Many Chinese Cultures, Many Learning Styles

Author 1. Jasmine Moli YANG,

DBR Candidate, CQUniversity Australia

18 Bonython St, Windsor, QLD 4030
Email: m.yang@cqu.edu.au

Author 2. Stephen Lin

Principal
ABC Immigration & Education Consultants
Email: si_linz@msn.com

Presenter: Jasmine Moli Yang

Candidate, Doctor of Business Research

CQ University Australia

MBA & MEd (James Cook University), Grad Cert Tertiary Teaching (JCU)

She is a candidate for Doctor of Business Research in CQ University Australia. Her research
focus is on the decision making process of Chinese students studying in Australia. She holds
Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Education awarded by James Cook
University.

Prior to embarking on her doctoral research, she worked as Coordinator Offshore Agents in
CQU International between 2003 and 2006, which brought her to numerous International
Education Expos held in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South East Asia.

She has published several articles on high education in China and Australia.

These research and field trips have equipped her with good understanding of China tertiary
education and its correlation with Australia tertiary sector.

Abstract

This paper examines some features of Chinese culture of mainland Chinese culture, Hong
Kong Chinese culture, Singaporean Chinese culture and Malaysian Chinese culture with a
particular focus on educational aspects and issues. Since the 1950s, Chinese culture is
fragmented to a variety of cultural derivatives. From the literatures on learning approaches
to suggest that different approaches result from different social and educational experiences.
Although a similar culture is shared by Chinese from mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia
and Singapore but each has different sociological settings. This paper examines the social
and educational backgrounds in which these Chinese culture background students and
focuses on the learning style preference of mainland Chinese students in Australian
universities. The study found that mainland Chinese students prefer passive and teacher-
directed learning style.

Keywords: Chinese culture, learning styles, Chinese students, international students,

educational experiences.