Teaching Styles

English medium education raises a number of important teaching and learning issues ranging from the use of English as the medium of instruction to teaching and learning styles. There is a common assumption that students can learn a lot from books but then they learned how to learn. The nature of subject contents is also an issue. For example, students are expected to memorize the formulas and found them difficult to remember. However if they were taught

properly they should be able to remember formula in the right way. There is a common assumption that if students did not learn anything then they were not taught properly. There was an evidence regarding student’s perception of good teaching from Institution A as a male student explained:

I think I learn a lot of things. Since before I don’t know accounting and after that I know what it is and the…know some a lot of knowledge from the teacher. The teacher is good. The subject content is same, but teacher is good. Yes, we can learn something. Teacher is strict. (L6)

The above comment from a Chinese student implied a culturally specific perception. Strictness is not however associated with good teaching in some English-speaking countries such as Australia.

Many students complained about the way the teaching staff presented subjects. Teaching styles of both Thai and non-Thai lecturers failed to present or deliver the usefulness of subjects. Students believed that they could not learn much from the subject due to the teaching styles of some lecturers. This complaint was frequently raised by more Chinese students. Complaints focused on the style of teaching of the teaching staff rather than the subject content. A male Chinese student at Institution A commented:

...some knowledge from books may be later I will forget. But, I learn some study skills from that such as we have a lot of presentation and the project…we can learn how to communicate with others and the …how to do a project, how to find information and something….and if I do a job in the future, I think that will benefit from that.

Yes, yes some knowledge…some formula, a lot of formula may be I cannot remember, yes.…some teachers may be they’re busy and their teaching styles we cannot…(trails off)… (L6)

The same student then went on:

…because one subject sometimes they have two teachers and the students said which one is better and the other one may be not better…(L6)

When he was asked if he would prefer to study with Thai or non-Thai students, he answered:

I will choose non-Thai may be…(L6)

The right teaching styles can make the subject interesting and change the attitude of students towards subjects, such as accounting and finance. A European student explained his experiences in Managerial Accounting and Introduction to Accounting subjects,

…before I hate accounting, I didn’t want to know anything about it, but now I feel that…(showing his positive feeling) I learn a lot.

I think teacher gets me interested and I get interested about Finance…(R9)

When he was asked to clarify did he like particularly the content of the subject or teaching

style of the lecturer?, he answered:

I think it’s more about teaching style…I like umm…yeah about person and I like native speaker of English. It’s easy for me to understand. Sometimes, I’ve got troubles with some…Thai teacher because…strong Thai accent. (R9)

A similar comment was made by another Chinese student who originally wanted to specialise in Marketing, but the teaching style made him decide to alter his career direction. As he explained,

…before I came here, I was a salesman and I have a great interest in marketing field. So, I came here and study MBA. The very funny thing is…after I study accounting in MBA program, I want to change my mind… because of the teaching style of the teacher, I feel accounting…accounting is very interesting. May be when I go back China, I will try to find a job about accounting. (N10)

As far as most students were concerned, they were well aware of the amount of knowledge each teaching staff had in their field of specialisation, but their teaching style was a separate issue that they were trying to explain to me. It was however observed that students tended to judge those teaching style according to who they liked and who they disliked rather than the subject contents. In particular, students were likely to criticise more a subject taught by more than one teaching staff, especially, when the issue of preferred nationalities was involved. When students were asked about the knowledge gained from the program, they gave different points of views. One Thai student, who has been studying at Institution A since the undergraduate level of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), compared her studying experiences between the BBA and the current MBA in the following way:

I can tell you that the course from MBA and Bachelor degree (BBA) are all the same. So, I just review my Bachelor degree knowledge. Just like…the only thing I got from this (MBA), it just like I have ability to analyse…I mean to see the weakness the strength from the case we study and discuss in the classroom. I mean in bachelor degree we just only learn theory and MBA we use theory to apply. (R18) (my translation)

A female Chinese student made a similar issue concerning the knowledge gained from the program that:

…if we go outside, we are looking for the job…we cannot do the job. I think in…(Institution A), masters programs have one big problem, now lecture cannot use in the real life business world. You know…I have some friends already graduated

from…(Institution A) and they looking for the job and I ask…how much you learning from…(Institution A)?...how much you use in your real world?...something learning you know umm…how to say just you learning with concept in the class, but you never use in the real world.

Sometimes may be…I cannot say clear, but may be my friend just told me may be you study in…(Institution A), you study 20per cent, ok you study 100per cent, but when you go outside working if you use 20 per cent, you really lucky (laughed) (W8)