East versus West: Effectiveness of Knowledge Acquisition and Impact of Cultural Dislocation Issues for Mainland Chinese Students Across Ten Commonly Used Instructional Techniques

Abstract

The research analyses the new trend of training culturally diverse students in western style business education in Singapore where a substantial number of mainland Chinese students enroll in business courses. Building on ideas by Hosfede (1984), Morey and Frangioso (1998) and Rodrigues (2004), 402 mainland Chinese students who were enrolled in Singaporean business training programs provided differential ratings of the learning effectiveness, familiarity, comfort and ease of knowledge transfer for each of the ten commonly used instructional strategies previously investigated by Rodrigues (2004) based on a questionnaire. Both “active” and “passive” instructional techniques facilitate effective learning and acquiring of knowledge for these Chinese mainland students, although the literature reports that lectures are the most preferred technique for these students.