UW-La Crosse hosted Professor Lixian Jin this past week on Oct. 13 and 14. Jin is the Professor of Linguistics and Intercultural Learning and the Chair at the Centre for Intercultural Research in Communication and Learning at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom.

She has connections in La Crosse because she studied in the UK with UW-L’s very own provost, Heidi Macpherson. Macpherson thought it would be beneficial for the students, faculty and community to hear what Jin had to say about the topic of learning across different cultures. She introduced Jin as a “world renowned researcher in this area,” whom is originally from China and has lived in the United Kingdom for 28 years.

Her presentation on the evening of Oct. 13 was titled “Cultures of Learning: expectations, experiences & evaluations.” She discussed the differences between learning in Britain and in China, as well in the United States.

She mentioned that the motto of the UW school system is, “searching for excellence and diversity.”

She went on to explain that that is an excellent goal to strive for, as diversity in an education system can overall help the community that the school is in. When international students come to UW-L, they support the economy through tourism, which can provide jobs for locals. Not only do international students have a positive influence on the community, they have a positive influence on the school.

“Top universities have higher rankings because they have more international students,” Jin stated.

Worldwide learning techniques may sound like a topic that doesn’t influence everyone, but Jin related all of her main points to all of the people in her audience. Everyone is connected globally without realizing it, so it does affect everyone.

“It’s not only about daily life, just think about it, every part of your life is linked globally,” Jin said.

While that aspect of the world may not be changing, a lot is changing in international education in the regards to studying abroad. Traditionally, there were a lot of students from developing countries studying in developed countries, and now, it is changing. There are students traveling to and studying in developing countries. There is a change in context, travel is becoming easier and studying internationally is becoming more common.

Jin’s short definition of cultures of learning was, “Socially transmitted and taken-for-granted frameworks of expectations, beliefs and values about what good learning is.”

Students in China do not learn the same way that the students at UW-L do. The students Jin teaches at De Montfort University UK learn differently than the students here, as well.

This part of her presentation included a lot of examples from her own classrooms as well as metaphors. She explained how calling teachers different things varies in meaning across cultures. If someone were to walk into Centennial 3310, it would be very rude and shocking for a student to call their teacher an “old cow.” In English culture, that would be seen as an insult. But, in China, that would be seen as a compliment because cows are hard working.

“There’s a right to learn. There’s a right to choose how to learn. As teachers, we have to prepare ourselves for that. When teachers learn from students; there are elements of curiosity, showing value and respect; modesty and humility,” said Jin.

Jim expressed that no culture has a right way of learning, and it is valuable to understand the differences across cultures. International learning brings insight into other cultures and help share an appreciation of teachers and education.