Foregrounding learner voice: Chinese international students' interpretations of strategy use during oral discourse socialization in Germany

Abstract

Although multilingualism is becoming a more important topic of inquiry, a closer look at intercultural studies on Chinese overseas students reveals that they are inclined to contrast the learning behaviors of these students with Western learning conceptions and practices and interpret their learning ways based on Western assumptions. The study used qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate how this cohort of minoritized learners leveraged a material-centered approach highlighting repetition, reading aloud, rote learning, and translanguaging to increase the salience and processing of the target language input. Additionally, this study performed a comparative analysis of the use frequency and interpretations of learning strategies between self-reported successful and currently less successful students from China. The results indicate that the former cohort was more concerned with self-directed activities in favor of input processing and the model of input-output connection. Lastly, this highlights the importance of legitimization of their approach resource repertoire by foregrounding their interpretations of their own learning behaviors in the new academic environment.