Mingming Zhou

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Psychometric Properties of Responses to the Achievement Goal Questionnaire.

The psychometric properties of scores from the Achievement Goal Questionnaire were examined in samples of Japanese (N = 326) and Canadian (N = 307) postsecondary students. Previous research found evidence of a four-factor structure of achievement goals in U.S. samples. Using confirmatory factor-analytic techniques, the authors found strong evidence for the four-factor structure of achievement goals in both the Canadian and Japanese populations. Subsequent multigroup structural equation modeling indicated the metric invariance of this four-factor structure across the two populations.

Using Traces to Investigate Self-Regulatory Activities: A Study of Self-Regulation and Achievement Goal Profiles in the Context of Web Search for Academic Tasks

Traditional approaches of researching self-regulated learning (SRL) fail to capture how learners actually employ studying tactics, how tactics are strategically adapted to specific learning contexts, and how learners adapt tactics and interweave them to form an efficient strategy. Computer traces can capture SRL “on the fly,” and enable researchers to track learning events in a nonlinear environment without disrupting the learner’s thinking or navigation through content. More importantly, data obtained in real time allow “virtual” re-creation of learners’ actions during studying. There were 107 Chinese university students’ traces collected while they solved assigned problems through searching the web. By linking their regulatory activities during online search to their goal profiles, results showed that mastery-approach-dominant students were most strategic, whereas performance-avoidance-dominant students were least. Moderately motivated students showed a mixed pattern of deep and surface study strategies. Implications of the findings were also discussed.

University Student's Goal Profiles and Metacomprehension Accuracy.

In this study, undergraduate students provided confidence ratings to predict future performance in answering questions drawn from the text before reading the text, after reading the text and after rereading the text. Self-reports of achievement goal orientations during reading and posttest scores were also collected. Student’s calibration index was the comparison between their predicted posttest performance and actual performance in the posttest. Correlational analyses did not reveal any statistically detectable relationships between self-reported goal orientations and monitoring accuracy, except that bias scores were marginally related to goal orientations. Further cluster analyses and analyses of variance (ANOVA) also showed that student’s multiple goal profiles failed to clearly differentiate the groups in terms of their calibration accuracy, yet performance-approach goals did distinguish overconfident from underconfident students. Plausible reasons for the finding were provided and implications for future research were also discussed.

The influence of teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning on their technology acceptance

ABSTRACT Prior research has attempted to incorporate different personal variables within extant theories of technology acceptance models (TAMs). This study further extends TAM by incorporating teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning (CoTL) in two forms: constructivist and traditional conceptions. The moderating effects of teachers’ demographic variables including age, gender, teaching experience, teaching level, and technology experience were tested. Our findings demonstrated that incorporating CoTL could provide a richer and more nuanced understanding of technology acceptance, although no moderating effects on any demographic variables were found.

Hope and General Self-efficacy: Two Measures of the Same Construct?

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to test the extent to which hope measure is equivalent to general self-efficacy measure. Questionnaire data on these two constructs and other external variables were collected from 199 Chinese college students. The factor analytic results suggested that hope and self-efficacy items measured the same construct. The unidimensional model combining hope items and GSE items fit the data as well as the bidimensional model, indicating that their corresponding items measured the same underlying construct. Further analyses showed that hope and GSE did not correlate with external variables differently in a systematic manner. Most of these correlational differences were non-significant and negligible. These findings suggested that the literatures studying GSE and hope could be considered to be integrated and that researchers need to recognize and acknowledge the conceptual and operational similarities among these constructs in the literature.

Does Acquiescence Affect Individual Items Consistently

Previous research has found the effects of acquiescence to be generally consistent across item aggregates within a single survey (i.e., essential tau-equivalence), but it is unknown whether this phenomenon is consistent at the individual item level. This article evaluated the often assumed but inadequately tested proposition that individual items are affected by acquiescence to the same degree. We modeled an external acquiescence criterion to assess (a) whether it affected scale items consistently and (b) whether it would be strongly correlated with an acquiescence factor based on an assumption of tau-equivalence. The results did not support this assumption. As further evidence, we identified a situation in which this tau-equivalence assumption could potentially be violated. We propose that the response style be best understood within a framework of an acquiescence × item interaction.

Is the Dark Triad Better Studied Using a Variable- or a Person-Centered Approach? An Exploratory Investigation

Despite Allport’s early call to study personality as a coordinated system of traits within individual rather than separate traits, researchers often assume personality variables are largely distinct, independent characteristics. In the current research, we examined the usual assumption that Dark Triad traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) are best studied using a variable-centered (dimensional), rather than a person-centered (taxonic), approach. Results showed that a variable-centered approach is appropriate in understanding the Dark Triad, and yet individuals scoring high on one Dark Triad dimension also tend to score high on other dimensions. Based on these results, we concluded that it is appropriate to study individual differences in the Dark Triad (inferences based on persons) by capturing the common variance among the three traits using a variable-centered approach, rather than treating these traits as independent or uncoordinated characteristics.

A self-determination perspective on Chinese fifth-graders’ task disengagement

Engagement in academic tasks is important. However, compared to the large body of research on task engagement, the number of studies on task disengagement is quite limited. The aim of this study is to examine the associations between the motivational (self-determination) and attitudinal antecedents (learning orientations) of task disengagement. The sample consisted of 347 fifth-graders in China. We tested two mediation models that incorporated self-determination (autonomous versus controlled), learning orientation (collaborative versus competitive), and task disengagement among Chinese primary school students in learning English. Results showed collaborative learning orientation mediated the link between autonomous motivation and task disengagement. Collaborative learning orientation was also found to be negatively related to task disengagement.

Trait procrastination, self-efficacy and achievement goals: the mediation role of boredom coping strategies

Abstract Limited research has examined the mediational role of coping strategy in students’ motivation and procrastination. In this study, we examined the relationships among self-efficacy, achievement goals, boredom coping strategies and procrastination with 506 Chinese college students. Data were collected via questionnaires. Structural equation modelling results showed that both self-efficacy and approach goals significantly predicted approach-oriented coping strategies, and avoidance goals significantly predicted avoidance-oriented coping strategies. Among the different types of boredom coping strategies, only behavioural avoidance coping strategy significantly predicted procrastination. Hence, the mediating link was only found between avoidance goals, behavioural avoidance coping strategy and procrastination. Implications of the mediating role of behavioural avoidance coping strategy in the goal-procrastination relationship were further discussed.

Mobile technology in dance education: a case study of three Canadian high school dance programs

ABSTRACT The prevalence of technology used in education is evident across many disciplines. Big Data, Massive Open Online Course, and e-Learning are buzz words in educational settings, yet they seem to be non-relevant to the majority of dance educators, especially those teaching dance at secondary level. Overall, the absence of research on technology use in high school dance education creates a void. This ethnographic research is designed to address this issue and to fill the gap by focusing on Generation Z (individuals born after the Millennials) and their teachers in three public high school dance programs in the Greater Toronto area in Canada. While it explores recent studies on technology integration in dance education, it also looks at the effectiveness of using technology, especially how mobile devices work and the role they play in teaching and learning dance. Results indicate that despite initial difficulties, both high school students and their teachers benefit from technology integration in dance classes. Some technological approaches (web podcast and blogs) work better than others (website and virtual learning platforms, e.g. Moodle and Blackboard). Concerns about confidentiality and capability of using technology in dance teaching and learning are discussed and strategies to problem-solving are also shared.