Chinese Graduate Students Research Articles

Академическая адаптация китайских аспирантов: проблемы коммуникативной компетентности

The relevance of the study is determined by new challenges in the field of organizing an effective multidimensional communicative process in which graduate students coming from the PRC to obtain a PhD diploma are immersed — this is the main result aimed at by foreign graduate students studying at a Russian university. To achieve the goal, a comprehensive study is conducted, including descriptive, associative methods, methods of synthesis and generalization, semantic and conceptual analysis. The conducted research shows that in the process of acquiring high-level communicative competence Chinese graduate students face a number of problems that cannot be solved without a special methodology adapted to the goals and objectives of graduate students. It seems promising to apply the solutions proposed by the author in educational practice to streamline the system of training and stages of academic adaptation of Chinese graduate students in Russian universities.

Graduate Education in China Meets AI: Key Factors for Adopting AI-Generated Content Tools

Abstract Factors influencing Chinese graduate students’ adoption of AI-generated content (AIGC) tools are examined through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The developed AIGCT-SI model incorporates key elements such as information accuracy, trust, and privacy concerns. PLS-SEM results indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and habit significantly impact students’ intentions, with trust acting as a key mediator, particularly for privacy concerns and social influence. FsQCA reveals seven configurations, demonstrating how combinations of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions drive adoption. A bidirectional relationship between privacy concerns and trust is observed, with trust mitigating privacy risks in several configurations. This integrative approach highlights the complex dynamics of AIGC tool adoption and provides strategic insights for their effective use in Chinese graduate education. As the findings are based on the Chinese context, further exploration in other educational settings is encouraged to validate their broader applicability.

Enhancing Cross-Cultural Understanding: The Role of Digital Platforms in Cultural Exchange for Chinese Graduate Students at Northwestern University

The rapid growth of digital platforms has reshaped the educational-rich landscape, introducing dynamic ways of cultural exchange that transcend traditional boundaries. This paper explores the unique potential of online cultural exchange to promote cross-cultural understanding and community building for students, with a special focus on Chinese graduate students in Northwestern University during their short spring break. As global connectivity increases, it becomes increasingly important to leverage these digital tools to facilitate meaningful cultural interactions. This study argues that social media platforms play a key role in this effort, enabling students to engage in cultural exchange activities that are both convenient and impactful (Abbas et al., 2019). Integrating digital tools into educational and cultural environments has revolutionized the way students interact with different cultural experiences. Social media platforms, in particular, offer unparalleled opportunities for students to connect with peers from different cultures, share knowledge and engage in collaborative activities. These platforms provide a flexible and accessible means for students to immerse themselves in cultural learning outside of geographical constraints. Moreover, the interactivity of social media fosters a sense of community and common purpose, which is essential for successful cultural exchange programs. While there are many advantages to using social media for cultural communication, there are also significant challenges that need to be addressed. The potential for distraction, information overload, and reduced face-to-face interaction could undermine the effectiveness of these platforms in educational Settings. In addition, given the differences in social media usage patterns among different demographic groups, such as gender differences, it is critical to ensure that programs are inclusive and effective. This article aims to explore these complexities and offer solutions to maximize the benefits of social media while mitigating its drawbacks.

Navigating a double school-to-work transition: how do Chinese graduate students decide where to start their careers after studying abroad?

PurposeThis exploratory research aims to unravel how Chinese international students form their decisions regarding the school-to-work transition (sometimes also referred to as the university-to-work transition) when studying abroad.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the concepts of school-to-work transition and cultural approaches to investigate how Chinese graduate students make career decisions to navigate the school-to-work transition in the context of international mobility. The authors' empirical study is based on 30 semi-structured interviews conducted with Chinese graduate students studying in the Netherlands.FindingsThe authors discovered four patterns with two major subgroups among Chinese students studying in the universities in the Netherlands based on their initial intentions: return-return, open-return, open-stay and stay-stay. These patterns made sense when navigating the school-to-work transition: participants experienced varied international experiences, cultural perceptions and acknowledgment influences when enhancing employability and shaping their career decisions. Participants in the return-return and stay-stay groups indicated strong resilience and consistency in achieving their goals and strongly focused on long-term objectives. However, participants' open-return decision demonstrated a thoughtful alignment of personal goals and knowledge of the possible beneficial influence they may have in their home country. Open-stay participants utilized the overseas study opportunity to finalize their decisions and increase their employability in the local labor market, thereby creating a transition from university to work in the host country.Originality/valueThe authors highlight the way Chinese graduate students manage their international experience and provide novel insights into the role played by the cultural characteristics of their home country and host country.

Chinese Graduate Students’ Experiences of Grit Growth in Korea

Chinese Graduate Students’ Experiences of Grit Growth in Korea

A Scoping Review of Research on English Academic Writing for Chinese Graduate Students

Based on 16 studies on Chinese graduate students' English academic writing, this paper summarizes the current research trends in China from the aspect of research methods and content. After combing and summarizing, it is found that: (1) most relevant researches in China have adopted three forms of research methods, which are: questionnaire survey or interview survey, classroom observation and text analysis. (2) currently, challenges in the English academic writing process for Chinese graduate students primarily revolve around inappropriate language usage and insufficient writing skills. (3) The solutions proposed at present mainly include improving students' writing ability in practical exercises, implementing new teaching models and introducing new teaching methods. It is helpful to find and summarize the problems existing in the current English academic writing courses in China, as well as the difficulties existing in the process of English academic writing for Chinese graduate students, so as to help them improve their English academic writing ability.

文化智力对中国留韩研究生导生关系感知的影响研究 – 双文化认同整合的中介作用和解释水平的调节作用 –

文化智力对中国留韩研究生导生关系感知的影响研究 – 双文化认同整合的中介作用和解释水平的调节作用 –

Research on the Development of Academic Ability of Chinese Graduate Students in Internationalised Education

Graduate education is the main way to train high-level innovative talents. International graduate education is of great significance to improve students' scientific research and academic ability. With the deepening reform of graduate education in our country, there is a higher requirement for the cultivation of international graduate education. This paper focuses on the relevant theories of international education, discusses various practical forms of international education, and deeply analyzes the positive effects of international education on graduate students' academic ability, cross-cultural cognition and global vision. Finally, aiming at the challenge of international education to the academic development of graduate students, this paper puts forward the application strategy of international education in the process of graduate training.

Exploring graduate students’ research characteristics, emotional exhaustion, mastery approach, and research career commitment: insights from the JD-R theory

ABSTRACT The job demands-resources (JD-R) theory has been widely applied to explore relationships between employees’ job characteristics and performance, particularly in contexts of paid work. This study extends the application scope of the JD-R theory to unpaid research contexts among graduate students. Results of an online questionnaire survey with 914 research-oriented Chinese graduate students verified the dual processes proposed by the JD-R theory. Specifically, the graduate students’ perceived stress led to emotional exhaustion and sequentially decreased their research career commitment; academic support fostered mastery approach and then increased the research career commitment. In addition, mastery approach played a significant mediating role in the relationship between academic support and research career commitment. The findings enhance the understanding of graduate students’ research characteristics and performance and have implications for optimizing the research environment for graduate students and stimulating their motivation and commitment to research career.

Making Small Talk: Support for Chinese Graduate Students

This article is based on a larger phenomenological inquiry which examined the challenges faced by Chinese graduate students in Canada when making small talk in English as an additional language. In that study, ten participants were interviewed about their small talk experiences, including the support they expected and received from peers, faculty members, and institutions. This article examines the level of support provided to assist these students engage in small talk with a specific focus on the gap between the help they need and the help they get. The study is theoretically informed by the concept of community of practice which describes how newcomers learn in naturally occurring established communities. It was found that all participants expected and wanted institutional and peer support, but their level of satisfaction with what they received varied. All four universities attended by the research participants offered services designed to help international students, but uptake was a problem. It is recommended that institutions put more effort into developing, promoting, and monitoring programs designed to support international students. Keywords: small talk, community of practice, Chinese graduate students, support

Comparative Analysis of Lexical Bundles in Dissertation Abstracts: Insights for Teaching Academic English to Chinese Students

Lexical bundle research in academic abstracts has predominantly focused on research articles, with less attention given to dissertation abstracts. This is particularly relevant for Chinese graduate students who are required to provide English abstracts in their dissertations. Addressing this gap, the study compared the structural and functional distribution of lexical bundles in dissertation abstracts by linguistics students from China and the United States to inform academic instruction. Two corpora, the Chinese University Student Collection and the American University Student Collection, each with 700 abstracts, were compiled and analyzed. The findings showed that Chinese students proportionally used more noun phrase (NP) and prepositional phrase (PP)-based lexical bundles, but fewer verb phrase (VP)-based ones, compared to their American counterparts. Additionally, they used a higher proportion of research- and participant-oriented bundles, but fewer text-oriented bundles. These differences highlight distinct structural and functional preferences in lexical bundle usage between the two student groups. This study underscores the importance of adapting instructional strategies to address these differences, enhancing English academic writing skills of Chinese graduate students by acknowledging the diverse linguistic approaches of international student populations.

The Effect of Mindfulness on the Promotion of Graduate Students' Scientific Research Creativity: The Chain Mediating Role of Flow Experience and Creative Self-Efficacy.

Creativity is a universal core higher-order cognitive ability in the 21st century, which reflects a country's core competitiveness and soft power. Mindfulness, as an important concept in positive psychology, has also received attention for its potential effect on research creativity. Using structural equation modeling and bootstrap methods, this study investigated the relationship between mindfulness and research creativity among 1210 Chinese graduate students. Additionally, we explored the mediating effect of flow experience and creative self-efficacy in this relationship. The research results showed that mindfulness had a direct positive effect on graduate students' scientific research creativity. The mediating effect of flow experience and creative self-efficacy, as well as the chain mediating effect, were established, with the mediating ratio being 13.1% and 30.0%, respectively, and the indirect effect of chain mediating accounting for 34.1%. Interestingly, the effect mechanism at the gender level was various, with the mediating effect of mindfulness on scientific research creativity being higher among male graduate students. The results of this study revealed the mechanism of mindfulness on graduate students' scientific research creativity, offering valuable insights for enhancing their creative capabilities in the realm of scientific research.

Speak English in the department or perish? A multimethod study on online public responses to an English-only incident at a US university

ABSTRACT This study investigated more than 3600 online comments responding to an incident in 2019 where a controversial memo was sent to instruct Chinese graduate students at a US university not to speak Chinese in the department. A text analysis based on Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software showed that these comments included more negative-emotion words compared with positive-emotion words. In addition, an inductive thematic analysis identified themes supporting monolingual language ideology and other themes supporting language freedom in the United States and questioning the context of this English-only incident.

The impact of teacher−student relationship on knowledge sharing among Chinese graduate students: The moderating roles of proactive personality

AbstractIntroducing knowledge sharing into higher education research and exploring the internal influence mechanism of teacher−student relationship on knowledge sharing of graduate students can provide better guidance and reference for the current stage of higher education knowledge management practice. Against this background, this study built and verified a theoretical model to explore in detail the impact of teacher−student relationship on knowledge sharing of graduate students, and the moderating role of proactive personality in such process. This study collected data across two time points, and finally obtained a sample of 365 Chinese graduate students. The empirical results showed that the teacher−student relationship was positively related to knowledge sharing behavior of graduate students, and their knowledge sharing willingness partly mediated this correlation. Furthermore, the influence of teacher−student relationship on knowledge sharing willingness and behavior is positively moderated by proactive personality. Therefore, the findings of this study provide educational guidance and recommendations for promoting knowledge sharing of graduate students.

Associating Academic Identity with Language Socialization in Virtual Community: A Case Study of a Chinese Graduate Student’s Learning Experiences in Religion Studies

This longitudinal case study explored the academic identity and language socialization of a Chinese graduate student enrolled in an online religion course at a U.S. university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected via online classroom observations, oral interviews, and artifacts. The theoretical framework was taken from language socialization and identity, together with positioning theory. The study differs from previous research, arguing that instead of language competence, the constructed academic identity is occasionally crucial for the successful academic discourse socialization of international students in bilingual and virtual settings. Moreover, the inclination toward interactive positioning between students and instructors can arise and advance in virtual academic communities and, while students’ academic identities might be resistant to change, they can be negatively impacted by disorganized course design. The conclusion sheds light on first and second language socialization through which international graduate students can navigate and maintain their academic identities within digitally mediated and multilingual learning environments.

Investigation of the Role of Grit and the Willingness to Communicate in English of Chinese Graduate Students in an English Medium Instruction Academic Context

Investigation of the Role of Grit and the Willingness to Communicate in English of Chinese Graduate Students in an English Medium Instruction Academic Context

Opportunities and Adjustment Strategies of College Students During Adversities for Improved Academic Performance

This study explored opportunities and adjustment strategies of Chinese graduate students in blended learning. A survey among 102 students using validated questionnaires found overall low opportunities except moderate challenges managing home environments. Students frequently employed active coping like positive thinking and problem analysis, rarely passive strategies. No demographic differences existed. More opportunities correlated with poorer academic performance, mitigated by greater adjustment strategy use. Recommendations include maximizing interactive activities, strengthening time management, increasing teacher consultations, and building peer support. The study provides insights into facilitating personalized, inclusive, resilient blended learning through enhancing spaces, progress monitoring, integrating support systems. Further research can uncover nuanced perspectives to inform evidence-based improvements in policies, pedagogies, and environments for empowering self-directed, motivated learning.

Teaching Chinese Politics in the “New Cold War”: A Survey of Faculty

The past decade has been a difficult time to be a scholar of Chinese politics. After Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, opportunities for international collaboration began disappearing, and local interlocutors became increasingly nervous about speaking with foreign researchers. Since 2016, these problems have been compounded by the increasingly tense US–China relationship. Changing attitudes and policies in both countries have hindered those who conduct research on China, work with Chinese collaborators, and recruit Chinese students. The Fulbright Program in China and Hong Kong was closed; National Institutes of Health investigations into foreign influence in US science have caused US-based scientists’ research productivity to decline; and visa restrictions have hindered efforts to recruit Chinese graduate students (Jia et al. 2023). Legal changes in China, including the 2021 Personal Information Protection Law and the 2023 revised Counter-Espionage Law, could be used to target foreign scholars who conduct research in China (Lewis 2023; McCarthy and Gan 2023). The COVID-19 pandemic compounded these challenges in several ways: it caused a rise in anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States and created severe pedagogical challenges for those teaching Chinese politics and other courses containing “sensitive” material that could put students—some now physically located in China—at risk (Gueorguiev et al. 2020).

Teachers sustainable teaching innovation and graduate students creative thinking: The chain mediating role of playfulness climate and academic self-efficacy

Creative thinking is a core higher-order cognitive abilities in the 21st century, which reflects a country's competitiveness. This study used structural equation modeling and bootstrap method to explore the relationship between teachers' sustainable teaching innovation and graduate students' creative thinking based on a survey of 1210 Chinese graduate students. The study further revealed the mediating mechanism between playfulness climate and academic self-efficacy. The results indicated that (1) Teacher sustainable teaching innovation was positively associated with graduate students' creative thinking; (2) Playfulness climate mediated the significant effect between teachers' sustainable teaching innovations and graduate students' creative thinking, and the mediating effect of playfulness climate is 14.3%; (3) Academic self-efficiency mediators the relationship between sustainable teaching innovation and graduate students' creative thinking is supported, the mediating effect ratio of academic self-efficacy is 50.8%; (4) Playfulness climate and academic self-efficacy play a chain mediating role between the relationship of sustainable teaching innovation and graduate students' creative thinking. The chain mediation accounted for 8.9% of total effect; (5) In terms of gender difference, the playfulness climate had a positive impact on creative thinking in male students, but not significantly in female.

Exploring the Relationship between Academic Challenge Stress and Self-Rated Creativity of Graduate Students: Mediating Effects and Heterogeneity Analysis of Academic Self-Efficacy and Resilience.

In the 21st century, creativity is a core competence and key thinking quality. Researchers and educators have been interested in exploring the effects of different stressors on individual creativity for decades. Using structural equation modeling and quantile regression, this study investigated the relationship between academic challenge stress and self-rated creativity of graduate students among 1210 Chinese graduate students. The study separately tested the mediating effect of resilience, the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy, and the chained mediating effect of both. This study analyzed the heterogeneity of the effects of academic challenge stress, academic self-efficacy, and resilience on self-rated creativity of different students. The research results showed that academic challenge stress had a direct positive effect on graduate students' self-rated creativity. The mediating effect of resilience and academic self-efficacy and the chain mediating effect were established. The quantile regression revealed a decreasing marginal benefit of academic challenge stress and resilience for self-rated creativity and an inverted U-shaped relationship between academic self-efficacy and self-rated creativity.