Wrestling With Academic Writing in Australian Higher Education: A Case of a Chinese Graduate International Student

Abstract Australia has been a reputable education provider to international students in the last few decades. In the higher education sector, as the number of international students is growing, various issues related to students’ adjustments in the Australian academic context are also increasing, among which academic writing-related issues are commonly recognised as the problems non-English speaking background (NESB) international students have; these issues, on the one hand, may lead to academic failure in their discipline areas, and on the other hand may have implications for their career choices. This autoethnographic narrative addresses the academic writing difficulties experienced by a non-English-speaking background (NESB) Chinese graduate student in an Australian university and how this experience influences the career choice this student makes for future employment purposes. Drawing on Tomlinson’s Human Capital Theory (HCT), the author argues that NESB Chinese graduate students who choose a career choice to further their study for PhD programmes should consider building up their human capital and identity capital for employment purposes. This study recommends that these students be explicitly aware of the academic writing difficulties they face and consciously seek approaches to improve their academic writing skills.