Information literacy challenges for Chinese PhD students in Australia:

Abstract

This study explored the information literacy (IL) development of international higher degree research (HDR) students from China as they undertook their research studies in an Australian university.
 International HDR students need advanced IL skills to complete their research degree. However, IL research and training in western countries has tended to regard international HDR students no differently from their undergraduate counterparts. That is, there has been a focus on basic information skills rather than considering the more complicated and advanced IL needs within a research context. The project presented in this paper aimed to explore this gap.
 Three international PhD students from China participated in this research. A biographical approach was used to collect the data, and a total of 222 reflective accounts were collected from the participants over a period of fifteen months. In these reflections, they recorded significant life and study experiences at the University of Western Sydney. This approach allowed the participants freedom to express their thoughts and feelings without interruption and enabled them to speak frankly and freely without prejudice. The approach to data analysis underpinning this study was based on Bruce’s (1997) relational model of IL.
 The findings indicate that these international HDR students experience significant difficulties in developing their IL skills during their research studies in their western university. The complex nature of research study, which demands high levels of IL, significantly contributes to these difficulties, as do the different language and culture of international students which pose additional challenges to their information use. This article concludes with recommendations for research supervisors and librarians to consider in the provision of IL education for international students.

Chinese Students’ ICT Readiness for a Blended Teaching and Learning Environment

“…Only 10 of 58 ICT skills were mastered by at least 70% of respondents. This result supported Han (2012), who posited that Chinese students could not be expected to have ICT proficiency comparable to their undergraduate counterparts in Australia. However, guidelines as to what ICT items a university-bound 2 nd language learner must prepare for do not exist.…”

Building Intercultural Teachers: Designing Information Literacy Instruction Opportunities for Increasingly International Populations

“…This literature mirrors the growth of international student enrolment within higher education in the United States as well as in other English-speaking countries (American Council on Education, 2012) and has helped to draw attention to the impact that cultural differences as well as the need to work in a second or third language has on student engagement in the library (e.g. Bordonaro, 2006;Han, 2012;Hughes, 2009). The emphasis on the challenges that international students face within a new information environment has further led to a growth in research that explore the provision of culturally appropriate instructional opportunities.…”

Mitigating risk: mediating transition through the enactment of information literacy practices

“…These studies, which recognise that learners develop creative strategies to work in unfamiliar information environments, provide useful insight into the impact that working in a second or third language has upon academic research practices (e.g. Bordonaro, 2006;Han, 2012;Hughes, 2013). However, they can also be criticised for centring individual processes rather than the broader social dynamics that structure learner engagement within a new information environment.…”