Recent education reform in Hong Kong has been largely based on the premise that the motivation of many secondary school students is lacking. However, the empirical base underlying this premise is weak. This study explored the development of students' academic motivation in secondary schools. It improved on the previous Hong Kong research in terms of the representativeness of sample and depth of enquiry. Mastery, performance-approach, social status, social approval, social affiliation, social concern, extrinsic, and prospects goals were examined. They were measured by a Chinese version of Inventory of School Motivation Revised. The participants were initially 354 S1 and 343 S3 students from three secondary schools with ability bands ranging from 1 to 3. A year later, 176 S6 students of the schools were also included in the sample. The one-year longitudinal changes (for the then S2 and S4 students) and grade-level differences (between the S2, S4, and S6 students) in goal orientations were examined. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the relative strength of the goals in predicting a range of educational outcomes: general motivation, academic self-esteem, academic achievement, and use of surface, deep, and achieving learning strategies. The development of these educational outcomes was also examined. Also, 36 participants attended individual interviews. These explored their purposes of schooling, conceptions of ability, and attribution of school performance. Overall, the longitudinal and cross-sectional studies showed that the goal orientations and educational outcomes were fairly stable with medium to high mean scores. This finding is not in line with those of U.S. studies which indicate a general decline in students’ motivation during middle and high school years. Relatively speaking, there is a lack of non-Western research on the development of school motivation. Policy-makers in Hong Kong or elsewhere should not assume U.S. research applies in their context

The overarching aim of this research is to find out empirically about perceptions and experiences in self-directed language learning (SDLL) among university EFL students in two different social contexts: Mainland China and Hong Kong, and to provide empirical grounding for the potential attitudinal / behavioral differences in SDLL between successful and less successful language learners. The research is composed of a quantitative survey and two qualitative case studies. The survey study aimed at discovering and comparing the overall patterns of SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation among university EFL students in Mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as the potential interrelationships between these variables. To this end, a questionnaire was designed based a combination of theoretical input in the literature and students' initial responses in a pilot study. The case studies were designed to complement, verify and expand the findings from the survey study by focusing on examining the potential differences between successful and less successful EFL students with regard to SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation. The survey study identified significant differences concerning the overall patterns of SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students. With regard to SDLL attitudes, the mainland students appeared to hold a significantly stronger orientation towards learner independence in English learning, a significantly more robust sense of confidence and abilities in carrying out SDLL, and to be significantly less supportive of teacher direction in language learning. With regard to SDLL strategies, the mainland students reported a significantly greater use of metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies, whereas the Hong Kong students reported an overall significantly higher use of functional practice strategies. The two groups, however, reported generally the same low levels of social and affective strategies. With regard

Students' achievement motivation has been the concern of educational psychologists for the past several decades. Empirical studies on the effects of teachers' feedback provide useful information to educators on instructional practices. From these studies, educators know how to cultivate adaptive learning attitudes in students. However, a meta-analysis by Kluger & DeNisi (1996, 1998) did not find consistent effects of success and failure feedbacks in past studies. Idson and Higgins (2000) suggested that regulatory focus, a personality variable, could address these inconsistent effects. In their study, Idson & Higgins (2000) found that individuals with different orientation in regulatory focus would respond differently to success and failure feedback. The motivation of individuals with promotion focus would increase after success feedback but decrease after failure feedback. In contrast, the motivation of individuals with prevention focus would increase after failure but decrease after success feedback.
The present study attempted to identify the group of individuals who would be motivated both after success and failure feedbacks. It adopted an alternative fourfold classification of regulatory focus and extended Idson & Higgins (2000) study. Four independent groups could be derived from this classification: 1) individuals high in promotion focus but low in prevention focus; 2) individuals high in prevention focus but low in promotion focus, 3) individuals high in both prevention and promotion focuses (HH); 4) individuals low in both prevention and promotion focuses (LL). The third group of individuals was expected to be motivated after success and also failure feedbacks. They might be the people with the most adaptive motivational pattern of behaviors.
The present study adopted a 2 (promotion focus: high vs. low) x 2 (prevention focus: high vs. low) x 2 (feedback: success vs. failure) experimental design. The participants were 180 Hong Kong university students

以273名內地大學生和368名香港大學生為被試比較了兩地學業倦怠的狀況及與其相關的個體因素。結果表明：內地大學生比香港大學生更外控，在學業倦怠量表上報告較少的衰竭感和譏誚態度，自我效能感上兩者無差異。內地大學生的外控性不能有效預測其學業倦怠，但兩地大學生的策略－情境匹配度以及主觀應對有效性，都能在內外控的基礎上，解釋較大比例的倦怠增益方差。
The current study explored student burnout and its predictors. Participants included 273 students on the mainland and 368 in Hong Kong. Results indicated that mainland students reported less exhaustion and cynicism than their Hong Kong counterparts, but the two groups did not show any differences in the professional efficacy dimension. Students from the mainland scored higher on external locus of control, but this did not contribute to predicting their burnout. For both groups of students, the matching of strategy to situation and the subjective judgement on coping effectiveness, in addition to locus of control, together explain the substantial incremental variance in burnout.
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