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Heng, Tang Tang
Preferred name
Heng, Tang Tang
Email
tangtang.heng@nie.edu.sg
Department
Policy, Curriculum and Leadership (PCL)
Personal Site(s)
ORCID
23 results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 23
- PublicationOpen AccessUnderstanding the heterogeneity of international students’ experiences: A case study of Chinese international students in U.S. universitiesScholars have critiqued the current understanding of international students for glossing over its diversity, resulting in the reification of the “international student experience” as either homogeneous or clustered along nationality. Through a qualitative case study of eighteen Chinese international students, this article examines the heterogeneity of their experiences despite a common nationality. Findings reveal that Chinese international students’ communication in English, engagement with subject content, preparation for the future, and participation in extracurricular activities vary by year of study, field of study and, to a small extent, gender. Even within a single nationality, experiences of students are uneven and intersect across various categorical lines, suggesting the possibility that other international students may encounter diverse and intersectional experiences as well. Findings point to how we need to re-conceive and research international students by examining the heterogeneous nature of their experiences, and how higher education institutions can differentiate support given to internationals.
136 817 - PublicationOpen AccessLessons on educational borrowing and change: Teachers' implementation of differentiated instruction in SingaporeLearner-centred educational approaches, like differentiated instruction (DI), have been gaining popularity worldwide through the process of educational borrowing. Teachers’ experiences with educational change are complicated when the educational ideas they encounter are transferred from abroad. This mixed method study examined how ten teachers in Singapore implemented and experienced DI, an educational approach from the USA. Findings revealed that when the destination conditions are more aligned with source conditions, Singapore teachers experience greater successes in their DI implementation, specifically in creating environments that support learning, building on quality curriculum, and leading and managing the classroom. When teachers faced cultural, technological, and political misalignments, they encountered greater obstacles, specifically, in using assessment and adapting instruction to student variances. Findings spell implications for greater synergy across educational change and borrowing work, including more criticality when borrowing educational ideas across countries and the need to foreground contextual peculiarities in both source and destination countries.
Scopus© Citations 2 242 31 - PublicationOpen AccessSocioculturally attuned understanding of and engagement with Chinese international undergraduatesHigher education institutions worldwide have come under scrutiny for not doing enough to understand and support international students as campuses diversify with a goal toward building intercultural competence. International students are typically expected to shoulder the burden of adjusting, with the host culture used as a benchmark against which to measure their success. Using Chinese international students in the U.S. as an analytic case and leveraging a sociocultural lens to analyze reasons for their challenges, this article breaks away from a deficit perspective with a goal toward gaining deeper and more empathetic understanding of international students. Utilizing interview and journal data of 18 first- and second-year students, findings reveal that cultural legacies (authority in hierarchy, community over individual, homogeneity, face), schooling experiences (exam orientation, teacher directedness, memorization, and practice), and societal demands (economic development and organization, practical-orientation) interact and contribute to participants’ challenges in the U.S.. In navigating different sociocultural contexts, Chinese international students exhibited agency and fluidity as they work with and against different expectations. These findings spell implications for more socioculturally attuned understanding of and engagement with international students that is intentional, ground-up, and asset-, rather than deficit-, based.
WOS© Citations 6Scopus© Citations 9 165 467 - PublicationOpen AccessVoices of Chinese international students in USA colleges: ‘I want to tell them that … ’As international student mobility worldwide reach new heights, there have been increasing conversations around how tertiary institutions need to rethink how they relate to and support international students for success. This study asks mainland Chinese students, the largest proportion of international students worldwide, to voice their desires about how their USA institutional communities can support their college experience. Through three interviews and four journals with 18 first and second year students, it was found that Chinese internationals wanted their professors and host peers to be cognizant of and curious about their backgrounds, as well as to show care and initiative in approaching them. They also asked for improved international student services and more academic support to decode implicit norms of the academy. Findings stress the imperative for institutions to include international students in voicing ways to enhance their college experience so that all institutional members can benefit from the internationalization of higher education.
WOS© Citations 57Scopus© Citations 87 178 836 - PublicationOpen Access“Chinese students themselves are changing”: Why we need alternative perspectives of Chinese international studentsGiven how China has been the top source of international students worldwide, there has been growing media and research interest in Chinese international students. However, much of the narratives tend to focus on their struggles. In this commentary, I draw upon insights from my personal experience as an international student and, consequently, research on Chinese international students to illuminate alternative ways of understanding Chinese internationals and the reasons for why these perspectives around international students are necessary.
WOS© Citations 6Scopus© Citations 12 135 186 - PublicationOpen Access
WOS© Citations 3Scopus© Citations 6 128 256 - PublicationOpen AccessThe role of theory in qualitative research: Insights from studies on Chinese international students in higher education.Scholars argue that higher education and international student research suffer from a lack of theoretical engagement and is epistemologically limiting. This is troubling as theory frames research design and findings and pluralizes our understanding of a phenomenon. Given the large number of Chinese international students worldwide (and related research), this article uses them as an analytic example to understand the role of theories in shaping qualitative research designs, focuses, and findings. I reviewed 43 qualitative research articles on Chinese international students’ experiences. Twenty-eight percent of the articles were found to lack theoretical engagement. When used, theories clustered around acculturation and sociocultural perspectives. Sixty percent of the articles foregrounded student challenges, as opposed to student agency or changes (40%). I discuss the consequences of a lack of theoretical engagement or diversity on how we understand and support international students, and conclude by urging scholars to increase, diversify, and generate theories as well as embrace cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaborations on research on international students.
WOS© Citations 15Scopus© Citations 17 212 247 - PublicationOpen AccessExamining the role of theory in qualitative research: A literature review of studies on Chinese international students in higher educationScholars argue that higher education and international student research suffer from a lack of theoretical engagement, which is epistemologically limiting. This is troubling as theory frames research design and findings and pluralizes our understanding of a phenomenon. Given the large number of Chinese international students worldwide (and related research), this article uses them as an analytic example to understand the role of theories in shaping qualitative research designs, focuses, and findings. I reviewed 43 qualitative research articles on Chinese international students’ experiences. Twenty-eight percent of the articles were found to lack theoretical engagement. When used, theories clustered around acculturation and sociocultural perspectives. Sixty percent of the articles foregrounded student challenges, as opposed to student agency or changes (40%). I discuss the consequences of a lack of theoretical engagement or diversity on how we understand and support international students.
WOS© Citations 15Scopus© Citations 17 75 89 - PublicationMetadata onlyA walk down memory lane with TCR: Reflections from Singapore
In celebration of Teachers College Record's 125th anniversary. I take a walk down memory lane, reflecting on TCR's subtle, yet profound, impact on individuals like me.
In 2004, I was working in Singapore when I first heard of TCR. A colleague, who had finished her graduate studies in the United States, returned and informed me that she continued to pay for an annual subscription to TCR because she found that it was a "very good" journal. As a public school teacher at the time, I was not in the habit of reading journals, so I did not partake in her generosity. What interested me more was learning that TCR was associated with Teachers College, a graduate school I aspired to attend.
In 2005, I was accepted to study at Teachers College. It was in my interest, as a master's student, to read widely. Having free access to TCR as a student, I enjoyed dipping into it, appreciating how easy it was to find articles related to my areas of interest within the wide variety of topics covered.
As a doctoral student in 2009, with a more refined discernment of journals, I began to appreciate TCR for the depth and quality of articles offered. One of the most memorable pieces I read was Lesko and colleagues' (2008) "The Pedagogy of Monsters: Scary Disturbances in a Doctoral Research Preparation Course." Because I was a first-year doctoral student, the experiences, emotions and observations of doctoral students' "highly-charged" responses to a doctoral course resonated deeply with me. At the same time, I was impressed by the boldness, honesty, and participatory nature in which the article was written. I thought, how refreshing, and wouldn't it be an honor if I could ever publish in this journal?
Upon completing my doctorate in 2015, I was naturally treading the publication route. On a balmy evening in Singapore, chatting with Nancy Lesko, who happened to be in town to teach in a joint master's program, I sought her advice about manuscript that I had trouble fitting into the normal word limit of most journals.
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