Research has pointed out that motivational orientations influence the study strategies students adopt and subsequently influence academic achievement. While achievement goals emphasize the ways in which students think about themselves in learning, intrinsic motivation reflects students' engagement in learning for its own sake. Both have impact on learning strategy and achievement. This paper reports the study of the relationship among intrinsic motivation, achievement goals, study strategies and achievement. The participants were786 male and 595 female students from Hong Kong. Intrinsic motivation, viz. challenge, curiosity and independent mastery, and achievement goals, viz. mastery goal, performance approach and avoidance goals, were examined for their correlation with learning strategies and achievement. The results showed that the three subscales of intrinsic motivation were all positively and significantly related with deep strategy but not with surface strategy. Performance approach goal and performance avoidance goal were significantly and positively related to both deep and surface strategies while mastery goal was significantly related with deep strategy only. Academic achievement was positively and significantly related with deep but not surface strategy. Results of multivariate analysis showed significant differences in gender and level of study for the three variables under study. The results were discussed in relation to the Chinese cultural context and implications were drawn for enhancing motivation to learn.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]

This cross-cultural study examines relations between parents' socialization goals and child-rearing practices, as well as their impact upon peer competence during early childhood. Participants were sixty-three Hong Kong-Chinese mothers, sixty-one English mothers and their preschool-aged children. Mothers completed questionnaires measuring socialization goals and practices. Their children took part in sociometric interviews. Results indicate both similarities and differences in child-rearing practices and in their impact on children's peer competence across the two cultures. Among both Hong Kong and English mothers, significant correlations were found between (i) socialization towards Filial Piety and Authoritarian practices, and (ii) valuing Socio-emotional Development and Authoritative Parenting. However, Chinese mothers reported stronger emphasis on socialization for Academic Achievement and Filial Piety, as well as greater use of Authoritarian Parenting practices, than English mothers. The use of Authoritarian practices among English mothers was, in accordance with past research, negatively correlated with peer competence among preschoolers. Findings highlight the influence of cultural values upon child socialization and upon the way that these values are translated into practice.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443022000022486]