Abstract:
John Biggs’s work has had a marked impact on the development of theory and practice of teaching and learning in higher education. Dunkin (1998) comments that the “breadth and depth” (p. v) of Biggs’s work represents a significant contribution to the understanding of teaching and learning in higher education and places him “among the world’s leaders of research on learning and cognitive processes in institutional settings” (p. v). This paper considers Biggs’s (2003) model of Three Levels of Teaching in relation to the theory and practice of teaching international students. Although Biggs’s (2003) model is quite narrow in its interpretation of what constitutes good teaching, it is nevertheless critical in helping tease out important issues in relation to the place of ethnicity and culture in the classroom. Engagement with Biggs’s (2003) work leads to the speculation that an important outcome of having culturally diverse classrooms in Australia is that not only might Australian lecturers become better at teaching culturally diverse students, but that they might become better teachers for all students, as well as cosmopolitan in their personal and professional outlooks. Part 1 of this paper outlines Biggs’s (2003) Three Levels of Teaching. Part 2 sketches the main characteristics of what is reported in the literature as useful approaches to teaching international students. Part 3 of the paper describes a dilemma that appears to exist in relation to Biggs’s (2003) Three Levels of Teaching and the guidance that is provided to lecturers in Part 2. Part 4 works through the dilemma.