American professors’ support of Chinese international students’ reading and writing in subject courses

The presence of Asian students can be strongly felt in U.S. universities these days. As non-native English-speaking (NNES) students, many of them face challenges in reading and writing in English, inside and outside the classroom. Research suggests that challenges specific to Asian students include indirection in making points, lack of personal voice, and discomfort in collaborative work. While some studies have examined these students’ difficulties and strategies in academic literacy, very few have explored how university subject teachers accommodate these students’ reading and writing abilities to facilitate learning. We studied American professors’ practices in using writing to facilitate learning at an English-medium summer school in China, a school which constitutes part of transnational American higher education. All professors came from well-ranked American universities and taught a variety of courses typically offered to freshmen and sophomores in their home institutions. The majority of students are Chinese international students returning home from North America for the summer. Focusing on humanities and social sciences professors, who made up the majority of the faculty, the study has identified several key accommodation strategies that these professors adopted for their Chinese students. We conclude the study by discussing implications for assisting Asian students with their written English in English-medium university content courses. The professors’ practices also raise questions about higher education in the United States.