More can mean less motivation: Applying a motivational orientation framework to the expanded entry into higher education in Hong Kong

More can mean less motivation: Applying a motivational orientation framework to the expanded entry into higher education in Hong Kong

• Kember, David University of Hong Kong
• Hong, Celina University of Hong Kong
• Ho, Amber University of Hong Kong
• Ho, Amaly University of Hong Kong

Studies in Higher Education, 36(2), 209-225, 2011

Routledge

2011

• C Psychology & Learning
  • CC Motivation of Learning

Undergraduate Students Higher Education Curriculum Design Goal Orientation Student Motivation Interviews Student Attitudes Selective Admission Compliance (Psychology) Student School Relationship Student Interests Career Choice Socialization Academic Achievement

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

A motivational orientation framework for higher education has previously been derived from interviews with 36 undergraduate students in an elite university system. The framework consists of six interacting facets of motivation represented by continua labelled: compliance, individual goal setting, sense of belonging, interest, career and university lifestyle. The aim of this study was to see whether the framework also applied to entrants to a community and vocational college sector, the emergence of which has boosted participation to mass higher education status. Individual interviews were conducted with 25 students in five colleges in Hong Kong. Analysis identified main themes and referenced these against those of the previous study. The data were consistent with the facets of the original framework. A fuller understanding was reached of the less motivated ends of the continua, as these were more commonly displayed than by the undergraduate sample in the previous study. There was evidence of avoidance goals, in the form of fear of failure. Sense of belonging was, in some cases, manifest in a form in which students socialised at the expense of academic work. There was evidence of interest being stifled because of curriculum design problems, as the awards were often not suited as terminal vocational awards, nor led to places in undergraduate degrees. The conclusion was that the motivational orientation framework also applies to the type of students entering mass higher education systems.
[Copyright of Studies in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070903514062]

• English

Journal Articles

• 03075079

• 10.1080/03075070903514062

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/f055e033

2011-06-10