This study focuses on primary students' self-learning strategies, using a sample of 1253 students from 20 Year 3 and 20 Year 5 classes from 10 primary schools in Hong Kong. Students were asked to name sources from which they could learn. They were then asked to rate 10 self-learning strategies on perceived usefulness and personal deployment. Students named an average of 2.5 learning sources, with print exposure (reading) being the most commonly nominated source. Multilevel analysis revealed substantial differences (27% of attributable variance) between classes on student ability to name learning sources. In general, the students indicated that all 10 suggested learning strategies were useful. The two most commonly deployed strategies were help-seeking and locating a quiet study environment. Gender differences were not found on naming learning resources, but girls indicated relatively higher levels of strategy awareness and deployment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144341042000294930]

This study explored the problem of under-achievement in Hong Kong. Underachievers were compared with high achievers and low achievers on their motivational characteristics. The findings generally supported that motivational variables were important factors in discriminating under-achievers and high achievers. While under-achievers had poor academic self-concept, low attainment value in learning, and deficiencies in using effective learning strategies, they did not demonstrate maladaptive attributional pattern as described in Western studies. Implications of these findings for the study of under-achievement and implementation of interventions are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410120090803]

This study examines the multidimensional and hierarchical structure of achievement goal orientation measured by the Inventory of School Motivation. The instrument consists of eight different scales with 43 survey items (ranging from three to seven items each). Each scale reflects one of eight specific dimensions: task, effort, competition, social power, affiliation, social concern, praise, and token. The study also examines the ability of these eight first-order factors to define four general second-order factors—mastery, performance, social factors, and extrinsic factors—as well as one third-order factor, general motivation. Participants came from seven different cultural groups in high schools in Australia (n = 4,787), Hong Kong (n = 697), the United States (n = 2,660), and Africa (n = 819). Nested confirmatory factor analyses support a multidimensional, hierarchical school motivation construct. The model was invariant across cultural groups. The findings provide a strong theoretical structure and tool for further school motivation research.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410500342559]

This study employed the repertory grid technique to investigate how a sample of 27 student teachers in Hong Kong developed a personal sense of teaching efficacy. The analysis indicated that the third year students' perceptions were more homogenous than were those of the first year students. The results also indicated that teaching efficacy was viewed in terms of the dimensions of concern for instructional participation and learning needs of pupils, communication and relationships with pupils, academic knowledge and teaching skills, lesson preparation, management of class discipline, teaching success, teaching commitment, and a sense of self-confidence. Experiences of teaching practice, electives, pupils, and teaching practice supervisors (Electives) were the major sources for the development of a sense of teaching efficacy. Implications of how those aspects of teacher training can be more effective in engendering a sense of efficacy in the student teachers are discussed.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410050027982]

The study examined goal orientations, perceived parenting styles, and their relationships in a sample of Hong Kong teacher education students. It was found that students adopted both learning and performance goals but tended to be more performance goal-oriented. Females were more performance goal-oriented than males. As well, students perceived their most influential parents to be authoritative. In terms of gender, authoritativeness was more effective with females and authoritarianism worked better with males. It was found that perceived parenting styles predicted goal orientations. Authoritativeness was significantly and positively related to learning goals, whereas authoritativeness and authoritarianism were significantly and positively related to performance goals. Besides main effects, there were interaction effects between gender and parenting styles on goal orientations. Cultural and contextual factors were considered 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/10.1080/01443410601066636]

This study examined Hong Kong students' achievement goals and their relations with students' perceived classroom environment and strategy use based on the multiple goal perspective of goal orientation theory. A total of 925 Grade 8 students from six secondary schools in Hong Kong voluntarily responded to a questionnaire that measured these three sets of variables. Consistent with previous studies using goal orientation theory, the findings of this study indicated that students' perceived classroom environment was significantly related to their personal achievement goals and strategy use. While mastery goals were found to be the strongest predictor of strategy use, performance-approach goals and perceived instrumentality also had positive relations with mastery goals and strategy use. Our findings suggest that mastery goals and performance goals were not contrasting goals as conceptualised in normative goal orientation theory. Students with high motivation for both types of goal were more adaptive in learning than were students who pursued a single type of goal. Moreover, the value of adding perceived instrumentality when studying students' motivation should be emphasised. The implications of these findings for understanding Hong Kong students' motivation, and for planning effective teaching instruction to enhance their motivation, are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410701612008]

Emotional intelligence (intrapersonal and interpersonal) and general teacher self-efficacy were assessed to represent personal resources facilitating active and passive coping in a sample of 273 Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong Kong. Intrapersonal emotional intelligence and interpersonal emotional intelligence were found to predict significantly active coping strategy, but teacher self-efficacy did not contribute independently to the prediction of active coping even though there was some evidence that teacher self-efficacy might interact with intrapersonal emotional intelligence in the prediction of active coping, especially for male teachers. The implications of the findings for preventive intervention efforts to combat teacher stress through teaching to enhance emotional intelligence are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410701668372]

In this study, a descriptive quantitative methodology for categorical data analysis that works well with small samples was used to investigate whether Chinese students' conceptions of learning included memorisation as an integral part of understanding, as suggested by phenomenographic studies. Twenty-five Chinese students attending the B. Ed. programme at the University of Hong Kong were asked to rank order six conceptions of learning. Results revealed an interesting multidimensional structure, suggesting that memorislng was seen as clearly distinct from knowledge and understanding. Contrasting conceptions of learning (such as memorisation vs changing as a person) were identified, similar to the previous distinction made between conceptions lacking, or being concerned with, constitutive meaning. These findings suggest multidimensional aspects to conceptions of learning for Chinese students that extend the notion of memorisation-understanding relations. Further inquiry in the areas of context, awareness, and types of memorisation would shed light on Chinese students' conceptions of learning. It is suggested that quantitative methodologies ideally suited to categorical data analysis with small samples could be used to supplement the results of qualitative phenomenographic methodologies on student conceptions of learning.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410303231 ]

Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of cooperative learning on second-graders' motivation and learning from text. In Study 1, students (n = 160) in cooperative learning groups were compared with their counterparts (n = 107) in traditional instruction groups. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups, with more favourable perceptions of teachers' instructional practices and better reading comprehension in the instructional intervention groups than in the traditional instruction groups. In Study 2, 51 second-graders participated in the instructional intervention programme. The results showed that students' positive cooperative behaviour and attitudes were related to their motivation and reading comprehension. When students perceived that their peers were willing to help each other and were committed to the group, they tended to be more motivated and performed better in reading comprehension.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410701880159]

This article reports the development of a teacher self-efficacy scale that aims to accommodate the complexity of teacher functioning in secondary schools in times of education reforms in Hong Kong. The scale was designed to assess six domains of teacher self-efficacy: teaching highly able learners, classroom management, guidance and counselling, student engagement, teaching to accommodate diversity, and teaching for enriched learning. The total scale and the six subscales were evaluated based on the responses of 159 Hong Kong Chinese prospective and in-service teachers for internal consistency and construct validity, and for convergent and discriminant validation with external measures.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410701491833]