Steering Teachers and Students Towards Quality of Learning

Vivian Li and Ivy Ho

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

This paper aims at investigating Chinese students’ perception of quality of learning and its relationship with collaborative learning. The study looks, in particular, at the collaborative learning strategy, which is the characteristic of a compulsory Business English course for the business students in a University in Hong Kong. It targets to find out if this strategy contribute to the quality of learning. Participants in this study include 2 English language instructors and 5 classes of business students who are required to take a compulsory Business English course. Questionnaires were sent to the student participants to elicit their perception towards quality of learning and its relationship with collaborative learning. Focus group interviews were then conducted to both the students and instructors to extract further opinion. A match or mismatch between teachers’ and students’ viewpoint on this aspect were also explored. The results suggest that collaborative learning helps to develop students’ better communication skills, language skills, critical thinking skills and also their ability to evaluate the learning process.