Volume 3, No. 1, May 2007

Literacy practices: two Chinese students at university in England

Mary Williams, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

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Abstract

This paper reports on a study of the literacy practices of two Chinese women students in two UK universities. Informed by research perspectives from bilingualism, literacy practices and cultural awareness, the study used the following methods: observation and interviews to establish uses of literacy, checklists to document these uses over a week and final interviews.
The paper reports on these student literacies in two domains, study and leisure, and in two languages. Some preliminary observations about assets that these students bring to their academic work are used to give suggestions for pedagogic awareness and intervention.