Perspectives of Chinese undergraduates in the US towards advanced placement high school curriculum in China

Abstract

The Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum program is a rapidly growing university preparation program that is being adopted by high schools in China. Despite the fast growth of AP high school curriculum programs, and high expectations from students and parents in China, empirical studies exploring the Chinese AP learners’ perceptions of their university preparation is limited. This study aims at exploring the AP learners’ perspectives on the AP high school curriculum program in equipping them for universities when they are studying in the US. Students’ responses to the Chinese AP program were collected through a questionnaire and individual semi-structured interviews. The findings show that students generally felt positive about the AP academic courses, which prepared them for their transition to universities. They also expressed that the English learning environment in the AP program developed English competence. Moreover, students thought that the AP high school curriculum offered a beneficial school counseling system. However, they raised concerns about the value of Clubs and Art courses in the AP high school, felt disappointed about the lack of teaching of paraphrasing skills, and were frustrated about not gaining much intercultural communicative competence in casual communication. This result sheds light on the under-researched area of the Chinese AP high school curriculum for the AP administrator and curriculum designers to consider developing an AP curriculum that supports students’ academic improvement needs in extra-curriculum activities, paraphrasing skills, and understanding intercultural related issues.