Learner's Privilege and Responsibility

A Critical Examination of the Experiences and Perspectives of Learners from Chinese Backgrounds in the United States

Edited by:
Wen Ma, Le Moyne College
Chuang Wang, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

A volume in the series: Literacy, Language and Learning. Editor(s): Claudia Finkbeiner, Universitaet Kassel. Wen Ma, Le Moyne College.

Published 2014

This book is about the learner side of the teaching and learning equilibrium, centering on the educational experiences and perspectives of Chinese students in the United States. These students ranged from kindergarteners, adolescents, undergraduate, graduate, to adult learners, across the educational spectrum. Because Chinese students are the largest cohort among all international students in the U.S., and their prior educational experiences and perspectives in China are so different from those in the U.S., exploring who they are, what their learning experiences have been, and how their learning needs can be better met, may not only allow U.S. educators to teach them more effectively, but also help the educational community in both countries better learn about and from each other.

The chapters in the book examine the constructs of learner privilege and responsibility in the teaching and learning equation, cultural and linguistic challenges and transitional adjustments, self-concept, learning strategies, comparison and contrast of differences and similarities between Chinese and American students, and/or critical reflections on significant issues confronting Chinese learners. While each chapter is situated in its own research literature and connects with its own teaching and learning practices, all of them are united around the overarching themes of the book: the experiences and perspectives of diverse learners from Chinese backgrounds in the United States. The chapters also flesh out some of the larger theoretical/pedagogical issues between education in China and in the United States, provide useful lenses for rethinking about and better understanding their differences and similarities, as well as offer pertinent suggestions about how the educational community in both countries may benefit from learning about and from each other.

CONTENTS
Preface, Guofang Li. PART I: INTRODUCTION. Why the Educational Community Should Care about the Experiences and Perspectives of Chinese Students in the United States, Wen Ma and Chuang Wang. Understanding the Cultural Legacy of Chinese Students, June A. Gordon. PART II: CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES. Connecting the Dots from the Lived Experiences of Chinese Learners in America, Miranda Lin. Different Educational Norms and Linguistic Profi ciencies: Looking at Chinese Students’ Classroom Participation and Social Interaction on a U.S. University Campus, Stephen Foulkrod and Wen Ma. Understanding Chinese International Students’ Difficulties and Strategies in Learning English for Academic Purposes, Chuang Wang and Huifang Zuo. Making Academic Oral Presentations: Chinese Graduate Students’ Language Socialization, Sue Wang and Gulbahar Beckett. A Cross-Cultural Student Teaching Experience: The Story of a Chinese Student Teaching in the United States, Ran Hu and Judith Smith. PART III: TEACHING DIVERSE CHINESE LEARNERS ACROSS THE EDUCATIONAL SPECTRUM. Learning to Write by Emergent Bilingual Writers Using Two Languages, Xun Zheng. From Canton to San Francisco: 1.5-Generation Chinese Youth’s Educational Perspectives, Xiangyan Liu. An Introspective Look at a Short-Term, Summer Study Program for Chinese Professors of English as a Foreign Language, Robert Summers, Josie Prado, and Jeffrey Hayes. Encouragement and Participation in a Community-Based Adult ESL Writing Class: Perspectives from Two Chinese Learners, Heather B. Finn. PART IV: SELF-STUDIES BY LEARNERS FROM CHINESE BACKGROUNDS. Refl ections on Teaching-as-Telling in America and China: Heidegger, Lao Tzu, and Dewey, Jie Yu. The Winding Road: A Female Immigrant’s Educational Experiences, Rong Chang, Gresilda A. Tilley-Lubbs, and Naina Bhandari. Opening Up Aesthetic Possibilities for Cross-Cultural Education, Le Kang. Becoming An American Without Losing My Chinese Identity, Fanni Liu Coward. List of Contributors.