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A Hard Landing: Beginning the Study Abroad

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Chinese Overseas Students and Intercultural Learning Environments

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Abstract

This chapter looks at Chinese students’ initial experience at German universities through the lens of Anderson’s ‛affective, cognitive, and behavioral’ model. The initial period of study abroad is usually the most difficult time for interviewees. Due to the rush of the pre-departure period, most participants do not prepare well and encounter many challenges shortly after arrival. In the cognitive dimension, the Chinese students are not familiar with the types of courses and assessment at German universities, and they have difficulty planning and organizing university study themselves. In the affective dimension, interviewees felt abandoned and complained, ‘Nobody takes care of me here’. Yet, in spite of all these challenges, in the behavioral dimension, most Chinese students made efforts to improve their German language skills.

All things are difficult before they become easy.

万事开头难

— Chinese proverb

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, the combination of lecture + seminar or exercises classes is common to humanities, while the academic field of engineering science attaches more importance to lecture + exercise classes and laboratory work.

  2. 2.

    Habilitation is a ‘postdoctoral qualification showing ability to lecture and do research at professorial level’ (Quinlivan 2009, p. 76). It is a qualification at a higher level than a doctorate in Germany and other European countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Jiani Zhu

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  1. Jiani Zhu
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Correspondence to Jiani Zhu .

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© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)

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Zhu, J. (2016). A Hard Landing: Beginning the Study Abroad. In: Chinese Overseas Students and Intercultural Learning Environments. Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53393-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53393-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53392-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53393-7

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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