The challenge of "doing discussions" in graduate seminars : a qualitative study of international students from China, Korea, and Taiwan
Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: The present study was an attempt to explore the experience in which \ninternational students from China, Korea, and Taiwan engage as they \nparticipate in the fast-speed exchanges commonly found in classroom \ndiscussions at the graduate level. I collected data from three graduate \nclasses over a two-month period at an American university in the \nsouthwest. One class was in the College of Fine Arts, another in the College \nof Natural Sciences, and a third in the College of Education. Although the \nfocus of this study was on the international graduate students from China, \nKorea, and Taiwan, the other members of the classes were also included in \ndata gathering and data analysis in order to gather important contextual \ninformation for interpreting the experience of the focal participants. \nThe research method utilized was a qualitative method, specifically \nthe grounded theory techniques. I observed and audiotaperecorded \nclassroom discussions, interviewed the selected pool of participants (18 \ntotal) and used two questionnaires that included questions about general \npersonality tendencies, about experiences with different culture(s), and \nabout specific incidents that I had observed in class. \nMy results indicated that because of language limitations, it was very \ntaxing for the focal international students to participate in oral discussions, \nand that just like the American students, their experience in class was \nmoment-by-moment constructed and reconstructed in response to the \nphysical and social environment. The focal participants seemed assiduously \ntrying to figure out what was going on in class, when they could talk, the \nclassroom role they had assumed or should have assumed in the class, and \nhow well they had learned. As the focal international students developed \nawareness of cultural differences about how to do a graduate classroom \ndiscussion, they continuously combined their growing awareness of cultural \ndifferences about how to do discussions with their other views, such as \nwhat is allowed for any graduate student. Culture, thus, was reflected as a \ncomplex and dynamic construct that is imbedded in context.
Author: Fanni Liu Coward
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2120288635