Exploring the communicative competence of Chinese graduate students at Memorial University

Zhang, Yushuo (2019) Exploring the communicative competence of Chinese graduate students at Memorial University. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

A considerable number of Chinese international students enter Canada to pursue higher education every year. However, their less than adequate education in communicative competence domestically causes challenges in intercultural communication even for those students who study abroad by pursuing their Master's or doctoral degree. A great number of studies about Chinese students and their experiences in English speaking countries have been done in recent years. However, little research has provided a holistic picture of what Chinese students think about their own communicative competence, how they improve it consciously as well as what they think of the social and academic support offered by their universities. Therefore, this phenomenological ethnographic qualitative research project intends to fill this research gap. The results show that participants in this study perceived more challenges in terms of pragmatic competence and fluency. The strategies they used and the support provided by Memorial University and the province for improving their communicative competence were described. Pedagogical implications for ESL teachers and further support that should be provided by MUN are also addressed.

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