Using written literacy to create an effective learning environment in a cross-cultural context

For over a decade, staff at an Australian university have been working collaboratively with a university in Hong Kong offering off-shore post-registration and postgraduate programs in health. There is considerable pressure on academics involved in the development of these programs to provide high quality courses that are sensitive to the cultural diversity of the context where they are delivered. This paper is based on a case study and discusses some of the experiences of Australian and Hong Kong based academics as they attempt to design and deliver learning programs in English to a predominantly Chinese speaking student cohort. Specifically this paper focuses on aspects of written literacy in the learning process and discusses issues such as using written text material to facilitate student learning, devising appropriate assessment strategies and dealing with the practice of plagiarism. Practical strategies for addressing these issues will be presented.