Chinese Learners - a matter of heart

This paper charts the ways in which teachers and international students learned to recognise each other’s expectations derived from their different academic cultures. Teachers, recognising that students were unfamiliar with course demands, experimented with interventions to teaching and assessment in the early stages of the course, with the aim of giving students confidence and improving their study skills, improving grades and engaging with students. The research shows that the most valued attribute in a teacher is what students describe as ‘heart’– put simply, that the teacher understands them, is able to anticipate their needs and is available. The research shows that students gain more when teachers acknowledge differences in academic conventions. It is necessary to recognise this need in order to start to implement a genuine international pedagogy.