An Analysis of Chinese Students’ Use of ‘Chinese’ Essay References: Another Role for International Students in the Internationalisation of the Curriculum

The UK and other traditional ‘host’ countries welcome an increasingly large number of international students into their higher education (HE) programmes, a trend which some predict will be sustained even after the pandemic. The largest number of international students are from mainland China and some programmes have a large majority of Chinese students. This has raised important questions around the internationalisation of the curriculum in these contexts. While many studies have addressed the needs and challenges of international students there is relatively less work on the potential contributions of these students with respect to the curriculum. This paper conducts a bibliographic analysis of the academic references (n=7,264) used by students to construct their final essays on the theme of education and international development at a ‘leading global university’ based in the UK. It examines (1) what knowledge resources (i.e. references) are used by international students in their essays and (2) what are the characteristics and patterns present in these choices. The study finds that, when allowed to construct their own essays, Chinese students choose to use ‘Chinese’ knowledge resources within English and Anglophone academic essays. This increases when their lecturers and tutors explain and accept the value of non-English academic resources. The study then discusses the implications for lecturers and other pedagogues.