L Ly C O O P E R

Central issues in the use of computer-based materials for high volume entrepreneurship education

Keywords: lear ning, entrepreneurship education, large classes, university education

Central issues in the use of computer-based materials for high volume entrepreneurship education

Introduction

This article addresses the use of CBL material for entrepreneurship education and offers an analysis of the perceived impact of multimedia. A comparison is made regarding the perceived impact of on-screen text CBL material and multimedia CBL material.

Perspectives vary on defining entrepreneurship [START_REF] Thompson | The World of the Entrepreneur: A New Perspective[END_REF], and on how best to provide entrepreneurship education and for whom this should 201 be done [START_REF] Gibb | Creative Destruction, New Values, New Ways of Doing Things and New Combinations of Knowledge[END_REF][START_REF] Hills | Entrepreneurship Education: Market Segmentation and Learner Needs[END_REF][START_REF] Kirby | Entrepreneurship Education: Can Business Schools Meet the Challenge?[END_REF].There are also differing views regarding evaluation of entrepreneurship education, with some advocating a focus on cost benefits or opportunity costs for the providers [START_REF] Westhead | Using Graduate Skills in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises[END_REF]. The issues involved in entrepreneurship education increase in range and complexity when the classes are large and heterogeneous. Changes in policy have led to increasing numbers and range of students in higher education [START_REF] Whiteley | Enterprise in Higher Education: An Overview from the Department for Education and Employment[END_REF]. Computer-based learning approaches are used as a means of accommodating these changes. However, it is important that multiple perspectives are considered by providers involved in developing and/or using CBL for entrepreneurship education, as highlighted in this article.

With recognition of entrepreneurship as an academic discipline [START_REF] Sandercock | Innovations in Entrepreneurship Education: Strategy and Tactics for Joining the Ranks of Innovative Entrepreneurship Programs in Higher Education[END_REF] there comes an increased range of responsibility. Entrepreneurship departments have to cater appropriately for the full range of students now in higher education. It has long been argued that the more interactive the approach offered to learners, the more they are likely to benefit. Where staff numbers are limited there are operational difficulties faced, which may have a negative impact on the level of interactivity offered. There is often a focus on cost/benefits or opportunity costs for the providers of entrepreneurship education [START_REF] Henry | The Effectiveness of Training for New Business Creation: A Longitudinal Study[END_REF][START_REF] Henry | Entrepreneurship Education and Training: Can Entrepreneurship be Taught? Part II[END_REF]. Such a limited focus may fail to take student needs and wants into account and may result in opportunity costs being incurred. This may be addressed up to a point within a lecture environment [START_REF] Huxham | Learning in Lectures: Do "Interactive Windows" Help?[END_REF], but it may be argued that CBL offers greater potential.

It is now largely accepted that computer-based materials may be used at various levels to facilitate learning.This approach is being adopted for large classes in entrepreneurship education. The literature relating to perceived impact of computer-based materials reflects a range of perspectives. Differing views may be found regarding CBL design and use [START_REF] Robinson | As Good as IT Gets: Have We Reached the Limits of What Technology Can Do For Us?[END_REF]. Central issues regarding the development and use of CBL material include cost effectiveness [START_REF] Russell | The No Significant Difference Phenomenon[END_REF] and meeting of learner needs (Reigeluth, 1999). Where we seek to 'satisfy' users, the meeting of 'customer' expectations is highlighted as important [START_REF] Hobbs | An Analysis of Teaching Methods, Costs and Student Preferences[END_REF]. The viewpoint of the 'learner-customer' in higher education is therefore of particular significance in the current climate. This article proposes that in order to use CBL materials appropriately to address the student volume issue and also treat the students as customers, a holistic approach to the design and use of CBL materials is required.

Perspectives on learning have moved from response strengthening to knowledge acquisition, to knowledge construction. The associated practices of education providers have in turn progressed from drill and practice to transfer of information and to meaningful interaction involving active learning [START_REF] Mayer | Designing Instruction for Constructivist Learning[END_REF]. Understanding of topics is better facilitated when the 'core notions' are represented in more than one way [START_REF] Gardner | Multiple Approaches to Understanding[END_REF]. Learning by doing is particularly important where skills are to be learned and having a realistic context with easily accessed information and situated relevant feedback offers students the most appropriate opportunity to learn [START_REF] Schank | Learning by Doing[END_REF]. Use of simplified versions of an overall experience is considered to motivate learners (Reigeluth, 1999). CBL may be argued to provide a means of offering all of these potential benefits for learners. Learner engagement may be argued to be centrally important in relation to CBL [START_REF] Stoney | Making Interactive Multimedia Appealing to Adult Learners[END_REF]. Multimedia within CBL materials may be argued to offer potential for motivating learners [START_REF] Whitelegg | Multimedia Motion: Motivating Learners[END_REF] and to facilitate constructivist approaches to learning [START_REF] Laurillard | Rethinking University Teaching: A Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology[END_REF].To cater for intrinsically motivated learners, CBL materials might be expected to present tasks designed to be meaningful, at an appropriate level of difficulty, allow for multiple levels of coding, and require the learner to be cognitively active. However, externally motivated learners may need more direct reinforcement.This suggests that a wide range of options should be made available in CBL material designed for a heterogeneous cohort of learners.While there are many variations and permutations available as CBL material, there are essentially four major categories within which such variations may be found (see Table 1).

CBL material may range from digitized lecture notes to complex game software. It may be argued that any of these approaches make use of the 'new technologies' and offer learners greater levels of freedom to learn (see Tables 1 and2). However, the level at which given approaches make best use of the digital medium is still open to debate. The lecture notes model may be criticized on the basis that it fails to adjust the style of presentation to suit the digital medium. Electronic books may be argued to be ahead of digital lecture notes in that more flexibility is offered to the learner regarding navigation of the material, the screen presentation has been designed to suit the medium in use and the use of hypertext makes the learning experience 'interactive'. Simulation and game software generally involves a higher level of complexity than the options previously discussed and may be used as the overarching context, or a sub-set within the CBL materials. In financial terms the cost of development, production and use increases as the material increases in complexity, with lecture notes tending to be relatively low cost and complex games high cost. Within all of these formats there is an underlying control exerted by the authors and developers of such material, therefore the degree of learner freedom is likely to vary depending on the parameters in use by such decision makers. Given that relatively basic CBL offers learners personal control over time, pace, place and direction of learning, the value of more sophisticated CBL material, which is more expensive to develop and produce, or purchase, requires careful analysis. We might conclude that if the educational results are similar then the less expensive option should be chosen. However, there are related issues to be considered which take us beyond financial outlay and test results. The selection of activities, involving intrinsic or extrinsic reward is centrally important in achieving learner satisfaction and this requires judgement on the part of the instructional designers [START_REF] Reiser | Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology[END_REF].Where this level of design input is considered an unnecessary expense there is a potential opportunity cost for learners, as the more basic CBL formats tend to involve less freedom of choice for the learners. This article argues that the most likely means of meeting the needs and wants of a heterogeneous group of student 'customers' is to maximize the freedom of choice offered in the CBL materials used. Failing to meet student needs and wants could be potentially costly for an education provider. Provider approaches may range from the seeking of continuous improvement in meeting the needs of students to the seeking of economies of scale. Where economies of scale are the paramount concern, the underlying motivation may be argued to be less than ideal (Ehrmann, 1995). Where providers claim the meeting of student needs and wants to be centrally important, it may be argued that both cognitive and affective domains should be taken into account.This would require that many aspects of CBL design be taken into account in order to align the 'theory in practice' with the 'theory in use'. Therefore it is important to find out what such needs and wants may be regarding any CBL material offered.

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204 A C T I V E L E A R N I N G I N H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N 8(3)
This article addresses the importance of the student perspective concerning CBL materials used to cater for large entrepreneurship education classes at university level. Expressed student perceptions of the material and their preferences are highlighted, as is the importance of reflecting on proclaimed values regarding provision offered. This is argued to be important in order to minimize any mismatches. This article highlights the danger that a less detailed scrutiny is likely to result in important design elements being disregarded in favour of more basic and less expensive alternatives. Two different kinds of research are reported on in this article, one taking a quantitative approach to investigate the comparison of on-screen text and multimedia presentation and the other seeking qualitative feedback from interviews regarding the topic.

Although the case for considering students as consumers and the need for learner centred approaches has been strongly made, there has been little indepth research on the student perspective regarding the instructional and interface design of CBL materials.This research seeks to address this by eliciting the views of students using CBL material within higher education and business regarding the design of a range of CBL material currently in use.

Given that this research used a case study approach, the issue of generalizability is open to some debate; however, it may be considered that the issues revealed by the research are likely to be generally of interest to those in the higher or tertiary education field. Given the nature of this research, validity was addressed by having the subjects validate material where possible, using interview maps. It was considered that real subjects, using real material, for real learning, satisfied the 'truth value' of the data obtained.

The research conducted

The students involved in the two investigations reported in this research were drawn from a range of year groups and core faculties. All concerned had self-selected the elective class in entrepreneurship and had voluntarily participated in the research conducted. Numbers in the class studied in this research averaged around 200 students registered per academic year.

Investigation 1: a comparative investigation of on-screen text versus 'multimedia'

The question investigated here was whether students would have a preference regarding the on-screen presentation of CBL material using on-screen text, or using multimedia.This research compares the use of on-screen text CBL material for entrepreneurship education with CBL material which presents the same learning content via a wider range of on-screen presentation, utilizing graphics and closed loop exercises, therefore termed multimedia. Statistically significant results, obtained from a comparative study (Nϭ65), are presented as evidence of the extent and direction of the preferences expressed by the students concerned. This investigation made use of a sub-set of the material from the Introduction to Business Start-Up class.The material consisted of an on-screen exercise, and a webpage showing the same content in a text-based format.The multimedia version of the exercise made use of on-screen graphics and user operated on-screen buttons.The text-based version offered a textbased description of the setting followed by a text based version of the exercise script. Each version asked questions in a text-based format.

The assumptions made were that the student responses would be genuine and that feedback relating to the subset of the overall coursework material could be generalized to the rest of the CBL material concerned. The hypothesis regarding the mode of presentation was that there would be a difference in the expressed preferences for the on-screen text version and the on-screen exercise version of the material. Given that the hypothesis was open to the potential effect being in either direction, the significance value was treated as 'two tailed'.

Method

The samples were based on convenience, to the extent that only those who attended and agreed to participate were included in the data collection exercise. Data was gathered from 65 students by means of questionnaires administered during an entrepreneurship elective class. The students were requested to take part by following the instructions provided and completing the associated questionnaire. The instruction sheets and questionnaires were counterbalanced with respect to the order in which the students accessed the two versions of the material (see Table 3) and the investigation was carried out with minimal tutor involvement. It was considered that nonparametric tests were appropriate given the data involved. No order effect was identified (Mann-Whitney U Test, Z Score Ϫ1.944, Sig. [2-tailed] 0.05).

Results

A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was run on the mean scores obtained by each of the questionnaire items under each condition (A: exercise version on screen, B: text version on screen). The result obtained from the Wilcoxon Test (Z Score Ϫ6.417) indicates that statistically significant differences exist (at 0.000 level) between the means concerned.

The results indicate a significant difference in student preference relating to the style of presentation of the material. Specifically, the results indicate that more positive ratings were obtained in relation to the on-screen exercise version of the material, with lower, more negative ratings being obtained in relation to the on-screen text version of the material. The results show higher perceived levels of challenge, interest, engagement, motivation and learning for the multimedia material having statistical significance at the 0.000 level (see Table 4).

The results support the conclusion that the multimedia presentation of the CBL material concerned offers greater value for entrepreneurship students than an on-screen text presentation of the same material.Therefore it should be used where possible in preference to on-screen text.

Investigation 2: an interview-based investigation of underlying reasons for expressed preferences

Again, the question investigated here was whether students would have a preference regarding the on-screen presentation of CBL material using onscreen text, or using multimedia. This research investigates the underlying

Method

The interview responses were individually mapped in order to show perceived causal connections for the individual interviewees (see Figure 1). The approach taken in this research enabled constructs to be made explicit and the data obtained was based specifically on the particular individual's framework. Two interviews were conducted with each subject where possible (see Table 5), in order to gain further comment and to further validate the mapped representation of the interviews concerned.

209 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34 35-45 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 45 46-53 46, 50 54-61 54, 56 No statement was made regarding the interviewer's personal viewpoint and all answers provided by the subjects concerned were treated as being equally accepted.

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Results

The interview feedback was categorized using emergent categories from the student statements in order to offer some level of quantitative detail regarding relative positions (see Figures 2 to 8). The qualitative statements made in interviews provide evidence of the importance of the issues raised from the perspective of the interviewees.

Perceived impact of usability and navigation

Ease of use is highlighted as a centrally important issue (72%). Multiple pathways or linkages through the material require clear signposting, as hyperlinks were perceived as confusing (51%), but variation is evident in learner preferences regarding pathways and signposts (map-aided navigation received 41% positive comment but 7% negative comment). Reading text from the screen resulted in some learners experiencing fatigue and eye strain (26%) and in some cases headaches were reported following the two hour sessions concerned (see Figure 2). The interview comments made suggest that there are benefits to allowing students to set options as they desire regarding navigation. Learner expectation is highlighted as important in terms of motivation.Where new windows were accessed this tended to raise expectations of new material. Where this was so, students were motivated. Expectations were reduced when the same material was accessed via a number of links, giving rise to a level of annoyance, which resulted in students ceasing to use such links.

Perceived impact of graphics/multimedia elements

The use of graphics is shown to have added interest (44%) and even a level of enjoyment, or entertainment. The graphics were considered to break up 210 the monotony of the text windows (38%) and help learners relax and feel happier.This was perceived to maintain learner motivation and make learning easier to achieve. Humour was highlighted in relation to the graphics (43%) and they were considered to aid learning (30%).The feedback indicates that learners' expectations of multimedia were not entirely met by the material (39%).

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Perceived impact of exercises

Exercises were perceived to have aided learning (59%) and to have added and maintained interest for learners (57%), even to the extent of being entertaining. They were also considered to have provoked learners to think (62%). The avoidance of frustration is highlighted as important and the achievement of improvement over multiple attempts is highlighted as important in this regard. It is also highlighted that exercises should be easy to use, offer a degree of challenge and should also be fun. The interview feedback suggests the need for a range of difficulty in the exercises offered, as learners vary in their preferences regarding the complexity desired in exercises (see Figure 4 where 'Make exercises more complex' received 33%, while 'Less complex' received just 5%). Feedback provided in the exercises is highlighted as important, but again there is variation in preference regarding exercise feedback, which suggests a need for learner choice options regarding the nature and speed of feedback available.

Perceived impact of on-screen text

Breaks in the text are highlighted as important (66%) and too much text is perceived to become boring for learners (46%).Where long sections of text are used this can result in learners skimming the material. Where learners are faced with too much text they are likely to lose interest in, or concentration on the material. Where substantial reading is involved there is an expressed preference for printed material rather than on-screen text (33%).

211 The interview comments reveal a preference for a quiet atmosphere where reading has to be undertaken. The underlying reasons for the desire for printed material range from reducing eye strain and fatigue to ease of use.

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Having printed material is considered to allow learners to refer to such at a later date, to have copies that they may annotate, or to read as they travel.

Perceived impact on learning/understanding

Regarding material content, the interview feedback highlights the importance of perceived relevance (87%). Real life examples in the material were considered important (41%). Being able to relate the material to 'normal people' and being able to apply the material to the real world was perceived to increase understanding of the material concerned. Interactivity was considered important (46%). It was perceived as 'learning by doing' and was considered to have a positive impact on learner attention. There is variation demonstrated in the perceived definitions of 'interactivity', from the act of choosing in problem solving exercises to the simple act of clicking on-screen buttons, each being perceived as 'interactive'. Humour within the material was considered motivating and helpful for student learning (43%).

Perceived impact of choice element

Learner motivation is considered to be increased by the personal freedom offered in time of learning (67%), pace of learning (51%) and the route taken through the material (66%) being choices for the students. The importance of personal freedom in self management of learning is clearly highlighted as important (87%). The lack of location flexibility (access issues) was perceived as a negative aspect of the CBL material (46%).

Comparative comment

The CBL material was considered better than lectures (56%), as it was perceived to be more personal than lectures, offered the individual student direct feedback and was always there whenever they wanted to access the material. However, it was also suggested that there was a potential problem with this, in that the learner may fail to take note of the important points therein.

It is clear from the interview feedback that students do not wish all classes to be available via CBL (15%). However, there is considerable variation regarding the best mix of direct contact and CBL. There is also variation regarding the level to which forced compliance should be used as a means of ensuring student participation.Timetabling is highlighted as an issue with computer-based options being regarded as a possible means of addressing such. While a 'chatroom' option was potentially acceptable, having contact with real people was considered preferable. The importance of being able to see and hear the other party involved in any tutorial communication is highlighted in the feedback obtained. The CBL material was perceived to be preferable to a book (61%). Mixed views were expressed regarding comparison with a book, with the most notable points being that CBL material did not seem as big a task as reading a book, which made it easier to concentrate on the CBL material than a book or lecture. The conversational style of the CBL material with the light humour element, the exercises and the ease of finding information were elements which were perceived to make the material better than a book. The use of colour and graphics was also considered to make the CBL material less boring than a book. Books were perceived as providing background information, with nothing to look forward to but text, and nothing to do but turn pages. However, books were also perceived to make it easier to go back through the material, rather than having to go back to the computer lab, as the book was portable. Students indicated that they were used to reading books and their eyes did not get so tired with books, therefore they preferred books to the CBL material (20%).

Conclusions and recommendations

The results obtained in this research suggest an alternative to the 'no significant difference' analysis [START_REF] Russell | The No Significant Difference Phenomenon[END_REF] and highlight the importance of the users' perspective. The results lend support to those who argue for the importance of meeting learner needs (Reigeluth, 1999) and 'customer' expectations [START_REF] Hobbs | An Analysis of Teaching Methods, Costs and Student Preferences[END_REF]. The results also support the case for the importance of achieving learner engagement with CBL [START_REF] Stoney | Making Interactive Multimedia Appealing to Adult Learners[END_REF] and the potentially positive motivational value of multimedia within CBL [START_REF] Whitelegg | Multimedia Motion: Motivating Learners[END_REF].

The results show that CBL materials can be used to address issues involved in dealing with large class sizes in entrepreneurship education. However, they also suggest that CBL should not be regarded as an easy option, nor as a means of saving money in the short to medium term, on account of the likely complexity involved in meeting the needs and wants of sizeable heterogeneous groups. The results suggest that where any CBL material is offered to large numbers of students it is likely to require a level of design specification which offers a wide range of student choice, given that we seek to meet their needs and wants or expectations. Student choice options would be relevant at the levels of interface design and instructional design as well as at the level of multimedia and interactivity selected. In short, if we truly wish to cater for our 'customers' there is a clear need to take this on board from the design stage right through to production and use.The holistic perspective should not be sacrificed in favour of more easily measured sub-set perspectives.

This research suggests a number of recommendations for those involved in making design decisions relating to CBL materials for entrepreneurship education within universities:

• Personal freedom in managing learning should be maximized for learners.

• Navigational choice should be made available to students allowing them to set the level of complexity and their preferred navigational options in the material. • Graphics should be included. • Humour should be included. • Exercises should be included which are easy and fun to use, offer a degree of challenge and a range of difficulty which is a learner choice option. • Feedback should be offered for all exercises with levels of feedback ranging from simple to complex and immediate to delayed and this should be a learner choice option.

• The level of text on-screen should be kept to a minimum, with additional on-screen text available as a learner choice option. • Where a substantial volume of text is presented on-screen there should be a print option available to learners. • The material should specify the potential relevance of content for learners and should make use of real life examples. • Any potential for 'violation of expectancy' should be minimized or avoided by assessing and meeting, or setting learner expectations from the outset and throughout the material (e.g. interactivity level/use of multimedia).

The results of this research have importance for any computer-based learning material. It is largely irrelevant whether the delivery involves use of a CD ROM, hard drive based software, server-based network-distributed, or globally distributed software via Internet connectivity. While there are technical issues of difference, the learning issues remain relevant and worthy of further research, as illustrated by the many on-going debates at current conferences and seminars regarding teaching, learning and the use of educational technology.

Figure 2

 2 Figure 2 Interview response frequencies (N ϭ 61)

Figure 3

 3 Figure 3 Interview response frequencies (N ϭ 61)

Figure 4 Figure 5

 45 Figure 4 Interview response frequencies (N ϭ 61)

Figure 6

 6 Figure 6 Interview response frequencies (N ϭ 61)

Figure 7 Figure 8

 78 Figure 7 Interview response frequencies (N ϭ 61)

Table 1 Overview of CBL elements Computer-based learning material: presentation format

 1

		Lecture notes	Electronic book	Simulation	Game
			software	software	software
	Element used
	Text	Basic requirement Basic requirement Optional	Optional
	Hypertext	NA (generally)	Basic requirement Optional	Optional
	2D graphics	Optional	Optional	Basic	Optional
				requirement
	3D graphics	NA (generally)	Optional	Optional	Optional
	Animation	NA (generally)	NA (generally)	Optional	Optional
	Video	NA (generally)	NA (generally)	Optional	Optional
	Sound	NA (generally)	NA (generally)	Optional	Optional
	Exercises	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional
	Interactivity	NA (generally)	Optional	Optional	Basic
					requirement

Table 2 Overview of CBL benefits

	Computer-based learning material: presentation format
		Lecture	Electronic book	Simulation	Game
		notes	software	software	software
	Potential benefits
	Economies	Yes	Subject to	Subject to	Subject to
	of scale	generally	development	development	development
			costs	costs	costs
	Learner control	Yes	Yes generally	Yes generally	Yes
	over pace of	generally			generally
	learning
	Learner control	Yes	Yes generally	Yes generally	Yes
	over time of	generally			generally
	learning
	Learner control	No	Yes subject to	Yes subject to Yes subject to
	over direction	generally	navigation	navigation	navigation
	of learning		options	options	options
			available	available	available

Table 3 Numbers of respondents using each version of questionnaire

 3

	Questionnaire version	Frequency Percent
	A: Full exercise version followed by web-based text version	34	52.3
	B: Web-based text version followed by full exercise version	31	47.7
	Total	65	100.0

Example of mapped interview Table 5 Participants by interviews 1 and 2

				15 I think I tend to
				learn more
					11 I can tie it in
	5 we could motivate each other	14 it's not boring like a traditional	13 you don't have to go in a specific	to my own course very well
				lecture	order
	thing and do your own 30 that you can go 4 quite often a few of us go after lunch	3 I find myself motivated to go because it's different	spend extra time on 7 if you want to 8 if you don't, you wo don't need to was 16 20 the hypertext together 19 that it's linked links are very good 12 the fact that you interesting 9 I find it quite can choose the modules (units)
	2 I think it's the			it you can
	novelty of using the computers	10 I really wanted to do the subject	21 the way you can go back is very useful	6 the fact that you can do it in your
	29 the novelty would				own time
	be in with the
	comparison with			22 I quite often go
	lectures			back	useful (structure) 45 the map is very	a lot of the text 44 at the same
					useful
		27 it's at my own
		pace
					48 it helps you tie
					them ?? in to that
					unit and others
	28 if it's something
	I know I can quickly scan through it	47 you know what will be covered in	42
	Figure 1 Interviewees for interview 1		Interviewees for interview 2
	1-16			1
	17-34

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reasons for entrepreneurship students' expressed preferences regarding the CBL material used. Response frequencies are quoted for student comments made during interviews (N ϭ 61) and the qualitative feedback obtained is considered to reflect the underlying thinking of the students concerned and to offer clarification of the reasons for their expressed preferences.

Interviewing was considered particularly appropriate for this element of the research as it provided the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the meanings interviewees attached to the issues raised. It was considered that a completely non-directive approach would fail to produce the level of feedback sought, therefore a semi-structured design was used. The intention was to elicit feedback that would clarify the aspects of importance for the interviewees and clarify the reasons for the level of importance attached to CBL elements from a learner perspective.

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C A Ro L I N A Va L I E N T E

Are students using the 'wrong' style of learning? A multicultural scrutiny for helping teachers to appreciate differences

Keywords: collaborative lear ning, lear ning styles, memorization, metaco gnition, motivation, multicultural lear ning, passiveness

The literature on learning styles suggests that although the behaviour of some students may appear different from what is defined as a 'high-quality learning process', their conduct does not demonstrate an 'inferior' approach to learning. Furthermore, existing and emerging academic literature that associates learning theories with the studies of cultural concerns suggests alternative interpretations that may help to develop a richer multicultural learning and teaching approach within Western higher education institutions (HE). This article brings together elements of the theory on learning styles and some elements of multicultural management theory to introduce interpretations that may apply to the emerging UK multicultural universities. It considers the importance of memorization as a tool for learning, and reveals how motivation, communication and collaborative patterns could work differently in different cultures. The comparison between best known Western learning theory and Confucian principles is expected to increase academics' awareness of international students' background. The discussion helps to understand some of the students' pragmatic reactions to the challenges prompted by their studies in foreign countries.

Introduction

The rapid internationalization of the universities in countries like the UK have made evident that programmes in Higher Education need to 73 adjust to support students' involvement in academic life. As [START_REF] Ryan | Canaries in the Coalmine[END_REF] note, 'Home students also find the transition to higher education taxing, until they become accustomed to academic language and conventions, independent learning and class participation. … However, international students must deal with all these things and more ' (2005: 5). The challenge is evident to all participants in the educational system. However, it is not yet apparent how the learning experience of the increasing numbers of international students within British institutions differs from their previous one, and how this previous experience may be misinterpreted in their new environment. If motivations in society and its vision of welfare are 'context-dependent' attitudes, the pace and process of the learning as well as the experience may vary across cultures.The context in which individuals learn, work and live has an important influence on creating and modifying the individual's expectations and learning, management strategies and styles. Religion, ideology and social patterns, for example, Socratic, Confucian, Islamic, etc. have to be considered for a successful understanding of different cultural configurations and their evolution.

As will be discussed in this article, cultural factors, values and manners should be analysed in order to understand and enhance the behaviour of students and teachers during the learning process. The article intends to make a contribution regarding the interpretation of alternative approaches to learning that could be useful in dealing with international students in the UK. References to students from the Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) and other cultures are made throughout to help with the examination. Most crucially, the article will infer the need for a change in teaching and assessment approaches that could help students to become 'high-quality learners' within a cross-cultural vision of learning.

Learning

The theoretical discussion about learning styles normally emphasises four traits: critical thinking/memorization; internal/external motivation; active/ passive involvement; and the role of the individual/group learner. A 'highquality learner' is normally defined as an individual with self-motivation for attaining and acting on knowledge, and who is able to expand this knowledge via his analytical approach. However, this 'Socratic' conception of the learner should be contrasted with the interpretation offered by some of the best well-known learning and cross-cultural theories [START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF]. The analysis of the learning process in different cultures highlights that both a learner's previous experience and the context in which learning takes place significantly condition the development of their preferred styles as a long-term structured behaviour, and their chosen learning strategies as a tactical response. Is it possible, then, that according to the cultural framework used, memorization, external motivation, passiveness and collaborative learning cannot be easily discarded as an 'inferior' approach to learning? These four traits, and their impact on communication and learning styles used, especially by international students, are now explored.

Memorization and the holistic approach to learning

In any process of memorization individuals need to separate and categorize information, creating association and relationships with previous concepts and ideas that allow the process of storage and later retrieval of information [START_REF] Broadbent | The Well-Ordered Mind[END_REF]Ausubel, 1968;[START_REF] Lindsay | Human Information Processing[END_REF]. The inclination to use memory as a favourite tool for learning may be related to a set of different factors comprising: previous learning and educational experience which hinders the development of analytical skills; the lack of confidence in the learner's own abilities, due to deficient knowledge or understanding, and aggravated by the student's anxiety to perform well; or, having a different learning routine, due to personal abilities or more crucially, due to different interpretations of the learning process and objectives, as dictated by different cultures.

Some students struggle to connect their curricula, case studies and other references with their previous learning and their expectations of future career development [START_REF] Mcmillen | Cultural Analysis, "Good Conversation" and the Creation of a Multicultural Learning Organization[END_REF][START_REF] Elkin | Visualising the "Internationalisation" of Universities[END_REF][START_REF] Luxon | Embedding Study Support for Chinese Students in Content Courses: MNGT 121 A Case Study[END_REF].This basic disassociation to the background of the learner may restrict their ability to find meaning and connectivity for the new knowledge, as expected by Ausubel, 1968 (similarly, 'cognitive dissonance' in Ryan andHellmundt, 2005: 14). It is evident in the recent literature that international students tend to feel overwhelmed and anxious in a learning environment and teaching style that disregard and greatly deviate from their previous learning experience, and which may in some cases, contradict and threaten their existing cognitive framework. For example, students showing a 'serialist' approach rather than a 'holistic' one, or whose only experience is on a strict 'teachercentred' rather than student-centred learning system, may become very confused by a lack of sequence in participative lectures, brainteaser discussions, self-directed learning, disseminated reading, and ambiguity of teacher's answers to students questions [START_REF] Entwistle | Styles of Learning and Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Turner | Students from Mainland China and Critical Thinking in Postgraduate Business and Management Degrees: Teasing out Tensions of Culture, Style and Substance[END_REF].These learners have problems discovering what is required from the tasks ahead, and what the expectations from their teachers are as regards their study methodology, substituting 'understanding' for 'memorizing'.

Students may also use memory when they feel unable to employ the specialist language required by written academic assignments, or they may not understand the subject under study [START_REF] Kirby | Studying a Second Language: The Experiences of Chinese Students in Canada[END_REF]. Difficulties in the command of the English language in the discipline and in the writing style of academic material imply that the weakest students may turn to copying and memorizing well-known passages of textbooks and lecturer's notes that express the required ideas in a flawless English style.

Given that 'students whose second language is English can take a third to two times longer to read as first language students' (McLean and Ransom, 2005: 55;[START_REF] Schmitt | Writing in the International Classroom[END_REF], memorization may not in all cases be directly equivalent to rote-learning. [START_REF] Biggs | The Process of Learning[END_REF] say that 'rehearsal is also used when the learner wants to make sure that learning is verbatim, or 100% accurate. It is applied to the actual words used, without reference to their meaning ' (1993: 215). They also comment that: students using the surface approach may well show metacognitive skills. For example, a student might deliberately rote-learn aspects of a solution that she cannot understand, confident that she can work the rest around that. Or he may know the teacher will be impressed if the Shakespeare paper is littered with copious quotations from the set play . . . '. (Biggs and Moore, 1993: 311) Therefore, not all memorization can be identified as 'superficial' or lacking in understanding. Even the 'deep' approach to learning or the assimilation of new knowledge may imply the use of techniques for connecting, storing and retrieving 'relevant' data and concepts that are placed in the memory of the learner ('relevance' could be 'culturally defined'), according to Marton et al. (1996: 54).

The use of different learning styles and strategies may develop from the demands made on the student and the circumstances in which they are carrying out their cognitive activity. 'Work by Ramsden on the effect of different contexts of learning shows how students adapt their learning strategies to the perceived demands of lecturers and departments', says Entwistle (1988: 107), who proposes that it is possible to move rote and serialist learners towards a comprehensive and reflective view of any subject. The serialist approach is recognized as a problem only when it becomes a 'pathology of improvidence', that is, developing basic surface skills, whilst failing to relate the parts to the whole for a full understanding of the topic (Entwistle, 1988: 92).The consideration of cultural differences further suggests that contrary to the prevalent view of most traditional Western academics, the use of memory and the segmented and 'spiral' process of thinking and communicating used by some cultures may assist some students in attaining meaningful knowledge.

Memory

Academics in different institutions in Western countries have noticed that some students, particularly those from East Asia (that is, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam) and South Asia (that is, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka), have a clear tendency to use memorization as one of their main tools for learning [START_REF] Tang | How Hong Kong Students Cope with Assessment[END_REF][START_REF] Wing | The Cultural Context for Chinese Learners: Conceptions of Learning in the Confucian Tradition[END_REF]Biggs and Watkins, 1996;[START_REF] Pratt | Chinese Conceptions of "Effective Teaching" in Hong Kong: Towards Culturally Sensitive Evaluation of Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Ramburuth | Cross-cultural Learning Behaviour in Higher Education: Perceptions versus Practice[END_REF][START_REF] Dooley | Re-envisioning Teacher Preparation: Lessons from China[END_REF][START_REF] Kennedy | Learning Cultures and Learning Styles: Myth-understanding about Adult (Hong Kong) Chinese Learners[END_REF][START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF]Townsend and Cairns, 2003;[START_REF] Bliss | Diversity and Language: ESL Students in the University Classroom[END_REF][START_REF] Littrell | Teaching Students from Confucian Cultures[END_REF][START_REF] Nilsen | Managing Globally[END_REF][START_REF] Cathcart | Reluctant Hosts and Disappointed Guests? Examining Expectations and Enhancing Experiences of Cross-cultural Group Work on Post-graduate Business Programmes[END_REF][START_REF] Turner | Students from Mainland China and Critical Thinking in Postgraduate Business and Management Degrees: Teasing out Tensions of Culture, Style and Substance[END_REF]. This tendency is common to business studies and also to mathematics education [START_REF] Zhang | Some Characteristics of Mathematics Education in East Asia[END_REF]. The importance of memorization is more pronounced within CHC because knowledge and truth are taken as a collective reality contained in books or intrinsically imbedded in senior figures whose role is to transmit knowledge (Wing On, 1996: 30;Pratt et al., 1999: 15/25;Tweed and Lehman, 2002: 6). If knowledge is seen as external to the learning process, and senior citizens and institutions represent the highest level of wisdom, it makes sense that apprentices and junior positions in different Asian countries are expected to learn directly and conscientiously from their seniors if they want to progress into higher levels of wisdom. Consequently, the ability to remember and to summon up vast amount of information is seen as highly valuable and desirable because reproducing and emulating ideas and patterns is required for achieving a deeper understanding.

Pratt (Pratt et al., 1999: 10/25 and 16/25) emphasizes that the rationale behind each stage in the process of CHC learning is to progress from memorization to understanding; next, to application and finally to critical thinking. As attempting to reach a deep understanding of the totality cannot be achieved without the initial step of memorization and repetition of ideas. A profound holistic learning cannot be reached without deciphering detail and appreciating each component of knowledge, step-by-step. This process has been described by Kennedy (2002: 432) as 'concrete-sequential cognitive style' (from Berry-Stock, 1995). Also [START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF], after using Biggs' Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ), conclude that this Confucian vision makes learning 'absorptive, respectful and effortful' (2002: 7, 9). 'It seems that "Chinese learning styles" are more subtle and complex than they appear to be in some (Western) misinterpretations of them' (Kennedy, 2002: 434). Having a 'different order of learning' means that whereas the Western cultures concerned with the 'process of learning' focus on the examination of ideas as a base for developing skills, in East Asia the development of skills precedes the exploration of ideas (Biggs and Watkins, 1996: 55). The 'spiral logic' way of thinking and studying of the Confucian-based cultures (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988: 68-70) may recapture a direct association to the 'serialist' approach described by Pask (referred to by Daniel, 1975: 88, 191), and to the process of 'memorisation with understanding' described by Marton et al. (1996: 54).

Thinking and communicating

'Western writing is generally deductive, linear and logical';'critical writing involves questioning received knowledge . …' (Carroll, 2005a: 30;McLean and Ransom, 2005: 55-59). Entwistle (1988: 92) alleges that: serialists work their way step-by-step through either the abstract topics or the 'real world' topics, bringing them together only when forced to do so to achieve overall understanding of the main topic. . . . The serialists apparently put much more emphasis on the separate topics and the logical sequences connecting them, forming an overall picture of what is being learned only rather late in the process . . . The behaviour of East-Asian undergraduate and postgraduate students shows that the progression in the sequences of this learning process is more evident among postgraduate than among undergraduate students [START_REF] Salili | Accepting Personal Responsibility for Learning[END_REF]Watkins, 1996aWatkins, , 1996b;;Ramburuth, 2000: 9).

The way that students read, write and communicate also has a direct connection with their style of thinking and learning (Entwistle, 1988: 264;[START_REF] Johnson | Coping with Second Language Texts: The Development of Lexically-based Reading Strategies[END_REF]. Differences in writing and other differences in communication styles have been examined (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988;[START_REF] Gudykunst | Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication[END_REF]. Chinese writing style has been described as 'poetic ambiguity' in which metaphors, affective prose, long sentences and spiral discourse intend to convey a message without disclosing it directly and openly at the beginning of an essay. [START_REF] Gudykunst | Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication[END_REF] explains how different degrees of indirect, descriptive and decorated language is used by Asian, Latin, African and Arab cultures in their conversation and written work. Biggs and Watkins (1996), [START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF], [START_REF] Bliss | Diversity and Language: ESL Students in the University Classroom[END_REF], [START_REF] Littrell | Teaching Students from Confucian Cultures[END_REF], [START_REF] Turner | Students from Mainland China and Critical Thinking in Postgraduate Business and Management Degrees: Teasing out Tensions of Culture, Style and Substance[END_REF] and McLean and Ransom (2005: 57), citing Clyne (1980), also describe other styles as 'digressive' (employed by romance languages), 'parallel' (used by Middle Eastern languages) and 'variable of parallel' (Russian and German). [START_REF] Jin | Changing Metaphors: Working with Chinese Learners[END_REF] assessed the different meanings and the importance of metaphors in different cultures and found that students from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon and Turkey all use metaphors to describe their thinking and feelings while US students make very little use of them. This research also shows that metaphors may have very different meanings depending on the culture that uses them, confirming the assertion that the use of English wording does not necessarily comprise the same meaning for the writer or speaker that is reflected in the reader or listener's interpretation (Dunn and Wallace, 2004: 294;Carroll, 2005b).

Motivation and cross-cultural learning style

How do students who aim at learning something about an outside 'reality' manage in an educational system which to a large extent is governed by an artificial internal situation made up of examinations and pass-rate requirements? (Marton, 1975: 13) Cheating is a culturally determined concept, but copying the work of other students is a strategy used by both strong and weak students world-wide and is universally motivated by a wish to get the best mark in the shortest time. (McLean and Ransom, 2005: 59) The numerous learning-related theories that explain the fear of failing become vital to understanding student's motivation for learning. According to the literature, for years Western-style universities have been trying to move their emphasis from exams and grades towards a self-motivated, deep, critical, experiential, life-long learning. In practice, comparisons among students and universities are mainly based on the publication of grades and quantitative data that has no evident way of comparing real progress in the students' achievement (Marslow, 1973: 161;Kennedy, 2002: 439;[START_REF] Turner | Students from Mainland China and Critical Thinking in Postgraduate Business and Management Degrees: Teasing out Tensions of Culture, Style and Substance[END_REF]. It seems clear that the importance of scores and exam results (external motivation) as a proof of the realization of learning is still of primary significance to Western and non-Western higher education institutions.The design of courses also has a crucial importance in what the students do and the learning approaches that they use and develop (Biggs, 1999;Watkins, 1996).

In order to cope with overwhelming curricula, the students probably have to abandon their ambitions to understand what they read about and instead direct efforts towards passing the examinations . . . (which reflect) the view that knowledge is a quantity, and that the higher the level of the educational system, the more pieces of knowledge should be taught per time unit. (Dahlgren, 1978, quoted by Entwistle, 1988: 81) Students with high fear of failure scores tended to be better at rote learning than comprehension tests when under time pressure. While they work more slowly, they also put more effort into the tasks and persist longer in trying to solve difficult or uncongenial problems. In academic work such effort and persistence seem to bring their reward: in spite of their poor self-image fear of failure students in the Lancaster study . . . had above average levels of achievement. (Entwistle, 1988: 197) It seems evident that any student may adopt survival strategies as a reaction to the 'fear of failure', happy to be able to cope with the situation at hand and without being able to enhance their 'deep' knowledge on the subject, inducing little self-evaluation and knowledge. These strategies, rather than encouraging new ideas and deeper learning ('experiential confrontations' in [START_REF] Rogers | Freedom to Learn[END_REF], cause learning's 'delay, deflection or rejection' [START_REF] Perry | Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years[END_REF]in Entwistle, 1988: 72). The investigations carried out outside the main Western countries show additional pressures on the students. These cultures may possess a higher level of reliance on inner-groups and family commitments in which the students, and their families, base their entire personal, professional and social realization directly on exam scores and on gaining academic degrees in specific institutions and countries (especially in East Asia, the Middle East and Africa).

Western ways of categorizing motivation -extrinsic, intrinsic, and achievement -do not travel well, at least not to the Orient. . . . The Chinese learner may see things more pragmatically. . . . Neither is the CHC concept of achievement motivation identical to Western concepts . . . in Asia, standards of excellence and of what constitutes success may be determined both by the individual and by 'significant others, the family, the group, or the society as a whole'. (Yang, 1986: 114, quoted in Biggs andWatkins, 1996: 273-4) In some cases, the 'network of mutual obligations' and 'face losing' affect more than one generation of the student's relatives. These relatives could be making considerable financial contributions to help the student to get through HE education, especially to go abroad. In many cases the student is still expected to reciprocate by sustaining the family financially once they attain a degree (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988: 69;Biggs and Watkins, 1996;Kennedy, 2002: 432). Relatively high levels of family responsibility and 'fear of failure' may prompt students (both local and international) to adopt an approach that focuses on 'surface' (usually identified with rote-learning),'achieving' (using resources to attain performance), and 'low-risk' (considered safe) strategies of learning for coping with their studies [START_REF] Biggs | Student Approaches to Learning and Studying[END_REF][START_REF] Entwistle | Styles of Learning and Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Biggs | The Process of Learning[END_REF]Watkins, 1996a). What typifies the international learners, when living in a foreign country, is that due to the substantial and generalized differences extending to all spheres of their lives, the pressure to survive may overwhelm the internal need for deep learning [START_REF] Pratt | Chinese Conceptions of "Effective Teaching" in Hong Kong: Towards Culturally Sensitive Evaluation of Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF].

Passiveness and lack of participation versus active critical analysis, and consensus versus confrontation

The interpretation of learners, particularly coming from East Asia, as 'passive', 'obedient' and 'non-critical', could be a misunderstanding of other factors, including cultural and communication difficulties. Lack of confidence and poor language skills are a primary limitation on the articulation of questions and answers in an open setting such as a classroom or a public discussion.These problems are exacerbated by (a) the existence of a different model of communication and (b) the lack of socialization with students from other cultures within and outside the typical class-related environment.

Different communication systems

Western academic styles privilege questioning as proof of attention during lessons and a means for obtaining knowledge and understanding. What is perceived as a lack of analysis and lack of participation in debates may reflect the Confucian belief that questions should be asked from 'what one knows', that is, an 'immersed reflection concerning the known' (Dunn and Wallace, 2004: 295;Turner, 2006: 6-7). Obviously, for most CHC students being critical before 'absorbing' the content of a topic could be a rather confusing and premature pursuit.

Traditional Confucians also recognize that being silent or using few words and inner communication to express oneself (using non-verbal communication) is a valuable demonstration of insight wisdom and an illustration of respect for others' time and knowledge (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988: 113, 163;[START_REF] Gudykunst | Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication[END_REF][START_REF] Mclean | Building Intercultural Competencies: Implications for Academic Skills Development[END_REF]Ryan, 2005). Therefore, talking and saying everything that is in one's mind, being explicit about problems or situations, talking in a loud voice and asking unnecessary questions are in CHC deemed as bad-manners and a lack of respect. Conversely, Latin American and Arab cultures seem to appreciate longer, simultaneous and lively conversations, even among newly-met members of a community or group. The CHC culture, among others, uses unspoken agreements and conventions as a manifestation of respect, 'face', and deep social harmony. These involve avoiding the open expression of conflicting opinions, particularly to people who do not belong to the inner group of personal relationships [START_REF] Hofstede | Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values[END_REF]Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988;[START_REF] Pratt | Chinese Conceptions of "Effective Teaching" in Hong Kong: Towards Culturally Sensitive Evaluation of Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF].

Relative passiveness could also be explained by a preference for step-bystep processes in which instructions are given in detail (either by convention or by explanation, as in the 'serial' approach described earlier). 'Brain-storming' sessions, open debates, or 'student-led' activities are difficult and perceived as chaotic to an untrained 'serial learner' [START_REF] Collins | Research into the Chinese Students' Experience[END_REF]. When, in addition to having little input or limited referential frameworks, decisions are to be negotiated after extended debate, less vigorous members belonging to traditional high-context societies may be left out. Aggressive leaders and participants that personify the Western styles of bargaining may disregard their contributions (Hall, 1976: 79 quoted by Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988: 43;McMillen et al., 1997: 212;Cathcart et al., 2006: 18). International students may be more participative when 'safe environments' are provided for them. These settings should include the opportunity to interact without 'losing face' and where emphasis on the achievement of a learning experience is as important as the final result [START_REF] Ryan | Maximising International Students' "Cultural Capital[END_REF][START_REF] Littlewood | Chinese Learners and Interactive Learning[END_REF][START_REF] Luxon | Embedding Study Support for Chinese Students in Content Courses: MNGT 121 A Case Study[END_REF].

Creating an appropriate environment will help the learning experience

As discussed previously, opting for a 'reproducing approach', that is, 'accommodation' or 'assimilation', may involve rote learning and extremes of plagiarism/copying and may produce alienation from the learning environment. In this case the learner imposes the new conditions on their behaviour, framework or values with a lack of awareness regarding existing cultural differences (Hofstede, 1984: 260;Entwistle, 1988: 197, 264). It is accepted within Western learning theory that enthusiastic rote-learners would be able to develop more complex structures of thinking, expanding into the higher analytical and innovative cognitive abilities described by Kolb as 'intelligent adaptation'. An '(intelligent) adaptation' or 'acculturation' appears as equivalent to the 'cultural transposition' explained by [START_REF] Hofstede | Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values[END_REF] and Kolb (1984: 21, 23). 'Acculturation' happens on the basis of an understanding of what is required in different environments and for different tasks. 'Acculturation' is referred to in this article as the integrative process of awareness towards one's own culture and others' cultures. Hence, it requires interaction between the learner's existing cognitive framework and his new environment.

Motivation for learning in a multicultural environment must involve tolerance and self-confidence concerning the use of alternative unfamiliar approaches by themselves and others. A student confronted with conflicting demands from subjects, staff and institutions in an alien culture will need to learn how to employ diverse abilities, knowledge, and behaviour and to identify and cope with conflicts in their original set of values and interpretations [START_REF] Hughes-Wiener | The "Learning How to Learn" Approach to Cross-cultural Orientation[END_REF][START_REF] Mcmillen | Cultural Analysis, "Good Conversation" and the Creation of a Multicultural Learning Organization[END_REF]Goodall in Warner and Joint, 2002;[START_REF] Kennedy | Learning Cultures and Learning Styles: Myth-understanding about Adult (Hong Kong) Chinese Learners[END_REF]. This interactive adjustment is clearly comprehended by the notion of 'metacognition', and could be articulated in the practical cost-effective approach of an 'achieving learner', as specified by Marton and Saljo (1976) and Biggs (1979, quoted by Reynolds, 1997: 119). The level of difficulty in understanding differences, developing alternative learning approaches and multicultural abilities may vary depending on the characteristics of the original culture, depending on the learner's personality, stage of intellectual development, and on their interpretation of the assignment at hand [START_REF] Perry | Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years[END_REF], quoted by Entwistle, 1988: 72).

This awareness allows students (and lecturers) to attentively operate and participate in the multicultural environment that typifies our new multicultural university classrooms [START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF]Lehman, 2002, quoting Berry andSam, 1997). Hofstede (1984: 260) explains that cultures showing low Power Distance (PDI), low Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), high Individualism (IND) and Masculinity (MAS) usually face fewer difficulties in adapting to cultures located in the opposite dimensions than cultures which show high PDI, high UAI, low IND and low MAS. Subsequently, the process of acculturation is probably more difficult to accomplish for those students belonging to societies with little tolerance towards uncertainty and disagreement and where public image is of great value, as is characteristic in East Asia.

It seems obvious as a result of these factors that altering or complementing culturally established strategies and styles brought by the students may require a favourable cognitive environment, academic assistance, and time to remodel the student's vision of the learning experience so they can interact within the divergent environment using a new richer approach. The acculturation process demands a 'transitional period' [START_REF] Turner | Students from Mainland China and Critical Thinking in Postgraduate Business and Management Degrees: Teasing out Tensions of Culture, Style and Substance[END_REF], also referred to in the management of international human resources, that is, in training for expatriate business managers, as 'phases of adjustment' [START_REF] Selmer | Sequential Cross-cultural Training for Expatriate Business Managers: Pre-Departure and Post-arrival[END_REF].

The problem of acculturation also brings to mind frequent observations regarding excessive study loads, shortage of time for developing academic assignments, lack of sympathetic lecturers, shortages of local students within the classroom and in the residence halls, and other factors that constrain higher education students, which may increase exponentially in the case of international students. Research by Ansari and Jackson (1995), Entwistle and Hounsell (1975: 190-191), Entwistle (1988: 200), [START_REF] Robotham | The Application of Learning Style Theory in Higher Education Teaching[END_REF], [START_REF] Tweed | Confucian and Socratic Approaches to Learning: Learning Considered within a Cultural Context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches[END_REF], [START_REF] Peiris | Report on International Students Issues[END_REF], [START_REF] Errey | Cultural Metacognition as a Tool for Teaching and Learning[END_REF], [START_REF] Sliwa | Real or Hyper-real? Cultural Experiences of Overseas Business Students[END_REF] and [START_REF] Higgins | The Learning Approaches of Overseas Chinese, European and Indian Sub-Continent students in a British HE context: Lessons from their Individual Learning Reviews[END_REF] suggests that creating a suitable environment in the classroom facilitates a receptive guidance by understanding teachers and local students. Some students may not be able to go through this adjustment period without assistance (Carroll, 2005a). [START_REF] Collins | Research into the Chinese Students' Experience[END_REF] emphasize that the lack of socialization and interaction with native students and the added pressure of parttime jobs as specific obstacles faced by international students [START_REF] Reynolds | Learning Styles: A Critique[END_REF]. Dealing with these issues can make it possible for many students to attain increasing levels of acculturation and deep learning.

Groups and learning behaviour

Depending on the culture, the emphasis on collective goals creates diversity in how inner and outer groups are established and approached.The importance of membership in an inner group, for example, family, workplace, society, and the positioning of its members is regarded and defended in all cultures (inclusive of many Western cultures). The prominence, flexibility and role of the groups vary from culture to culture (Hofstede, 1984: 167;Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988: 58-59;Gudykunst, 2004: 65) and the tendency is accentuated when students move abroad (Biggs and Watkins, 1996), hence international students' preference for working and living within their own cultural groups [START_REF] Mclean | Building Intercultural Competencies: Implications for Academic Skills Development[END_REF]. Culture also creates disparity in the weight assigned to individuals within it. In the West, group work is normally a place of confrontation and search for solutions, where individual opinions may prevail by the action of leaders and the creation of competitive consensus. The role of the individual is core in and outside the group. This manifests in the distribution of roles and responsibilities between teacher and students, as well as between bosses and their employees, governments and citizens, etc. [START_REF] Hofstede | Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values[END_REF][START_REF] Gudykunst | Cultural and Interpersonal Communication[END_REF].

Collectivist or high-context societies may fail to differentiate between what is expected to be individual work, what should be the result of group activities, and the way that individuals are expected to arrive to agreements within the inner-group(s). In a collectivist culture, breaking into or out from 'inner groups' requires the development of new associations based on confidence between the members. Reciprocity and equality tend to be established as obligatory, long-term and matching within the inner group but not the outer group.Therefore, the process of grouping and re-grouping students has a tendency to be more difficult in collectivist than in individualistic cultures. Under the Confucian tradition, for example, students and teachers (as well as employees and employers) are part of the same social structure and are expected to work together in order to increase their common welfare. Both parties have different but complementary responsibilities to one another and both are expected to take care of one another's needs and progression. In CHC, guidance and assessment must be done by senior ranks, for example the teacher. They are expected to offer junior positions, for example, the student, a detailed guide on how to improve and amend mistakes and support their permanent development. The teacher is a synthesis of a close cognitive, moral, and emotional association that 'assumes responsibility', 'holds the student's hand' and 'demonstrates heart' (Biggs, 1996: 56;Pratt et al., 2002: 8, 10, 20/25).

If Asian students are predominantly oriented towards 'inner-group' collaborative work, it is easier to understand why in some Asian countries collaborative learning may comprehend participation in the academic work inside as well as outside the classroom. Operating in a system of 'spontaneous collaboration' (Biggs, 1996: 60-61;[START_REF] Tang | Collaborative Learning: The Latent Dimension in Chinese Students' Learning[END_REF] it is expected that a 'superior' figure, or the most capable member(s) of a group, will take direct responsibility for the learning and representation of the weaker members in lectures and seminars, for example, speaking on behalf of others; study, for example, translating and explaining concepts; in helping with the solution and 'collective writing' of assignments and exams [START_REF] Tang | Collaborative Learning: The Latent Dimension in Chinese Students' Learning[END_REF]; or providing materials to be used by others, for example, copying essays or dissertations. This 'communal ownership of knowledge' is adopted by Chinese academic practices (Carroll, 2005a;[START_REF] Gu | Beyond the Accusation of Plagiarism[END_REF]. This 'collaborative' or 'group-dependent' learning approach has been observed in Confucian cultures, but also in mixed US citizens from African, Asian and Latin American backgrounds, involving active support and cooperative work in the achievement of tasks by the group, rather than by the isolated individual [START_REF] Montgomery | Student Learning Styles and their Implications for Teaching[END_REF]: 2 and 6/11, allude to both the research by Banks, 1988;and by Grasha, 1996).

The collaborative and paternalistic practices expected among group members may be misinterpreted and rejected in some Western cultures: (a) some students dislike challenging each other directly; (b) some students impose their viewpoints and acknowledge this imposition as a personal achievement, while students from other cultures expect that all decisions should be taken by unanimous consensus rather than majority vote; (c) stronger (usually local) students may feel pressurized and resentful for having to cover for and to guide the weakest (usually international) members; and (d) Westerners favour individual benefit based on contribution rather than group-based reward. The predetermined requirement for harmonious consensus and 'face saving' within and outside the inner group, together with the limited knowledge attributed to some fellow students, may cause anxiety among team members, particularly when final examination marks are at risk.

Conclusions and recommendations

The prescription derived from learning theories appears insufficient for helping the foreign students who are flooding into universities in the USA, Europe, Australia and other countries.There is not a 'right', single and clear way to learn that may apply to everybody and all circumstances. The theories examined in this article seem to support the view that international students learning in a foreign language and under Western standards (particularly abroad) may develop highly sophisticated metacognition and accommodative techniques to survive and succeed within and outside of their university classrooms. However, the teaching and assessment methods within Western universities, aggravated by short periods of cultural transition, seem to have hindered the international students' use of advanced learning strategies and their overall process of acculturation.

The theory of cultural diversity has demonstrated that the cultural framework has a direct influence in the manner in which learning activities are executed and beyond the academic environment. This vision promotes a model of learning styles in isolation from contextual factors, which in turn imposes an interpretation on students' attitudes and achievements.

Employing cross-cultural communication and management theories to complement the models of learning styles brings in new meanings to the observed practices of international students in Western universities:

(1) Rehearsing and repeating is a necessary basic step in the process of thinking, particularly in the Confucian tradition. Understanding is just a step in the process of knowledge, showing the way for application, modification of the reality and higher knowledge. For these cultures, learning is conceived as a continuous effortful progression in which the learner has the obligation to command the basic levels of knowledge before being analytical or critical. (2) Western-educated teachers, having the responsibility of transmitting and guiding the activities of the students, may not be aware of the level of influence and affective responsibility (in the cognitive and moral grounds) that is assigned to them within non-English speaking cultures. (3) The mental and social patterns used in perception, gathering, storing, retrieving, using, and communicating information within non-Western cultures may give more emphasis to non-verbal 'contextual' expressions. Some of these cultures are traditionally reliant on visual contextual means, involving graphic, sensorial and rhetorical characters and associations. (4) In cultures where harmony, cooperation, 'appreciative and synthetic thinking', and public self-image are a priority, the value of 'critical thinking' and cross-examination may be less relevant tools for learning. (5) International students may have to 'accommodate' or 'assimilate' to cope with their academic requirements in very short periods of time. However, this assimilation may not help them to develop self-awareness, or to produce a multicultural learning experience that could be useful for their future. (6) International students, as in the case of local students, may be able to develop and use different strategies within their learning process. (7) Learning in groups and using experiential approaches may have completely different meanings and expectations in various cultures.

It seems apparent that different cultures may face difficulties in following the established phases of an 'active learning cycle' or taking part in 'experiential learning events' that do not coincide with their vision of the world and their economic and professional realities. The attention to cultural diversity and its influence on learning styles is a step forward from the traditional proposals that insist in correcting others' cultures and behaviour, either by imposing or transposing on them 'generally accepted' Western standards. The referred literature on cultural diversity suggests that there is no intrinsic 'superiority' of any learning or management model or culture. Each style offers advantages and disadvantages to its users depending on the circumstances they encounter.

Understanding the dynamic of cross-cultural relationships and helping international learners to design their own stages of cultural integration or acculturation may require the education of teachers, students and institutions on a variety of cultural and internationalization issues.The discussion may require the consideration of theoretical and practical implications of the internationalization of HE and developing cross-cultural awareness. Preparation should also recognize particular cultural commonalities, the empathy that could emerge through associations between specific groups, and the possibility of creating a culturally adjusted behaviour that matches the standards of the academic institutions in the Western system.

Within specific programmes, the model of multicultural education may require the reconsideration of curriculum content, teaching styles and assessment policies.Teaching and learning practices may also need to focus on what each culture contributes to the learning process and to the knowledge within specific subjects.The delivery of learning activities could consequently encourage students' appreciation and employment of multi-cultural awareness within groups at the university and in preparation for their future careers.

Biographical note

CAROLINA VALIENTE is Senior Lecturer in International Finance and recently appointed Reader in Academic Development at London South Bank University. Her experience includes managerial and lecturing activities in Latin America and the UK, as well as the development of international agreements within the European Union. Her main research projects comprise the topics of learning across cultures and the integration of stocks and derivatives markets. Address: London South Bank University, Department of Accounting and Finance, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, UK. [email: valienc@lsbu.ac.uk]