| Summary: | This research explores a range of academic and socio-cultural
challenges faced by seven Chinese post-graduate students at the
University of the Witwatersrand. The main aims of this study are to
identify and understand any academic discourse challenges these
students have been experiencing, together with any challenges in their
new socio-cultural environment, such as financial or social challenges,
and then to investigate the impact of these challenges on their studies
and their identities as students. The study is based on data gathered from
in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven Chinese post-graduate
students, from location ‘maps’ completed by each student and from some
examples of the writing of three of the students. The findings suggest
that these Chinese students are encountering great challenges in relation
to English language proficiency and adjustments to new Discourses (Gee,
1996) – both academic and social. The data provide evidence that
although these students feel socially disempowered in many respects,
their attitudes toward academic study remain positive and each is making
steady progress in his or her progamme of study and research. This
finding indicates that there seems to be no explicit connection between
positive social experiences and academic achievement and contrasts
with findings from other research studies in which there is a correlation
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between positive or negative socio-cultural experiences and success or
failure in the academy.
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