Most people have an impression that Chinese students are usually quiet and introverted in class. This is because the students have their own learning style which is influenced by their typical childhood background. Many Chinese students are told to listen to the teacher and do what the teacher says. This leads to students who believe their teacher is always correct. It affects their most frequent behaviours in school as well. Traditionally, most teachers in China emphasize learning through reading. Besides this, teachers accomplish tasks by pouring all information onto the blackboard. At the same time, students sit in rows and face the blackboard and the teacher during class. There is seldom conversation while teacher and students are busy writing. Most Chinese students like to follow the teachers’ guidelines. Moreover, students use several strategies such as memorization, sequenced repetition, and review to show perfection in studying and competition over their classmates.

On the other hand, some people agree that the learning style in western countries is less stressful. Students and teacher act as peers. They are more likely to discuss questions instead of following certain roles in class. This makes the class lively. Usually, western students express their feelings and opinions as soon as they have an idea in their mind. Students have more opportunities to get help from their classmates while having a conversation or working together.

These are the differences between western learning style and Chinese learning style. Unlike Chinese students, western students are more independent and find answers through discovering or discussing topics by themselves. However, Chinese students are less autonomous. They like to have rapid and constant answers directly from the teacher. Additionally, they regard knowledge as something to be transmitted by the teacher rather than discovered by themselves. Therefore, Chinese students expect the teacher to explain the textbook sentence by sentence. Western students are more active in class and not afraid to express their opinions even though they might not be really sure of the answer. In contrast, Chinese students want to achieve the correct answer immediately; furthermore, they are not comfortable when making a guess. Thus, Chinese students do not like to take a quick risk in conversation.

As a conclusion, in my opinion, the western learning style is more motivating and better for students. Students are trained to be more confident and creative. As a result, students are tougher when living in a whole society alone; as well, they have a higher overall capacity.