Attitudes and Intentions that Made It Work: Students-Faculty Partnership in China

Abstract

This case study focused on attitudes and intentions that enhanced two student-faculty partnerships. Those partnerships were established in the English as a Second Language (ESL) courses in one of the Sino-American Universities in China. Each group was asked to observe a different ESL course taught by the same instructor and give suggestions on the classroom materials and activities, instructor’s communication with students, and potential syllabus improvements. Through a qualitative research design, the data was collected via an open-ended survey and follow-up individual interviews related to the participants’ perceived attitudes and intentions. The findings demonstrated that the members of the two partnerships managed to persevere without quitting midway because the partnership enhanced their attitudes and intentions, particularly the desire to excel academically and personally, desire for relatedness instead of monetary reward, and desire for meaningful achievements. The study’s limitations included a small-scale empirical research design and members’ perceptions of the hypothetical involvement of the monetary reward for the partnership participation. The findings have practical implications for partnering with students in the Asian context in the involvement of a peer partner, choice of the faculty based on the students’ perceived feeling of warmth, competence, and trust, and publication of the partnership outcomes.