Surface, deep and transformation approaches of learning: Chinese students' academic integration in Finland and Germany

• In Event: Publication mentoring workshop session
  In Special Session: International & Intercultural Education - Group B

Proposal

• I am at a final stage of my Ph.D. My doctoral dissertation is under official examination. The doctoral thesis defense is expected to be held December 2018 or January 2019.
• The Objectives of the research is to explore the processes, challenges, coping strategies and trajectories of Chinese students’ integration into academic contexts during their studies in Finland and Germany
• The main research questions are:
RQ1 How do Chinese students integrate into the academic contexts in Finland and Germany during their studies?
RQ 1a What kind of challenges do Chinese students encounter during their academic integration?
RQ 1b What kind of learning development trajectory the Chinese students’ went through during their academic integration?

• Theoretical framework used
The experiences of academic integration are analyzed utilizing the surface and deep learning theory by Marton and Säljö (1976) and transformative learning theory developed by Jack Mezirow (1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003).

• Research design, data collection methods and analytic techniques
Semi-structured interviews served as the main research method used for collecting data in this doctoral dissertation. In 2015, 30 mainland Chinese tertiary-level degree students in Finland and 28 students in Germany in 2016. Data-collection resulted in 58 transcripts that were analyzed primarily by the researcher and using thematic content analysis. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, anonymized, and encoded in Atlas.ti using substantive (Kelle, 2010) and theoretical coding (Thornberg & Charmaz, 2014). After familiarization with the data, thematic codes consisting of pre-existing themes were generated based on the theoretical framework and the preliminary analysis of the interview transcripts. Next, the analysis started with line-by-line coding, structured according to the theoretical framework. Finally, every statement in the codes was further analyzed and placed under an appropriate heading or thematic ‘node along with any others which were sufficiently similar’ (Hannan, 2007).

• Results and evidence to support conclusions

Built on past theories of students’ approaches to learning, in particular the ideas presented by Marton and Säljö (1976) and Mezirow (2000; 1991), this study suggests three stages of academic integration that many Chinese students go through during their studies abroad. At the first stage, the students have to develop their language skills to reach the surface learning stage to be able to understand the content of teaching. In the second stage, the students need to constantly develop their language skills to reach a higher level of language proficiency to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter. Eventually the students become proactively engaged in learning and carry out specific learning tasks both independently and socially in different contexts (Zimmerman, 1990, 2013). In the last stage, to the students will (at least ideally) move on to the stage of transformative learning to develop critical thinking and innovative capabilities, so that they have the capacity to develop autonomous and independent thinking, and critically reflect on the existing assumptions upon which our interpretations are based and become active creators of new knowledge.

Traditionally it has been argued that students adopting a surface approach mainly focus on rote learning, reproduce content, and primarily study to pass tests, while students with a deep approach to learning are intrinsically interested and try to understand what they study (Trigwell, Prosser, & Ginns, 2005). Approaches to learning are assumed to be related to the perceived demands of the learning environments and are not seen as purely personal characteristics (Nijhuis, Segers, & Gijselaers, 2005).This research, however, suggests that for international students such as Chinese students, their transition from surface learning to deep learning may be heavily dependent on improvement of their language skills, which are crucial for facilitating their understanding of the content of teaching and for communicating better with teachers and peers. Rote learning can be used as a pathway and strategy for deep learning.

The research results suggest that going through surface and deep learning is essential for creating transformative learning experiences, training critical thinking abilities, and become active co-creators of knowledge. However, the Chinese students also questioned the efficiency of the collaborative learning and critical thinking process observed in western classrooms, since the debate could easily fall into superficial discussion based on personal experiences instead of transformative collaborative learning processes that involve questioning, negotiating and creating a shared understanding of alternative ways of knowing. According to the empirical findings of this research, the perceptions of three stages of academic integration and learning transformations can shed light on future research that applies the three stages of academic integration in the analysis of learning transformation among other groups of international students.

Author

• Hanwei Li, University of Tampere