Reflecting on the Biggs–Watkins theory of the Chinese Learner

This article provides a critical review of the theory of the Chinese Learner. A Chinese Learner hails from the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore: these national student markets are much sought by Western tertiary education industry. I look beyond the full-fee attributes of these students and dialectically inquire into the paradoxes surrounding their learning approaches. For instance, Chinese students are often deemed to be rote-learners, yet they demonstrate performance that implies high cognitive learning. A social analysis is used to explain these contradictions and identify areas that would benefit from context-dependent social research.