Author Description

As international students form a large part of the student cohort in the globalised tertiary education system, design educators face complex linguistic and cultural challenges in their studios and critique systems. To advance learning and teaching in this context, this project aims to improve understanding of the needs of Asian design students, focusing on the impact of language in design, and to develop systems, protocols or information to better support international students' learning. Three main approaches were undertaken to develop a detailed understanding of the challenges faced by students and academics, which were then used to establish a Good practice guide for these groups. The formal methodologies and approaches adopted in this project could inspire and develop the foundation for future studies addressing the impact of other languages on design cognition and communication, as well as further pedagogical solutions reflecting such impact. From two sets of interview data have developed 11 themes for students and 12 themes for academics. The themes themselves may not be new points of view in education, but they address specific linguistic and cultural perceptions that contribute to improving teaching and learning in globalised (design) education. The qualitative analysis of interview data has also captured several strategies and techniques, which design educators could immediately adopt in their studio courses. [Executive summary, ed]