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The Cultural Characteristics of Chinese Students: a Study of Basic Attitudes and Approaches To Their English Studies

Shaanxi Normal University, China

This paper reports on a study of cultural trends of basic attitudes and approaches of Chinese students to their studies. These trends are derived from celebrated dictums in classrooms at Shaanxi Normal University (SNU). The researcher seeks to explore English teaching and learning in China, through an examination of the celebrated dictums in the classrooms, which can be an important factor to influence the students' learning style, to discover what cultural characteristics the students are likely to have in relation to their attitudes and motivation to studies, to gain insight into Chinese teaching methods, and to show some typical celebrated dictums selected from the classrooms for each ethnic characteristic for a better cross-cultural understanding in a TEFL context. The information that forms the core of the investigation is obtained by a two-fold means of the summarizing of the 237 maxims in the 82 classrooms with the integration of a questionnaire to elicit data for confirmation. The quantitative findings from the survey are the perceptions of the students, each of which is discussed and some typical maxims are provided with analysis of their features in rhetoric. This paper concludes with 15 dimensions of general trends of the Chinese students' basic attitudes and approaches to their English studies: aspiration, accumulation, indomitableness, diligence, patriotism, application, erudition, personality development, books as the knowledge carriers, confidence, review, emphasis on time, respect to teacher, humility, and regular thinking. These points of trends are seen as factors to be complementary to the stances of the Communicative Approach.

RELC Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1, 16-33 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/003368820103200102


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