Abstract:

Studies on the learning experiences of Chinese international students in non-English speaking European countries have received increasing attention in recent years. However, relatively few studies have explored academic writing challenges experienced by these students in non-traditional learning destination, such as Lithuania. This research is a sub-study within a larger project exploring the social and academic experiences of Chinese international students in Lithuanian tertiary institutions.

The aim of the present study is to investigate how Chinese postgraduate students and Lithuanian supervisors understand academic English challenges experienced in a Lithuanian higher education institution. Specifically, the study will explore the academic writing issues and difficulties these students encounter as well as linguistic, cultural and institutional dimensions of these experiences. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with fifteen Chinese postgraduate students (10 MA students and 5 doctoral students) and their five Lithuanian supervisors were conducted and analysed using a qualitative thematic analysis.

The analysis found that Chinese postgraduate students studying in Lithuania as international students reported having a variety of academic English experiences that the participants found to be extremely challenging:
(1) language insufficiency;
(2) reading academic English;
(3) academic writing quality;
(4) interactions with supervisors; and
(5) editing academic papers by language professionals.

Although the expression of academic English varied between individual students, in general, the study found that Chinese students felt their limited academic writing skills and language problems. The findings suggest that they are not sufficiently prepared for studies in a new educational environment. Academic English, including linguistic difficulties in academic reading and writing, lack of academic writing practice, and unfamiliarity with the dominant academic culture were found to be major challenges to academic English of Chinese postgraduate students in Lithuania. Our findings also draw attention to the importance of the role of local supervisor support and the importance of meaningful cultural insights into understanding academic acculturation of Chinese background students.

Keywords:

Lithuanian higher education, Chinese postgraduate students, supervisors, academic English challenges.