Yk Law

Beliefs about learning, self-regulated strategies and text comprehension among Chinese children

BACKGROUNDnMost studies have investigated college and high school students epistemological beliefs in Western contexts, with few studies examining how beliefs about learning are related to childrens strategies and comprehension in the Chinese cultural context.nnnAIMSnThe present study investigated Chinese elementary school childrens beliefs about learning and examined their relations with self-regulated learning strategies and text comprehension.nnnSAMPLEnThe participants were 417 Grade 5 (mean age=10.8 years) and 420 Grade 6 (mean age=11.9 years) elementary school children in Hong Kong.nnnMETHODSnA questionnaire assessing childrens beliefs about learning was constructed; children were also asked to complete the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and several text comprehension tasks assessing deep understanding.nnnRESULTSnFactor analysis indicated two contrasting factors of constructivist and reproductive beliefs about learning. High achievers outperformed low achievers on beliefs, strategy and comprehension scores. Multiple regression indicated that constructivist beliefs contributed to text comprehension over and above the effects of grade and strategy.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThis study corroborates current research on the roles of beliefs and strategies in text comprehension and suggests that meta-cognitive beliefs and strategies examined in English reading can also be identified among Chinese children in text comprehension.

The role of attribution beliefs, motivation and strategy use in Chinese fifth-graders' reading comprehension

Background:u2003The latest report by the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), issued in 2006, indicated that Hong Kong Primary 4 Chinese students outperformed children from 45 countries and provinces in reading comprehension tests that measured their higher-order reading proficiency. However, the study gave no indication of how factors such as attribution beliefs, motivation and strategy use might contribute to reading proficiency. Purpose:u2003The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between students implicit beliefs about intelligence and ability, i.e. their ‘attribution beliefs’, and their motivation, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies and reading comprehension. Sample:u2003The subjects consisted of 120 Grade 5 Chinese students (55 boys and 65 girls) from one Hong Kong primary school that uses Chinese as the medium of instruction. The school represents a typical primary school located in a Hong Kong urban area, with most students coming from low-income families. There was a wide range of academic ability and the average age of the students was 12.2 years. Design and methods:u2003A quantitative approach was adopted in the research. Students were required to complete three questionnaires and two reading comprehension tests. The three questionnaires measured students implicit beliefs about intelligence and ability, and their self-reported motivation and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. The reading comprehension tests measured students higher-order reading proficiency. Multiple regression analysis techniques were used to examine the relationship between students beliefs and motivation, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, and how they predicated students reading comprehension. Results:u2003The findings showed that students implicit beliefs about intelligence and ability, and their intrinsic motivation and metacognitive awareness of the use of reading strategies were associated with their reading comprehension. Conclusions:u2003These findings suggest that the Chinese children who considered intelligence and ability as controllable were more likely to be intrinsically motivated to learn to read and to use various reading strategies to tackle problems when constructing meaning from text, resulting in a better understanding of text. However, as all the participants in the present study came from one Hong Kong primary school, caution should be exercised in generalising the findings of the present study to all Chinese primary students.

The Roles of Instructional Practices and Motivation in Writing Performance

The authors investigated what and how instructional practices are related to students motivation and performance in writing. The participants were 6 teacher interns and their (N = 209) secondary-school students in Hong Kong. In a 3-session instruction unit, the teacher interns taught their students how to write an expository essay. The students completed the essay and then a questionnaire to report their motivation in the task and their perception of the instruction. Results of structural equation modeling showed that students motivation mediated the effects of instructional practices on writing performance. The authors found that when the teachers adopted more motivating teaching strategies, the students were more motivated. When the students were more motivated, they, in turn, had better performance in writing.

The Relationship between Extrinsic Motivation, Home Literacy, Classroom Instructional Practices, and Reading Proficiency in Second-Grade Chinese Children.

R profi ciency is an important index of learning ability and is positively correlated with children’s academic achievement in elementary schools (Chapman et al., 2000). Consequently, educators are interested in investigating the various factors that promote early reading profi ciency, and various studies have shown that children’s reading motivation directly and indirectly infl uences their reading comprehension (Schraw et al., 1998; Wigfi eld and Guthrie, 1997a). Motivation can affect children’s commitment to reading, their approaches to reading, as well as their engagement in reading activities (Wang and Guthrie, 2004). For example, children will set higher goals for themselves and select more diffi cult books to read if they enjoy the subject of the books. Also, when readers are motivated to read, the amount of time they spend on reading is increased, and consequently their reading comprehension improves. A considerable number of studies have shown that parents and teachers play important roles in motivating and promoting early reading development (Baker, 2003; Wang and Guthrie, 2004). In the present study we examined how younger children’s extrinsic motivation and home literacy activities, parents’ participation in their children’s homework and teachers’ instructional practices were associated with children’s reading profi ciency.

Effects of cooperative learning on second graders’ learning from text

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.

Classroom discourse analysis and educational outcomes in the era of education reform.

BACKGROUNDnIn the era of education reform when new teaching approaches are being advocated, it is important to investigate how different classroom discourse patterns are related to different educational outcomes.nnnAIMnThe purpose of the study was to analyse the whole classroom discourse of two teacher interns writing classes. It was conducted against a background of education reform in which teachers were being encouraged to make major changes in their teaching approaches. We investigated what approaches were adopted and what discourse patterns were related to better educational outcomes.nnnSAMPLEnThe participants were two teacher interns and their 61 students in Hong Kong. The students (35 boys, 26 girls) were seventh graders from two classes in the same secondary school.nnnMETHODnAn instruction unit of each teacher intern on expository writing (120 min) was video-recorded and analysed. Discourse analysis of the whole classroom interaction was supplemented by the students perceptions and independent observers evaluations of the instruction.nnnRESULTSnThe results indicated that both teacher interns adopted a traditional direct instruction although student-centred approaches were being recommended in the education reform. The effectiveness of the instruction was associated with certain features of the classroom discourse patterns. Better educational outcomes were associated positively with utterances of high cognitive demand but negatively with utterances related to discipline. Students tended to have better performances in writing when they and the independent observers perceived that the teachers used more motivating strategies.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe effectiveness of instruction is a complicated phenomenon that involves a myriad of interrelated factors. Teacher- or student-centred approaches are only part of these diverse factors.

Open attitudes, attribution beliefs, and knowledge of Hong Kong teacher interns in an era of education reform

We have investigated how open attitudes, attribution beliefs, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge were related to teaching performance among teacher interns. The participants were 72 teacher interns in Hong Kong, where large-scale education reform has been launched since 2000. Multiple methods (self-report, academic grades, and ratings from mentors and supervisors) were used to measure the interns attribution beliefs, open attitudes, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching performance. It was found that their openness to advice and challenges, effort attribution for failure, and pedagogical content knowledge were positively associated with their teaching performance in an era of education reform.

A nonparametric item analysis of a selected item subset of the learning process questionnaire.

BACKGROUNDnAlthough there have been numerous studies conducted on the psychometric properties of Biggs Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ), these have involved the use of traditional omnibus measures of scale quality such as corrected item total correlations, internal consistency estimates of reliability, and factor analysis. However, these omnibus measures of scale quality are sample dependent and fail to model item responses as a function of trait level. And since the item trait relationship is typically nonlinear, traditional factor analytic methods are inappropriate.nnnAIMSnThe purpose of this study was to identify a unidimensional subset of LPQ items and examine the effectiveness of these items and their options in discriminating between changes in the underlying trait level. In addition to assessing item quality, we were interested in assessing overall scale quality with non-sample dependent measures.nnnMETHODnThe sample was split into two nearly equal halves, and a undimensional subset of items was identified in one of these samples and cross-validated in the other. The nonlinear relationship between the probability of endorsing an item option and the underlying trait level was modelled using a nonparametric latent trait technique known as kernel smoothing and implemented with the program TestGraf. After item and scale quality were established, maximum likelihood estimates of participants trait level were obtained and used to examine grade and gender differences.nnnRESULTSnA undimensional subset of 16 deep and achieving items was identified. Slightly more than half of these items needed some of their options combined so that the probability of endorsing an item option as a function of increasing trait level corresponded to the ideal rank ordering of the item options. With this adjustment, scale quality as measured by the information function and standard error function was found to be good. However, no statistically significant gender differences were observed and, although statistically significant grade differences were observed, they were not substantively meaningful.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe use of nonparametric kernel-smoothing techniques is advocated over parametric latent trait methods for the analysis of attitudinal and psychological measures involving polychotomous ordered-response categories. It is also suggested that latent trait methods are more appropriate than traditional test-based measures for studying differential item functioning both within and between cultures. Nonparametric kernel-smoothing techniques hold particular promise in identifying and understanding cross-cultural differences in student approaches to learning at both the item and scale level.

The role of structured cooperative learning groups for enhancing Chinese primary students’ reading comprehension

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of two types of cooperative learning groups used in reciprocal teaching (RT) classes (i.e. high-structured vs. low-structured groups) for enhancing students’ reading comprehension. The participants were 235 Hong Kong Chinese Grade 6 students in nine classes. Reading comprehension tests and questionnaires were used to investigate students’ reading comprehension, teachers’ cognitive support and perceptions of cooperative learning. The findings indicate that high achievers from the low-structured RT group significantly outperformed high achievers from the high-structured RT group in post-test reading comprehension, whereas low achievers from the high-structured RT group significantly outperformed low achievers from the low-structured RT group in follow-up reading comprehension. Students from the high-structured RT group reported higher scores for their perceptions of cooperative learning than students from the low-structured RT group.

Enhancing peer acceptance of children with learning difficulties: classroom goal orientation and effects of a storytelling programme with drama techniques

Abstract Peer acceptance is an important facilitator for the success of inclusive education. The aim of the current study is twofold: (1) to examine how classroom goal orientation is associated with children’s acceptance of peers with learning difficulties; and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of a storytelling programme with drama techniques on children’s acceptance of peers with learning difficulties. The participants were 86 Grade 3 students from a Hong Kong primary school, randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 45) and a control group (n = 41). The findings indicated that the more the students perceived that their classroom was performance-approach oriented, the less they would accept their peers with learning difficulties in doing things together. After the intervention, the students in the experimental condition, compared to their counterparts in the control group, were more likely to render financial assistance and have affective acceptance to their peers with learning difficulties.