Citation Knowledges and systems in Chinese undergraduate education
I support the students on the Graduate Diploma Textile Design course to develop advanced research skills to better equip them to progress onto further postgraduate study. As a course leader I have a responsibility to support my students by asking questions on how to improve their experience and to be accountable.
Notably I am a textile design practitioner and do not have a language background. I do not teach Harvard referencing and also make mistakes (evidenced within my ARP submission). However, in agreement with Li. et al, I would argue that citations are important rhetorical devices in research writing, and as such valuable to my students learning.
‘Over the past two decades, various studies have investigated L1 and L2 learners’ use of citations and have demonstrated that it is a more challenging task for L2 learners to use citations appropriately and effectively since cultural, psychological and educational factors play important roles’. (Li. et al, 2021). ‘L1 is a speaker’s first language. L2 is the second, L3 the third etc.’ as defined by the British Council (British Council, no date).
Within my teaching I had identified, as many colleagues have, that some students from mainland China need introductions to HE citation conventions – not just the basic approaches per Cite Them Right etc. but the whole notion of critical thinking and consciously building on and/ or showing awareness of the work of others in relevant fields. In order to better help my students, I wanted to understand what their previous experiences of citation practices had been acknowledging that ‘writing (and research) activity cannot be separated from its social, historical, and political contexts’ (Ren. et al, 2022) and that citation is part of community making.
English for Academic Purposes
For advice on my research topic, I contacted a number of colleagues including the UAL International Student Experience and Language Centre team, and more specifically the Senior team. I was interested in whether they might be able to recommend literature on and around this topic as I was unsure whether it was already common knowledge for teams who work more directly in this area.
I have removed names and context from the email excerpt below, however felt that this response was indicative of the potential of the research, which was encouraging.
‘That’s a very interesting and specific question!…I’m afraid I can’t immediately direct you to any literature in this area, however, I’m copying in my colleagues, ****** **** and *** *******, who may be able to be more helpful. I’ll also have a look in the English for Academic Purposes journals for you as I’d be surprised if there isn’t literature in this area in those.
Obviously, we in the Language Centre would be really interested to hear the conclusions you reach through this research project – please keep us posted’. (Anon, 2022).
I never received any references and did follow up directly with the colleagues referred to in the email but did not hear from them, however I would also like to acknowledge that this was at a very busy time in the academic year, when people are multi-tasking. My independent searches in the English for Academic Purposes journals have been helpful which makes me think that this team does have some valuable knowledge on the topic but unfortunately have not had the capacity to engage at this time.
Other UAL teams contacted included Academic Support, Chelsea College of Arts Library, Educational Development and Intercultural Communication. All expressed an interest but were unable to suggest any projects or written publications. I wasn’t certain if this just meant the topic was just a bit too dull.
Citation and the Research Imagination
However, a great group tutorial session with ARP peers followed with an email from John O’Reilly sharing Dear Science and the chapter ‘Footnotes (Books and Papers Scattered about the floor) by Katherine Mcittrick. This was inspiring and for me reinforced the relevance of this research and its wider context ‘critiquing white and patriarchal citation practices and how they can “justify on- going forms of domination.” (McKittrick, 2021, p. 19) and the role as a white educator I play in these.
References
Anon. (November, 2022) Citation Knowledges and systems in Chinese undergraduate education, email reply to Claire Anderson. UAL
British Council. (no date) Teaching English. Teaching knowledge database. [online] [Accessed on: 04/01/23] Available from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/l1#:~:text=L1%20is%20a%20speaker’s%20first,close%20connection%20between%20the%20languages.
Li, Q., Zhang, Z. (2021) An Analysis of Citations in Chinese English-major Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Volume 51, Article 100982. [Online] [Accessed on: 04/01/23] Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475158521000266
McKittrick, K. (2021) ‘Dear science and other stories’. London: Duke University Press.
Ren, B., Zhu, W. (2022) A Chinese EFL student’s strategies in graduation thesis writing: An Activity Theory perspective, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Volume 61, Article 101202. [Online] [Accessed on: 04/01/23] Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475158522001229