Students' experiences of learning in undergraduate economics at a Chinese mainland university

Abstract

This thesis is based on an in-depth study designed to understand how a large group of students in an Economics degree programme at a Chinese mainland university went about learning. The research followed the student learning research tradition (SLR), which originated in the UK and Sweden and subsequently has flourished in these countries as well as Australia and Hong Kong, and which focuses on students' perspectives on their academic learning experiences. Four closely interrelated themes from this research tradition were of particular interest: students' approaches to learning and studying; students' orientations to education; students' beliefs about knowledge and learning; and fourthly, everyday teaching-learning environments (TLE) as perceived by students. Students' approaches were used as the central focus, while the other three perspectives were used mainly to understand variations in the students' approaches.

Students taking four different compulsory courses in the degree programme were surveyed utilising a mixed-method strategy combining likert-style questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In total, the students returned 552 questionnaires containing usable information, and 88 of them took part in follow-up interviews either individually (20 students in total) or in groups (68 students in 13 groups).

Generally speaking, two qualitatively different approaches to studying, labelled as deep and surface approaches, were clearly evident. In brief, the deep approach displayed by the students was characterised by an intention to understand and an active engagement with their studies, while the corresponding surface approach was represented by the absence of an intention to understand and resorting to strategies suitable for coping with learning tasks minimally. Students' orientations, beliefs, and perceptions of the TLE were respectively investigated to achieve an understanding of differences in the students' approaches. More specifically, anintrinsic-deep' and "extrinsic-surface' relationship between orientation and approach, and an 'interpretive-deep' and 'rep roduc tive-surface' association between beliefs and approach were identified. Furthermore, the approaches adopted by the students seemed to vary according to the differences they perceived in the TLEs; indeed, students' perceptions of the TLEs appeared to have relatively more influence on their approaches than the orientations and beliefs they claimed to hold. The students" descriptions of their approaches, orientations, beliefs, and perceptions of the TLEs also threw light on some characteristics that might be considered as culture- or discipline- specific.

Conceptual, methodological and practical implications were drawn from this research. The findings illustrate the value of SLR in achieving insights into mainland Chinese students' learning experiences, while revealing a general and pressing need for more studies of this under-researched and rapidlygrowing body of students both within and outwith mainland China.