LEARNING ACROSS CULTURES

This thesis investigates the impact of intercultural learning, intercultural social interaction and critical reflection on the experience of overseas Chinese postgraduate students in a British university. It illustrates that students’ individual intercultural learning experiences may vary according to prevailing cultural tendencies, their preparedness for and openness towards different education norms, level of intercultural awareness and understanding, plus motivation for personal change through socio-cultural encounter and interaction. This is an in-depth one-year ethnographic and narrative study of ten overseas Chinese students’ life stories and perceptions on their lived experiences studying for master’s courses in a British university. It takes intercultural learning to be a reflexive process of encounter and adaptation, which leads to qualitative changes in students’ learning approaches, perspectives and worldviews. The findings of the research also suggest that intercultural learning is an engine of change, personal growth and identity development.