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This dissertation reports the findings of a comparative case study of English and Chinese academic writing with respect to the use of composing strategies, the patterns of written discourse organization, and questionnaire responses regarding educational background and attitudes toward writing.The subjects were eighteen traditional senior college students -- nine native speakers of English and nine native speakers of Chinese. Each subject was asked to write two essays on given topics with the think-aloud protocol method. While the protocol data showed that the composing strategies used by the American and Chinese subjects were similar, the American subjects used most of the strategies more frequently than the Chinese subjects did and there was a lack of group consistency in the use of these strategies among the subjects in the Chinese group. The written data, which were analyzed by means of Coe's (1988) discourse matrix method, showed that, contrary to prior claims, Chinese writing is not indirect in idea development in comparison to English writing. The questionnaire responses indicated that the subjects' composing performance was consonant with their instructors' methods of teaching writing and the curricula set up for teaching writing. Based on these findings, implications for contrastive research and EFL/ESL teaching are discussed and suggestions for further contrastive studies of English and Chinese writing are made. / Department of English

Depuis le début du troisième millénaire, la France a découvert, tardivement par rapport aux autres pays développés, une explosion des effectifs d'étudiants chinois dans son système universitaire. Cette évolution en France se caractérise par son ampleur et sa rapidité, avec comme effets secondaires l'éclatement de quelques scandales de corruptions et de tricheries dans les campus français. Les presses s'en emparent pour dépeindre une situation dramatique des étudiants chinois. Par ce biais, elles tendent à nourrir l'image d'invasion et véhiculer l'incompréhension, plutôt qu'apporter l'éclairage. Le public français, laissé en perplexe, se demande : Mais qui sont ces étudiants ? Qu'est-ce qu'ils cherchent dans nos universités ? Pourquoi et pour quoi ils viennent en France? À travers une recherche basée sur une échantillon 200 étudiants chinois qui suivent ou ont suivi des études supérieures dans le système éducatif française, avec l'aide des méthodes qualitatives et quantitatives, nous avons mis en évidence leurs effets sur les comportements et les représentations de ces étudiants chinois sur leur décision et préparations de venir étudier en France, leurs expériences de vie et leurs performances scolaires en France, et enfin, des stratégies développées pour vivre et survivre dans le système éducatif et social français.Au défaut de ressource financière et de réseau de relations préalables, avec une insuffisance de préparation linguistique, plus une identité culturelle totalement différente de celle de l?occident, ces étudiants sont entravés par la pression de la réussite, ils se retrouvent en général dans une situation difficile. La décision de rester ou partir, insister ou abandonner, dépend de l'interrelation entre les préoccupations individuelles et des facteurs macroscopiques, mais c'est une question réellement posée par eux-mêmes depuis le début. Maintenant je vous invite de continuer de découvrir dans notre recherche. / Compared with other developed countries, the French higher education organizations finally ushered in an immense increase of Chinese students at the beginning of 21st century. The change was characterized by large scale and high speed along with occasional scandals of campus cheating and bribery. Meanwhile, the misery situations of Chinese students were repeatedly reported by different media. In those messages, the media seemed to be trying to convey the idea of Chinese students? influx into France and to foster confusion among the public. Nevertheless, who were those Chinese students? What were they seeking in French universities? Why, for what purpose on earth, did they choose to go there?The educational research approaches of quality and quantity were applied in this thesis. After the longitudinal study on 200 Chinese students who are studying or used to study in French higher education organizations, a clear understanding was obtained about their behaviors, performances and the impact. To be specific, our research resulted in several aspects. Firstly, their preparations and decision for their further study in France ; Secondly, their experiences and performances of studying in France; Thirdly , their strategies for future study and employment or their existence in France . Opposite to their good wishes, they were actually trapped in their choices of going there. They got into great trouble due to lack of financial support, less or no help from social relationship, deficient French capabilities, huge differences of values and cultures. They had to confront with the enormous learning tasks and life trifles, bearing the massive pressure of getting successful all the time. To stay in France or to return to the motherland, to persist in or give up, it would be determined by everybody?s concerns and visible or predictable influential factors. However, this is the realistic situation. From the very beginning, it constituted the unavoidable issue for them. Now, I would like you to follow my statement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning experience of Chinese hospitality students in a 4-year program at a U.S. institution in order to bridge the gap between Chinese and American education. This study could challenge traditional education and produce more culturally savvy and diverse graduates, in a field as personal and interactive as Hospitality Management, it could also help American students who want to study, work or teach in China, as they would be knowledgeable of the cultural and educational differences. This study used a qualitative approach. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Chinese hospitality students in a 4-year program at a U.S. institution based on the research questions presented regarding the perceived differences in learning experiences of Chinese Hospitality students. Findings of this study could have implications for the hospitality industry and more importantly the way hospitality education is being taught in a 4-year program at a U.S. institution.

This study has investigated the problems that Montreal Chinese immigrant students encountered during their learning Chinese culture as they are also attempting to integrate into local culture. A research approach was taken to determine whether the study of two transcultural artists, Xu Bing and Gu Xiong, can help the students learn their own culture and the local culture. From the case study, it was found that the two artists' work and their attitudes have a great potential to help students bridge the host culture and their heritage culture. I have also designed lessons with power point presentations about these two artists and tried to use them in the teaching practices at a Chinese weekend school. However, I was not able to implement this teaching approach in the school due to their little awareness and interest in art and the economic concerns with their children's future career selection. From cultural art activities in both Chinese and English schools, I found Banks (1989) level one and two approaches could stimulate students' interests in cultures and arts but do not much help students understand how the local culture and other cultures are interconnected and interrelated. Although the contributions and additive approaches represent possible beginnings for helping students to understand art from Chinese culture and other cultures in general, when I tried to move further to a higher level of cultural integration in the Chinese school I was not successful. The implication from the case study of these transcultural artists demonstrated that their work could provide linkage between Chinese culture and North American culture. It also related to Chinese immigrant students' life. In my thesis, I tried to demonstrate that the transcultural artist approach could reinforce a cross-cultural understanding especially for Chinese immigrant students to learn the relationship between their own culture and the local culture. I also tried to explore whether we can move from lower level approaches to the higher level approach identified by Banks (1989) to reflect sociocultural diversity in the curriculum by studying these two transcultural artists, Gu Xiong and Xu Bing. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Global self-worth -- Sense of competence -- Acculturation -- Psychological adjustment -- Self-Perception Profile for College Students -- Multicultural Acculturation Scale -- Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) -- One-way MANOVA.

The language and communication skills of foreign students have long been a concern in U.S. universities. The majority of U.S. universities require foreign students for whom English is not their native language to take English language proficiency tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) as part of admission requirements. Some universities have included interventions to increase the success of Chinese students against their struggle to understand English course content. One such program is the Gateway to Successful Tomorrow Bilingual Degree Program (GST). The gap to be addressed on this study was that the effectiveness of GST has not been formally evaluated among foreign students particularly overseas Chinese students studying at U.S. universities. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the GST among overseas Chinese students studying at U.S. universities as measured through students' grade point averages (GPA) and TOEFL scores. The theoretical framework that guided this study was the Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. The quantitative study used a causal comparative design to gather quantitative data from student achievement records and TOEFL scores. Pearson's correlation analysis and analysis of variance were conducted to predict if underlying relationships exist among variables. Key findings of the analyses showed that GST students had a significantly higher GPA than non-GST student. However, results also indicated that there was no evidence that the GST program significantly improved TOEFL scores. The GST program had an overall positive impact on the international Chinese students' academic performance and with continued research international students stand to gain even more from this program.

The basis for this study was work done by Joy Reid (1987) of Colorado State University. Reid's work analyzed the pref erred perceptual learning styles of several groups of English as a Second Language students and one group of American students. The learning styles concept has been established on the theory that students have a particular mode through which they learn best. The learning styles analyzed in this study were: auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactile, individual, and group. The objectives of this study were to determine the relationships that exist between the preferred perceptual learning styles of P.R.C. and American students and such variables as country where student is studying, native language, length of time in the U.S., and sex.

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