interview with the teacher trainer was conducted to gain her perspective and to confirm or refute the pedagogical actions and insights gained by the integrative training as this was her first experience in interdisciplinary teaching; (3) seven researchers' observations and written documentation (4) documents: Koral's lesson plans, children learning outcomes from a website created by the pre-service teacher 'Moments with Science', Koral's writing reflections.
To analyze the findings, each of us read the data separately and focused on Koral's words and descriptions as she reflected on her pedagogical actions and insights into classifying and categorizing. We cross-referenced data from different sources to find themes and central ideas and established connections between the content categories. The data were analyzed using content analysis that allows a look into the integrative training and drawing valid conclusions for their broader context (Thomas, 2011). The ethical rules were carefully observed, maintaining anonymity and confidentiality.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings of integrative training outline Koral's actions and insights in two categories: (1) The personal aspect; (2) The pedagogical aspect.
The pre-service teacher undergoes a comprehensive, in-depth, and meaningful training process.
The integrative training enabled the pre-service teacher to become specialized in linguistic literacy and integrate them into science activities to promote interdisciplinary teaching. This finding indicates that high self-efficacy can be developed in a supportive, inclusive, professional integrative training environment (D'Mello, & Graesser, 2012). The integrative training strengthened her awareness of students' linguistic choices and helped to adjust her pedagogy methods, especially for those who do not speak Hebrew as their mother tongue. This ability is an anchor for learning how to create a discourse in the classroom based on listening, strengthening personal confidence to express an opinion in writing and orally, and maintaining a high level of language and fluency in speech.
The pre-service teacher demonstrated linguistic literacy to develop teaching practices adapted to a culturally and linguistically heterogeneous classroom. According to her, integrative training better assimilated the linguistic literacy ability to teach science better and create scientific knowledge for the children that is clearer and more standard. Integrating linguistic literacy into science lessons allowed her to teach creatively and connect home literacy to benefit the children whose mother tongue is not Hebrew. These findings are consistent with previous science teaching studies that emphasize teachers' need to promote their students' linguistic literacy skills for learning and understanding scientific knowledge (Catts, & Kamhi, 2017; Shanahan, & Shanahan, 2014; Stubbs, 2014).
This study contributes to changing pre-service teachers' traditional and conservative training patterns and creating a partnership between pedagogical instructors with different disciplines. Integrative training in linguistic literacy is essential to creating diversity and developing personal and pedagogical abilities to teach in environments with linguistic and cultural gaps.
ReferencesBerninger, V.W., & Abbott, R.D. (2010). Listening Comprehension, Oral Expression, Reading Comprehension, and Written Expression: Related Yet Unique Language Systems in Grades 1, 3, 5, and 7. Educ Psychol, 102(3) ,635–651.
Brassler, M., & Dettmers, J. (2017). How to Enhance Interdisciplinary Competence—Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning versus Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 11(2).
Catts, H. W., & Kamhi, A. G. (2017). Prologue: Reading comprehension is not a single ability. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 48, 73–76.
Creswell, J. W., Poth, C. N., & Hall, M. (2018). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (Fourth edition). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE
Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). Teacher Education and the American Future. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1–2), 35–47. Doi.org/10.1177/0022487109348024
D'Mello, S., & Graesser, A. (2012). Dynamics of affective states during complex learning. Learning and Instruction, 22, 145–157.
Gaudelli, W., & Ousley, D. (2009). From clothing to skin: Identity work of student teachers in culminating field experiences. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25 (6), 931–939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.02.017
Giroux, C. S., & Moje, E. B. (2017). Learning from the Professions: Examining How, Why, and When Engineers Read and Write. Theory into Practice, 56(4), 300–307.
Goldman, S.R., Britt. M. A., Brown. W., Cribb. G., George. M., Greenleaf. C., Lee. C. D., Shanahan. C. & Project READI. (2016). Disciplinary Literacies and Learning to Read for Understanding: A Conceptual Framework for Disciplinary Literacy. Educational Psychologist, 51(2), 219–246.
Hikida, M., Chamberlain, K., Tily, S., Daly-Lesch, A., Warner, J. R., & Schallert, D. L. (2019). Reviewing How Preservice Teachers Are Prepared to Teach Reading Processes: What the Literature Suggests and Overlooks. Journal of Literacy Research, 51(2), 177–195.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2011). Case study. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 301–316). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
OECD (2013). OECD Skills Outlook 2013. First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills.
Schleicher, A. (2017). Seeing Education through the Prism of PISA. European Journal of Education, 52(2) ,124–130. DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12209
Shanahan. C., & Shanahan, T. (2014). DOES DISCIPLINARY LITERACY HAVE A PLACE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?. The Reading Teacher, 67(8), 636–639.
Stubbs, M. (2014). Language and literacy: The sociolinguistics of reading and writing. London: Routledge.
Thomas, G. (2011). How to Do Your Case Study: A Guide for Students and Researchers. Los Angeles, California: Sage.
20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Paper
Reconceptualising memorisation in Chinese students’ learning
Jinqi Xu
University of Sydney, Australia
Presenting Author: Xu, Jinqi
The ongoing accusation of Chinese international students’ utilizing memorization in learning is an ignorance of the fact that memorization has central importance in their learning process (Biggs 1996), which is derived from unique linguistic and cultural complex settings in Chinese education (Tan 2011). It is important for educators to be aware of the cognitive, emotional and relational perspectives in this complexity (Portera 2014).
Chinese international students’ learning styles are more subtle and complex than they appear (Xu 2019). Chinese students are often criticized for lacking the ability to use deep learning approaches and instead memorizing the materials without understanding (Murphy 1987), with learning strategies limited to reception, repetition, review and reproduction (Hu 2002). The concept of ‘surface approach’ is frequently used when referring to Chinese students’ learning and they are labelled as “rote learners” (Watkins and Biggs 1996), “passive learners” (Clark and Gieve 2006) or “inferior” in learning (Jiang and Smith 2009). Western educators have undervalued Chinese students’ learning strategies by confusing learning through memorization and repetition with rote learning.
Memorization as a key area of focus for research seeks to understand aspects of how Chinese students learn (Ryan 2010). It was shown to be a central component of the Chinese education system and is widely used by students who come to the West. Research shows that memorization can lead to “deep learning” (McMahon 2011), that students use memorization as a purposeful learning strategy (Li and Cutting 2011), and that memorization and understanding are not mutually exclusive categories (Mathias, Bruce, and Newton 2013). Memorization has never been seen as an end in itself by Chinese learners but as a prelude to deeper understanding and may include elements of constructivist learning. There is a clear difference between rote learning (mechanical learning without meaning) and repetition for memorizing content, where the intention is to develop understanding and discover new meaning. Chinese students use the latter more than the former, especially when they prepare for exams. Similarly, Mathias et al. (2013) draw on the earlier work of Trigwell, Prosser and Waterhouse (1999), who suggest that both deep (by understanding) and surface (only by memorizing) approaches should be considered to be simultaneously present in students’ learning.
In Chinese education, memorising is commonly used in primary and junior high school education where language teachers constantly ask the students to recite texts and test them on their recall of the content. Chinese students develop certain memorisation skills in their childhood as they are asked to memorise classical texts from ancient times. There is an old saying ‘Memorise 300 Tang poems and one can at least recite them if unable to compose a poem himself’ (熟读唐诗三百首，不会作诗也会吟). Large amounts of memorisation are encouraged in Chinese primary and secondary education, as it is perceived beneficial to creative writing in the end. Ask any Chinese learner who has memorised the multiplication tables, and they would say that the experience of learning them is like ‘singing a song’ (Tan 2011).
By adopting a practice-based approach, this paper disputes the oversimplification and extends existing knowledge of memorisation to investigate what doings, sayings and relatings (Schatzki (Schatzki 2019) are in memorization and how it becomes embodied through long-term repetitive practices (Dall’Alba and Barnacle 2007). Through a practice lens, this paper closely examines students’ memorization practices by focusing on what practices Chinese students use in their memorization, and how their existing repertoire of sociocultural and educational practices are entwined in this complex phenomenon.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedPractice-based theories are prominent in educational literature, including in the area of learning in professional practice (Kemmis et al., 2012) and higher education (Keevers et al., 2014). This methodology focuses on a relational perspective (Haraway, 2008), emphasizing the relationships between people, and the material world which is continuously changing. Such an approach highlights the connectedness and entanglement of one’s past, present and future, “everything that has no existence apart from its relation to other things” (Langley & Tsoukas, 2010, p3). Practice-based studies comprise a diverse body of work that has developed explanations of social, cultural and material phenomena based on the notion of practices (Schatzki, 2019), which offers a good fit to study how Chinese students use memorization as a key learning strategy as it stresses the importance of context and culture.
Particularly, drawing on Nicolini’s (2012) practice methodology, this study entails a practical package of theories and methods that are used to study students’ memorizing practice, which removes the distinction between theory and method developing a flexible approach that uses different but relevant theories and methods to address the complexity of memorization. By using the ‘zoom in’ practice and the ‘zoom out’ practice (Nicolini 2009), the study investigates how students use memorisation in their studies by choosing different angles of observation and interpretation without necessarily giving prominence to any.
Ethnographic methods were used to collect data over 18 months identifying the practices used by students and investigating how these practices relate to their learning experience. Ethics approval (HE14/079) was granted prior to the data collection. The five participating students were aged between 20 and 23 years of age, on student visas. None had experience studying outside of China prior to their enrolment in the commerce undergraduate degree. They were shadowed by the researcher weekly. The data collection included participative observation, reflective group discussions, and formal semi-structured and informal interviews with the students and their teachers and faculty members. The interviews were undertaken in Mandarin to enable the students to think deeply and discuss freely in constructing their social worlds. The research project also entailed observations of the students in lectures, tutorials, Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), Chinese Commerce Academic Development (CCAD) workshops, library studies and coffee shops. The data was organised and analysed through consecutive stages: transcribing, translating the data, extracting and categorising key points, generating provisional themes, mapping clusters of practices and selecting data evidence.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsMemorizing is emergent to the students’ bodily repertoire learned through practices from childhood. This paper contests Plato’s ideas of resemblance and draws upon Deleuze’s concept of repetition (Deleuze 1994) to advocate that repetition is not simply a matter of the same thing occurring repeatedly, but their repetition of content aims to develop new understanding and generate new meanings.
This article also contributes by empirically investigating Chinese students’ memorisation as an embodied and routinised practice rather than mainly a cognitive process. I contend that Chinese students’ memorisation practices stem from their history, culture and tradition and they became embodied as habits; they have become a culturally ingrained learning process.
Through a close examination of students’ doings, sayings and relatings in their memorizing practice (Schatzki 2019) and with the “zoom in” and “zoom out” practice lens, memorizing as an existing repertoire of sociocultural and educational practices practice in Chinese students’ learning becomes visible. Memorising, reflecting, summarising, and translating is part of cognitive learning strategies from a psychological perspective. However, via practice-based study, the core theme of this approach pays attention to ‘doing’ and moves away from the cognition of knowledge and instead emphasises the embodiment of practices. Students repetitively and routinely use these practices for a long time which thus makes them embodied knowing.
The detailed analysis of memorising practice through practice lenses enabled me to propose nuanced understandings of this phenomenon, extend the growing memorisation literature and present theoretical contributions. The contributions highlight the significance of the sociocultural influence on Chinese students’ learning practices and extend the existing research on the paradox.
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Li, Xiuping, and Joan Cutting. 2011. "Rote Learning in Chinese Culture: Reflecting Active Confucian-Based Memory Strategies." In Researching Chinese Learners: Skills, Perceptions and Intercultural Adaptations, edited by L. Jin and M. Cortazzi, 1-18. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Mathias, J. , M. Bruce, and D. Newton. 2013. " Challenging the Western Stereotype: do Chinese International Foundation Students Learn by Rote?" Research in Post- Compulsory Education 18 (3):221-238.
McMahon, P. 2011. "Chinese Voices: Chinese Learners and Their Experiences of Living and Studying in the United Kingdom." Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 33 (4):401-414.
Murphy, D. . 1987. "Offshore education: A Hong Kong perspective." Australian Universities’ Review 30 (2):43-44.
Nicolini, D. 2009. "Zooming In and Out: Studying Practices by Switching Theoretical Lenses and Trailing Connections." Organization Studies 30 (12):1391-1418.
Nicolini, D. 2012. Practice Theory, Work & Organization. Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press.
Portera, Agostino. 2014. "Intercultural Competence in education, counselling and psychotherapy." Intercultural education (London, England) 25 (2):157-174. doi: 10.1080/14675986.2014.894176.
Schatzki, T. 2019. Social Change in a Material World: How Activity and Material Processes Dynamize Practices, Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought. London: Taylor and Francis.
Tan, P. L. 2011. "Towards a Culturally Sensitive and Deeper Understanding of "Rote Learning" and Memorisation of Adult Learners." Journal of Studies in International Education 15 (2):124-145. doi: 10.1177/1028315309357940.
Trigwell, K., M. Prosser, and F. Waterhouse. 1999. "Relations Between Teachers’ Approaches to Teaching and Students’ Approaches to Learning." Higher Education 37:57–70.
Watkins, D., and J. Biggs. 1996. The Chinese Learners: cultural, psychological and contextual Influences. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Xu, Jinqi. 2019. "A Practice-based Study of Chinese Students’ Learning – Putting Things Together." Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice 16 (2):1-18.
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