This study is concerned with the attribution of secondary students. Causal interpretations for academic success and failure were analysed to investigate the effect of gender, year level and achievement level on students' academic attributions in Hong Kong, a Confucian Heritage Culture. The sample for the study comprised 14,846 students currently enrolled in Secondary 1 to Secondary 6 in Hong Kong. Multivariate analyses of variance found significant gender differences in ascriptions to ability, effort and strategy use reasons for school performance of students who shared a common cultural background. These effects remained after controlling for achievement and year levels. Chinese females in this sample were more inclined than Chinese males to explain their academic failure in terms of their lack of ability and strategy use. Females were also more likely to explain their academic success in terms of their effort or strategy use. Nevertheless, the study found secondary students of both genders and across all achievement and year levels, consistently ascribed to effort as the most important reason for academic outcomes. Secondary 4 students were significantly more inclined than students of lower levels to attribute their academic outcomes to effort and strategy use. Cultural influences are discussed in interpreting the findings.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2010.518596]

This thesis investigated the process of gender construction in kindergartens by considering the unique roles of different socialization agents. Participants were 40 4-year-old Hong Kong Chinese children (21 girls and 19 boys) enrolled in four local kindergartens and their four female teachers. Over a period of ten months, 105 visits to these kindergartens were made and 235 hours of systematic observations focusing on social interactions among the target children, their teachers and their peers were analyzed. Participants were also interviewed, in individual sessions, to discern their personal theories about gender. Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate.
Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate

This article examines whether the later development of awareness of gender issues in Hong Kong compared to Australia is reflected in patterns of gender representation in the English language textbooks published in these two places. A comparison of 10 currently-used Australian books with 10 Hong Kong books revealed that such awareness has impacted most on the use of gender-inclusive terms and symmetrical phrases in both places. The Australian writers tended to use generic they while their Hong Kong counterparts preferred either the coordination he or she or 'generic' he. Both sets of writers maintained the convention of male-first presentation, depicted women in a more limited range of social roles, and presented stereotyped images of women as weaker and more passive than men, and as operating primarily within domestic domains. The visual representations also reinforced traditional gendered roles. Hong Kong textbook writers, nevertheless, paid more heed to the inclusion of females visually. Controversy persists over whether textbook writers should reflect reality or whether they should lead social change and strive for gender equality.
[Copyright of Journal of Gender Studies is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09589231003695856]