Abstract
The thesis examines Chinese international students’ academic adaptation in UK higher education as a process of self-formation. Rather than framing adaptation as assimilation into local norms, the study conceptualises it as an agentic and dynamic self-formation process. It therefore challenges deficit-oriented perspectives that interpret students’ uneven engagement as struggles in adaptation. The study adopts a self-formation framework comprising four key aspects: external circumstances, internal disequilibrium, reflexive agency, and evolving identities. Within this framework, the thesis explores authentic speaking assessment as a potential catalyst for self-formation, drawing on International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Pre-sessional Programmes (PSPs) speaking assessments as examples.
Two studies were conducted. Study 1 combined document analysis with interviews of 16 Chinese students at a case-study UK university to examine the task authenticity of IELTS and a PSP speaking assessments. Study 2 involved interviews with 29 students across eleven UK universities to investigate how they experienced academic adaptation through the lens of self-formation.
The findings show that PSP speaking assessment demonstrates higher task authenticity than IELTS. But students’ self-formation was shaped less by task design alone and more by how authentic speaking assessments and postgraduate practices were experienced as meaningful moments of challenge, reflection, and identity negotiation. Academic adaptation unfolded through recursive interactions between external circumstances, internal disequilibrium, reflexive agency, and evolving identities across linguistic, pedagogical, and sociocultural domains. While IELTS and PSPs shaped students’ self-formation only partially, the findings indicate that authentic speaking assessment can function as a catalyst for self-formation when interpreted from a learner-centred perspective. Drawing on students’ experiences, the thesis proposes a reconceptualisation of authentic speaking assessment to better support Chinese students’ academic adaptation as self-formation in UK universities.
The thesis advances self-formation as a productive lens for understanding international students’ academic adaptation and contributes to a learner-centred reconceptualisation of authentic speaking assessment.