A total of 199 students from a school in Hong Kong responded to 25 items in a survey. Principal components analysis found 4 school motivation factors consistent with the Task, Effort, Competitivenes and Praise scales of the McInerney et al. Inventory of School Motivation, 1 education aspiration factor and 1 career aspiration factor. The correlations indicated significant relations between the motivation factors and the aspiration factors. A path model applying a structural equation modeling approach found that Task, Effort and Competitiveness orientations had relatively stronger impacts on education aspirations whereas Task and Praise had stronger impacts on career aspirations. Analysis of variance found that grade 7 students had significantly higher Task, Effort and Praise scores and higher career aspirations than students from grades 9 and 11. The drastic drop from grade 7 of motivation scores--especially Task and Effort, both pertaining to a mastery orientation dimension that has been assumed to be a major driving force for excellence-calls for urgent attention to student motivation in junior secondary classes.
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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 design of the problems that are used in problem-based learning plays an important part in achieving the intended learning objectives set by teaching staff. To a large extent, the learning issues generated by students during tutorials determine their learning activities and form the framework for the direction of self-directed study. The relevance of these learning issues will drive and stimulate students to become more competent self-directed learners. The work described in this paper explores the match between students' learning issues and the learning objectives that have been set by teaching staff. The findings indicate that students recognize (on average) 79.9% of the learning objectives with a significant improvement as the semester progresses (p < 0.01). There is also evidence to suggest that students move towards independent learning as a result of problem-based learning.
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The paper reports a study that aims to compare Hong Kong student teachers' perceptions of the aims and objectives of their teacher education courses with the aims and objectives stated in the official course prescriptions. The results suggest that the two do not align because the students view education as a product and fail to recognize the importance of the overall education process.

This paper explores the impact of the internationalization of higher education on the formation of student identity. It does so in the context of increasing developments in offshore education and the rapid emergence of the professional doctorate in Australia and overseas. Drawing on data from a larger qualitative study of student experiences of offshore education, the focus is on professional doctorate candidates located in Hong Kong. Identity is characterized by a series of dilemmas experienced by the students as they seek to become members of the academic community. These dilemmas centre on a range of inter‐related issues, including sense of belonging, educational goals, learning style preferences and relationships with supervisors.
[Copyright of Educational Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131910600748190]