This research investigates the complex relationships between the motivational and learning processes of university students in a distance learning mode. Research on why and how Chinese distance learners engage in learning has been limited. Using the achievement goal theory as a research framework, the current study explores the motivational and learning characteristics of a group of distance learners. It is hypothesized that the nature of distance education will lead to specific goal profiles in the students involved, which will subsequently affect their use of various learning and self-regulating strategies, and subsequently their learning outcomes. This paper reports the findings from a survey study, which is part of a larger longitudinal study investigating the learning processes of Chinese distance learners studying at the Open University of Hong Kong 549 undergraduate students enrolled in an educational psychology course completed a questionnaire assessing their achievement goals, learning strategies, self-regulatory strategies and attitudes towards the course.
The results revealed that achievement goals operated as a frame affecting how these distance learners approached their learning and how they perceived the course. The significance of this study lies in that it provides an initial understanding of the motivational and learning processes of the Chinese distance learners. It also extends the research of achievement goal theory by exploring the effects of certain goals often found among distance learners.
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The present paper tries to identify the societal factors and psychological factors that motivate students to have better performance in English as a second language and to postulate a theoretical model subsuming these socio-psychological variables to explain and predict the performance in English as a second language for Hong Kong students in Australia. Since the proposal of socio-educational model of second language learning by Gardner (1959), a number of studies have focused on identifying the potent factors in second language acquisition. Giles and Byrne (1982) emphasized the need to have variables intended to determine the perceived relationships operating between ethnic groups. Kraemer (1993) included ethnolinguistic vitality perception construct in her study on social psychological factors in the learning of Arabic in Israeli schools. 247 students of ethnic Chinese in the Sydney metropolitan area who were studying in weekend Chinese schools and 628 Hong Kong students who were studying in primary and secondary schools were sampled. Path analysis was used to determine the relationship between the performance of Chinese and English with societal and psychological variables.
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Pintrich et al. (1993) had developed the MSLQ (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire), which was a self-report, Likert-scaled instrument designed to assess motivation and use of learning strategies by College students. The motivation part of this instrument was used to tap into 3 broad domains, viz. (1) value (intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientation, and task value); (2) expectancy (control beliefs about learning, self-efficacy); and (3) affect (test anxiety). The learning strategies part was composed of nine scales that can be recognized as cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies. The instrument had demonstrated robust scale reliabilities, and confirmatory factor analyses revealed good factor structure. The questionnaire was adopted and translated into Chinese and a bilingual formatted questionnaire was administered to the pre-service teacher education students in Hong Kong. The objectives of this study was threefold. The first one was to identify the motivated learning strategies prevailing in the Hong Kong teacher education students. The second one was to examine if there was any significant differences in the learning strategies between gender and the third one was to investigate whether there were any significant electives difference in the learning behaviours of the student teachers. The findings certainly would give meaningful implications on the planning and development of teacher education program in views of the motivated learning strategies adopted by student teachers as related to different gender and electives.
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This study examined the interrelationship among achievement goals, study strategies and achievement of 473 students in a Hong Kong tertiary institution by means of questionnaire survey. Correlational analyses showed that performance goal was significantly and positively related to both surface and deep strategies while learning goal was significantly and positively related to deep strategy but negatively related to surface strategy. However there was no significant relation between achievement and goals or achievement and study strategies held by the sample. The results validated the applicability of an adapted instrument developed in western countries to measure achievement goal orientations in the Hong Kong context. It also gave support to the western findings that students who hold learning goals usually adopt a deep approach of study while students who are performance goal orientated tend to be shallow in study approach. Nevertheless, it was interesting to find that achievement was not significantly related to either the goals or study strategies held by students in the sample. The results were in contrast to the usual assumption that students who are performance goal oriented and adopt shallow approach in study would score low in academic achievement. Further investigation would be necessary to verify the effects of these variables on achievement of students.
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This paper reports on, and presents the findings from, an investigation into feedback as a means of formative assessment. Feedback is important to learning because it gives us information about the results or consequences of what teachers do and what learners have achieved or have not achieved. It is as crucial in teaching and learning as in any other activity, forming part of the cycle of teaching and learning. However, general feedback such as 'Good work!' 'Effort shown!', or drawing a smiling face, though holding the acknowledgement effect, is not informative enough to help students advance their learning. This poses a question "What sort of feedback has functional significance in learning?"
The investigation collected data from school teachers through three different phases, namely, questionnaire survey, teacher interviews, and lesson observation. The first phase asked approximately one thousand school teachers to give their views on feedback in a questionnaire survey. Data analysis showed that four particular aspects about feedback were regarded as more significant than others. The second phase and the third phases, which involved a further 94 teachers and 27 teachers respectively, revealed that feedback could take many forms and the quality of feedback could vary tremendously.
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The present paper tries to identify the social and psychological factors that motivate students to have better performance in English as a second language, and to postulate a theoretical model subsuming these socio-psychological variables to explain and predict the performance in English as a second language for Hong Kong students in Australia. Gardner (1959) hypothesized that students would have higher performance in the second language performance if they exhibit the desire to learn the second language in order to integrate themselves with the target culture than when they exhibit the desire to learn the language for pragmatic reasons. The perceived status of language affects the use of and attitude toward a language. Giles, Bourhis and Taylor (1977) defined Ethnolinguistic vitality as structural characteristics such as socio-economic status, demographic representation and institutional support pertinent to a language. Smolicz, Hudson and Secombe (1998) described multicultural policies of Australia as a solution to the dilemma of reconciling the immigrants' love of their homeland and its culture and their desire to adapt to the overarching Australian framework. 247 students of ethnic Chinese in Sydney metropolitan area who were studying in weekend Chinese schools (age 8 to 16 with mean age of 10.1) and 628 Hong Kong students who were studying in primary and secondary schools (age 8 to 16 with mean age 10.5) were sampled. Path analysis was used to determine the relationship between the performance of Chinese and English with ethnolinguistic vitality, motivation, attitudes and use and class anxiety in the learning of English.
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The switch of the teaching medium of junior secondary classes in Hong Kong from English (EMI) to Chinese (CMI) in 1998 has met strong opposition from parents for fear of possible decline in the learners' level of English proficiency due to reduction in exposure. To make up for this and to smoothen the transition from CMI to EMI in senior secondary level, a 3-year English Enrichment Programme (EEP) was piloted in selected schools starting 2001. An evaluation project assessing the effectiveness of the EEP was also launched in the same year. This paper reports the preliminary findings from the evaluation project on how well the students learnt in the EEP.
In the evaluation, emphasis has been given to analysing the extent to which three conditions necessary for optimal L2 learning were present in the students' learning process in the EEP. These conditions include comprehensible exposure and input, opportunities for L2 use with feedback, and motivation. The paper reports the process and findings of this evaluation. It was found that the three conditions did exist in the learning process, yet the quality of the provision of these conditions was doubtful. Recommendations will be offered on how the design and implementation of the EEP could be improved to ensure quality provision of the conditions so as to improve the effect of learning.
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Second language acquisition has social and psychological perspectives. The success of second-language learning depends very much on how a learner is motivated to learn the second language. Motivation is the central element in Gardner's Socio-Educational Model (Gardner, 1985). Factor analysis illustrated four major constructs: Integrativeness, Attitudes toward the Learning Situation, Motivation, and French-Language Anxiety (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993). Intergrativeness was considered as the most important factor in explaining the language learning motivation (Csizér, Dörnyei, 2005). Language learning is culturally based, and people speaking the same language would quickly identify themselves from people speaking other languages. It is assumed in Gardner's model that if a learner identifies him/herself as a member of the second language group, he/she would have higher motivation to learn the language. In the language-learning context, the attitudes toward language situation, and the anxiety perceived in language class and language use environments affect the learner's persistence in language learning. The present paper tries to identify factors pertinent to the learning of English as a second language in Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia. Path modelling will be used to determine the relative contribution of English language motivation, language anxiety and Attitudes toward English learning.
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Over the past several decades of research, consistent differences in academic achievement among students of various racial groups and of different nations have been well-documented. More recent models in accounting for cross-national differences in academic achievement centered on the importance of cultural values (Chen & Uttal, 1988; Stevenson & Lee, 1990). Chen, Stevenson, Hayward, and Burgess (1995) advocated that cultural values and beliefs would be important antecedents affecting students' motivation and learning behaviour, subsequently lead to the academic achievement.
Hau and Salili (1996) asserted that: "Cultural values of collectivism and emphasis on hard work, effort and perseverance have important implications on Chinese achievement orientations. There is some converging empirical evidence from a number of researches suggesting that Chinese are learning goal oriented and attribute their performance more to their effort than to their ability" (p. 129). Based on these speculations, it appears that cultural values such as collectivism and individualism may have influence on the motivational orientations adopted by the students. Recent researches on achievement goals had identified two goals: learning goal and performance goal. There are quite a number of researches that linked achievement goals and the learning strategies/cognitive engagement endorsed/spent by the students. Nolen's (1988) study implicated that task orientation (learning goal oriented) was positively correlated with use of strategies requiring deep processing of information. Greene and Miller's (1996) study had its significance in identifying that performance goals are positively correlated with shallow cognitive engagement. Kong and Hau's (1995) study implicated learning goal orientation is more adaptive in Chinese students. Therefore, with respect to the above findings, converging and significant conclusion can be drawn that achievement goal orientations have direct influences on the learning