Apart from language difficulties, Chinese students also often encounter difficulties when adapting to the academic life of the UK University due to the big difference in the educational systems and teaching models between the UK and China. In sum, the unfamiliarity with the teaching and learning system in the UK also challenges the newly arrived Chinese students 'to present a satisfactory academic outcome’ (Chen, 2012:34).
The differences in teaching philosophy between China and the UK leads to some Chinese students experiencing academic cultural shock when they study in the UK. As Phuong-Mai et al. (2009) put it, the language barrier is not the only factor that influences Asian students’ classroom participation, but how different students see the importance of classroom participation will also affect their classroom behaviours. In
general, the Chinese teaching system values teachers as having authority and students are taught to listen to the teachers’ instructions and behave passively; in contrast, the UK teaching system values students’ opinions and participation in class and teachers may regard their roles as being facilitators (Wan, 1999; Cohen, 2014). Sun (2005) also points out that students within Chinese teaching principles are asked to obey their teachers and they seldom share their opinions in class, so follow teacher-dominant teaching principles. As a result, Chinese students in the UK class are not used to asking questions since they regard this as offensive to their teachers, or sharing their opinions since they are afraid of making mistakes. These concerns make Chinese students silent and negative groups in the UK classroom (Liu, 2013). Chinese students are described as passive, quiet and overall compliant in tutorial discussions (Volet and Renshaw, 1996). Li and Campbell (2008) also found that Asian students had a relatively low rate of participation in group work and they tended to have little involvement in interactive activities.
Some studies have tried to offer suggestions for stimulating Chinese students’ participation in class, especially within a multicultural context. As Remedios et al. (2008) pointed out, the reasons for the students’ silent behaviour in class could be understood from two perspectives. Firstly, individual factors such as students’ personalities, learning preferences, motivation and lack of preparation. Zhang and Xu (2007) suggested that lack of knowledge or confidence might cause some students to choose to be silent to avoid making mistakes or losing face in class. The second
aspect includes the contextual and sociocultural issues such as the various cultural beliefs of the speakers of different languages or different social norms. Wan (1999) further argued that the inability to make intercultural adaptation could result in overseas students having difficulty in performing satisfactorily and achieving the desired academic outcomes. Other reasons such as Chinese students being used to living up to their parents’ expectations of being good students who fully obey their teachers’ instructions, come within Confucian principles, which also affect their behaviour (Holmes, 2004).
However, the traditional view of passive, silent Chinese students within Confucian culture who will experience great academic culture shock has been challenged in more recent research. Even though Chinese students are used to being silent in the teacher-oriented teaching context in China, Wong (2004) found they tended to realize the importance of independent learning and began to enjoy the student-oriented learning style in the UK as they gradually familiarized themselves with the academic life here. Sun (2005) also claimed that as long as Chinese students could gradually improve their English ability and become more familiar with the local teaching system and got used to the new context, they could change and enhance their active participation in classroom activities. Additionally, Li and Campbell (2008) reported that Chinese students in New Zealand had successfully found a middle way between the two contradictory learning approaches - Confucian education and Western
full cultural adaption. Montgomery and McDowell (2009) also supported this argument; despite the great cultural difficulties faced by the international students as reported, they found these students were more proactive in meeting the challenges than expected, for example, they made good use of peer support to overcome difficulties. Wu and Hammond’s (2011:1) research into East Asian Masters level students in a UK University found that students largely enjoyed their sojourn and achieved satisfactory results for their academic study in the UK. They argued the students experienced ‘cultural bumps’ rather than culture shock since they had limited interaction with local students and local people and did not go in depth into the local culture during their Master's study in the UK. For example, East Asian students might, at times, work with local students on academic studies but rarely socialized beyond this. Wu and Hammond (2011: 1) would rather argue that these students experienced an ‘international postgraduate student culture’ in the UK University not integration into the local culture.
Other researchers holding different views to what constitutes Asian students’ academic culture shock in a Western University suggest the problem may lay in the teaching strategies used rather than the students' learning strategies; tutors in a Western University may fail to provide adequate familiar contexts to Eastern Asian students when introducing ideas or concepts (Bamford, 2008). Brown (2007) also questions whether it is necessary for tutors to be aware of their students’ background language and culture, and develop suitable teaching approaches to meet different
students’ needs.
As Charlesworth (2007) put it, Asian students under the Confucian teaching culture can adapt to the teaching reality in UK to meet their own needs. Asian students are encouraged to express their needs in a way similar to the Western students. In order to fully adapt to the new teaching environment in the UK, Chinese students need to develop a positive attitude to life in the UK, and try to increase their participation in the new social context to increase their ability to adapt to the new teaching approaches. Moreover, it is important to enhance the students’ mastery of language to better conduct interactive communication within the multicultural context for better academic outcomes (Gu et al., 2010).