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Our needs analysis outlines the literature research, interviews and analysis conducted to design our AskVR prototype. Click on the drop-down arrows on the right side to learn more about each step of our needs analysis process and findings.
The Problem
The Problem
Chinese graduate students attending American universities tend to have stronger linguistic and academic skills in English than their undergraduate counterparts, yet they still face challenges while pursuing their advanced degrees. One particular challenge is participating as frequently in class as their American classmates. American classrooms strongly encourage participation—discussions, questions, comments--during class, but the cultural differences between American and Chinese classrooms make it difficult for these graduate students to respond to this encouragement. The class size in China tends to be larger, and the structure is more lecture-based with students asking questions at the end of class or through a designated representative. Moreover, the concept of forbearance plays a role in how Chinese graduate students decide whether to engage during class. The literature identifies forbearance as the culturally specific decision-making behind help or expressing needs. Target learners expressed concern about asking for help from classmates and their professors to avoid disturbing them (Xiong & Zhou, 2018). While these cultural concerns loom large in the minds of Chinese graduate students, they express a desire to participate more in the American classroom. They often struggle with how and when to do so.
Needs Analysis Process
Needs Analysis Process
To better understand the cultural differences impacting our target learner, our team interviewed 4 Chinese graduate students studying a variety of fields at UNC-Chapel Hill. We interviewed 2 women and 2 men. These graduate students were in their first year of graduate study at the university. The interviews were conducted over Zoom using the interview questions displayed in Table 1.
In order to create the questions, our team considered the various interactions in which cultural differences might play a significant role. We then consolidated the interactions into three groups:
Teacher-Student Relations
Student-Student Relations
English-Only Classroom
Because we wanted to have both qualitative and quantitative data, we started and ended the conversation with an open-ended question about their experience at UNC-Chapel Hill. For the questions pertaining to the aforementioned groups, we began with a Likert scale question (on a scale of 1 to 10) and then asked a follow-up question to explain their results. In total, we asked each interviewee 11 questions.
Brief Summary of Interview Results
Brief Summary of Interview Results
Since we only interviewed 4 people, we received a variety of answers that made it difficult to see a clear trend in the responses overall. However, when we grouped the answer by each question grouping, we were able to start thinking about a couple of themes to guide our research. To protect their privacy, the interviewees are identified only by their first initial:
Interviewee Y (woman)
Interviewee N (woman)
Interviewee C (man)
Interviewee Z (man)
What do you wish you knew before starting your classes at UNC?
What do you wish you knew before starting your classes at UNC?
3 out of 4 of our interviewees answered this question. The 3 interviewees were concerned about their academic career and performance. Interviewee Y was concerned about the amount of homework for her program. Interviewee N was not sure about her future research at UNC Interviewee C was concerned about his ability to fully express his professional knowledge in English. He was also concerned about transportation issues since he lives off-campus.
Teacher-Student Relations
Teacher-Student Relations
For the Likert scale questions, the average score for the 4 interviewees was an 8, indicating that they were very comfortable with the relationships with their teachers. Most of them cited the professor’s encouraging and open manner to discussion as the reason for their comfort. Even with their relative comfort with their professors, 2 of the 4 respondents did discuss how they still have to think deeply about their question before feeling comfortable to ask in class and that the class context greatly influenced their willingness and confidence to ask a question.
Student-Student Relations
Student-Student Relations
When speaking about their relationships with their peers, the interviewees reported an average score of 5, fairly comfortable, on the Likert scale. They all emphasized that their classmates are nice and kind, but each discussed reasons for their reticence to ask questions to their classmates. Interviewees Y and Z stated that it is easier to reach out to fellow international students. They are concerned about doing group projects with their American classmates because they are confident in giving speeches and then speak very fast. Interviewee N echoed Interviewee Y’s concerns but added that she didn’t want to both her classmates with her questions. Interviewee C pointed to his lack of knowledge outside of his domain as to why the conversations are difficult. Moreover, he emphasized that in his field, graduate students are there to learn so there is not the same emphasis on social interaction.
English-Only Classroom
English-Only Classroom
Questions related to the English-Only Classroom showed a split. For the Likert scale question, 2 of the 4 interviewees answered their score was 6 while the other 2 reported greater ease in adapting to the American classroom. The 3 that reported a 6 point to the cultural references that make it hard to participate in class. Nevertheless, Interviewee N stated that learning American culture is not her primary reason for studying at UNC. Interviewee C asks his roommate for advice since his roommate has studied here before. Interviewee Z and Y felt considerable ease in the classroom because it is easy to reach out and ask questions.
What resources would you find helpful?
What resources would you find helpful?
Regarding resources, the interviewees gave a wide range of answers. Interviewee N talked about networking amongst Chinese people and the student-mentor relationship. Interviewee Z pointed to the Writing Center and its courses for speaking, writing, and pronunciation to help speak with American students. Interviewees C and Y discussed online resources such as Google, WeChat, Slack, Facebook, email, UNC’s website, and the dictionary.
Discussion
Discussion
While there was great variety in the answers that we received, the areas of student-student relations and English-only classrooms stood out as our interviewees reported more discomfort in these areas and spoke to clear reasons as to why they were experiencing this discomfort. The most commonly cited problem in student-student interactions was the talking speed of American students and their cultural references, both of which change depending on the person and context. Compared to student-student interactions, our interviewees reported more comfort with English-only classrooms, but we noted that they relied upon strategies they would use in a Chinese classroom—emailing or discussing the issue with the professor after class. The students still expressed hesitancy to discuss issues and raise questions DURING class even though they knew their professors encouraged it. Thus, we decided to address this hesitancy because it would be useful across disciplines.
Our prototype AskVR seeks to address this struggle amongst Chinese graduate students. While asking questions in the classroom environment is a complex interaction, we decided to address helping Chinese graduate students identify when it is appropriate to ask questions. In focusing on the question of when to ask a question, our project seeks to provide strategies that allow these students to better recognize and practice culturally appropriate times to interject a question. Through using AskVR, we hope that these graduate students feel more confident to participate in the cultural norms of the American university classroom.
Table 1: Interview Questions
Table 1: Interview Questions
First question: What do you wish you knew before starting your classes at UNC?
Last question: What resources (tools, apps, websites, groups, etc) would you find helpful?
Teacher-Student Relations
Teacher-Student Relations
On a scale of 1 (not comfortable) to 10 (very comfortable), how comfortable do you feel approaching your professor (for example, asking for help, sharing your opinion, making comments, making or asking for clarification, making suggestions)?
Could you explain your rating?
Has there ever been a time when you thought your teacher was incorrect or misunderstood something? What did you do, or what would you do if this happens?
Student-Student Relations
Student-Student Relations
On a scale of 1 (not comfortable) to 10 (very comfortable), how comfortable do you feel approaching non-international classmates (for example, asking for help, sharing your opinion, engaging in group work, making or asking for clarification, making suggestions)?
Could you explain your rating?
Has there ever been a time you thought your classmate was incorrect or misunderstood something? What did you do, or what would you do if this happens?
English-Only Classroom
English-Only Classroom
On a scale of 1 (almost none) to 10 (very much), how much effort do you feel you have to exert to adapt to the American classroom culture?
Could you explain your rating?
Have you noticed any other differences other than classroom differences, teacher-student, student-student relations?
References
References
Xiong, Y., & Zhou, Y. (2018). Understanding East Asian graduate students’ socio-cultural and psychological adjustment in a U.S. Midwestern University. Journal of International Students, 8(2), 769–794. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v8i2.103
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