The bar chart above shows the biggest problem for international students studying at Coventry University. The date was taken from a questionnaire that 30 Chinese students completed.
The bar chart above shows the biggest problem for international students studying at Coventry University. The date was taken from a questionnaire that 30 Chinese students completed. Each of them could chose between two options and we can see here that most of the students thought language was their biggest problem. On top of this 16 feel they cannot get used to the educational system, 10 think the module’s content is different here compared to China and three believe there is much external pressure. One cannot get used to the culture in the UK.
I can see from all the surveys and interviews that Chinese students are facing a lot of learning and life difficulties. Among them, language seems to be the greatest enemy to a successful student life here. Although many Chinese students have come here for language courses or did very well in English before coming here, most of them still need time to adapt to using everyday English.
One said: “When I was in China, I have did quite well in English and grammar, but now I cannot open my mouth after coming here. I know what I want to say but I can’t express it in English.”
Many students here say the education system is totally different to that in China, for example we do not do coursework in our home country.
In China, the teacher always tells us what to do and how to do it. In the UK the teachers want us to do so in accordance with our own ideas. A girl who has studied at Coventry University for two years said: “I realized there is a big difference between the module’s setting and content in China to that in the UK. This causes more trouble for the students who just come here with a listening problem in English. We not only need to practice our English, but we also need to read plenty of material to catch up with the process of the module.”
Although the majority of Chinese students studying abroad come across many difficulties, all the students I interviewed are enjoying their studies. Most of them think that studying here brings them a lot of valuable knowledge and experience. At the same time they feel that this is a process of training themselves. For example one postgraduate student said: “I have gained a lot of professional knowledge here as well as making myself more independent.”
Filed under: Questionnaire Tagged: | chart bar, quesionnaire
