Ethnic Chinese Students’ Communication with Cultural Others in a New Zealand University This paper was first presented at the Australia New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) conference at Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia, in July 2002. The work is based on the author's doctoral thesis.

Asian medical students: quality of life and motivation to learn

“…Chinese students have strong academic goal orientations that tend to be performance based and highly competitive; Chinese students also tend to mastery so that they can outperform others and achieve at high levels. As such, there is less emphasis on developing personal relationships, developing friendships, and satisfying sexual desires akin to a Western perspective; rather, the focus is on developing pragmatic networks to progress their academic goals (Holmes 2005;Leung 2002). In addition, Diener et al (1995) suggest that Asian students score lower than their non-Asian counterparts in areas of subjective well-being because of their high expectations around achievement, thus the low scores likely indicate a sense of dissatisfaction and stress related to social relationships rather than a cultural difference in responding.…”

“…There have been numerous studies exploring the studyrelated experiences of domestic and international Asian students (Ho et al 2002;Holmes 2005;Kanagawa et al 2001;Kember 2000b;Leung 2002). However, much of the research has investigated Asian students studying abroad as opposed to those studying in their home countries (Ho et al 2002;Holmes 2005;Kember 2000b;Leung 2002).…”

“…However, much of the research has investigated Asian students studying abroad as opposed to those studying in their home countries (Ho et al 2002;Holmes 2005;Kember 2000b;Leung 2002). The majority of international students studying in New Zealand have cultural experiences dissimilar from the New Zealand context and thus may have different educational values from the host country mainstream.…”

“…These differences can result in diverse expectations about teaching and learning as well as cultural identity issues, difficulties with adapting to the New Zealand context and problems when communicating with New Zealanders (Ho et al 2002). Holmes (2005) explored the learning experiences of international students, studying in New Zealand, from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan. According to Holmes, these students appear to have been influenced by their Confucian heritage that affected their communication practices and expectations about classroom etiquette.…”

International Students’ Experience of Western Pedagogy in a British University

“…Whilst it is important to beware of simplistic cultural stereotypes, it is also important for Western higher educational institutions to take into consideration potential and actual differences in the educational socialization of international students who enrol with them, and to question existing assumptions about thinking, learning and teaching processes (Holmes, 2005 Vol. 4, No.…”