An Exploration of the Relationships between Chinese Students and their Personal Tutors: An IPA Study

<p dir="ltr">The thesis is concerned with Chinese students in UK HE and the relationships they have with their personal tutors. Personal tutoring in the UK remains a largely under-researched field (Stork & Walker, 2015, p.2), specifically that which investigates Chinese students. This is despite renewed interest throughout the sector in improving and developing tutoring provision (Grey & Osborne, 2018). As the personal tutoring role is continually being developed and boundaries being questioned (Walker, 2018), it indicates that this field continues to require further investigation. The thesis explores the experiences of the relationships between Chinese students at a post-1992 UK university and their personal tutors. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was chosen to explore the lived experiences of the students and their personal tutors in depth. Ten Chinese students were interviewed (most twice) using semi-structured interviews. In addition, three personal tutors, one Chinese tutor in a Chinese university and one international administrator were interviewed. Data was analysed, using NVivo 12, in accordance with IPA methodology, in which experiential statements were identified. These were then developed into Personal Experiential Themes (PETs), and subsequently grouped together into Group Experiential Themes (GETs) (Smith et al., 2022), which are: the nature of the personal tutoring relationship, expectations of the relationship, barriers to the relationship, other supportive relationships, experiences of culture, and tutor and tutee emotions. The findings suggest that Chinese students typically enjoyed a beneficial relationship with their personal tutors in China; however, on transitioning to the UK, many had a less beneficial relationship, and some were unaware of the function of the personal tutor, or even that they had one. This could be due to Chinese tutors being more willing to break boundaries than UK tutors are. The collectivist nature of Chinese students was evident in their support networks, with many preferring to gain advice from peers or family than from personal tutors. The conclusion provides new models of the relationship networks between Chinese students and their personal tutors. The implications of this work are that personal tutors may need to be more proactive in their support of Chinese students, and suggestions are made on how the relationship could be made more beneficial to students and tutors.</p>