Acceptance of and self-regulatory practices in online learning and their effects on the participation of Hong Kong secondary school students in online learning.

This study investigated how the acceptance and use of self-regulatory strategies in online learning affected Hong Kong secondary school students' participation in online learning. A self-reported questionnaire was distributed to 1381 students from six secondary schools. Findings of the descriptive analysis indicated that students did not frequently use most types of online self-regulatory strategies. Although they agreed that the online learning methods were easy to use and facilitated learning, they did not actively participate in online learning activities and showed a low tendency to continuation. Further, structural equation modeling indicated that the effect of strategy use on actual participation was stronger than that of user acceptance. The former had a significant indirect effect on actual participation through the strong effect it had on user acceptance. Consequently, suggestions have been made for improving the instructional design of online learning and increasing students' willingness and readiness to participate in online learning.

Language Skills in Classical Chinese Text Comprehension.

This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the role of lower- and higher-level language skills in classical Chinese (CC) text comprehension. A CC word and sentence translation test, text comprehension test, and questionnaire were administered to 393 Secondary Four students; and 12 of these were randomly selected to participate in retrospective interviews. The findings revealed that students' CC reading performance was unsatisfactory with respect to both lower- and text-level comprehension. Among the different factors examined, the most crucial to CC reading comprehension was lower-level reading skill. Owing to students' weak lower-level reading skills, participants relied heavily on contextual clues when reading in CC. The implications of these findings for understanding factors that contribute to CC reading comprehension, and for planning effective instruction to enhance students' CC reading competence are discussed.

Grade differences in reading motivation among Hong Kong primary and secondary students.

BACKGROUND: Most previous studies in Western societies have demonstrated a general decline in school motivation. However, it is not clear whether motivational decline occurs uniformly for all students. The moderating effects of individual and cultural differences on students' motivational decline need to be further explored. AIMS: This study aimed to examine the grade differences in students' reading motivation, including self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and social motivation, in a Chinese educational context. Grade by gender and grade by school-average achievement interactions were also checked to explore the role of individual differences in students' motivational changes. SAMPLE: A total of 1,794 students (860 boys and 934 girls) volunteered to take part in this study, of whom 648 were Grade 4-6 students from 11 primary schools, 627 were Grade 7-9 students from 12 junior secondary schools, and 519 Grade 10-11 students from 6 senior secondary schools. METHOD: A Chinese version of the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (CRMQ) was administered to all participants during regular class periods by their teachers. Reliability analyses and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were first undertaken to assess the psychometric quality of the CRMQ. Then, multisample CFA was conducted to examine whether the factor structure of the CRMQ was equivalent across students at different grade levels. Grade differences in various reading motivation constructs as well as grade x gender and grade x school-average achievement interactions were examined using multiple-indicator-multiple-causes modelling. RESULTS: The findings of this study supported the reliability and the factor structure of the CRMQ in measuring the reading motivation of Chinese students at different grade levels. The factor pattern of the CRMQ was invariant across primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary students in multisample CFA. As far as the scores on the four reading motivation constructs were concerned, students scored most highly on intrinsic motivation, followed by self-efficacy, extrinsic motivation, and social motivation. Significant grade differences were found in all reading motivation constructs whereas only a few grade by gender and grade by school-average interactions were found. CONCLUSION: Consistent with previous studies in Western countries, the findings suggest that motivational decline is also a common phenomenon among Chinese students in Hong Kong. In addition, the pattern of motivational differences is generally consistent among students with different genders and from schools with different achievement levels. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' reading motivation and for planning effective reading instruction to enhance their motivation are discussed.

Validation of a Chinese achievement goal orientation questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: The mixed findings of previous studies on the nature and effects of performance goals have led to a call for re-examination of the dichotomous framework of achievement goal orientation theory. While the call for a revised achievement goal orientation theory has received considerable discussion in Western studies, it is not clear whether the revised theory can also be applied in other ethnic and cultural contexts. AIMS: Our aim was to validate the Chinese version of Elliot and Church's (1007) Goal Orientation Questionnaire and to initially test the revised goal orientation theory in the context of Chinese students in Hong Kong. SAMPLE: A total of 270 Chinese students (137 boys and 133 girls) from a primary and secondary school in Hong Kong participated in Study 1. Study 2 involved a total of 9,440 students (5,420 boys and 4,020 girls) from 10 primary and 18 secondary schools in Hong Kong. METHOD: Participants in Study 1 completed a Chinese Goal Orientation Questionnaire (CGOQ) measuring three types of goal orientation. Exploratory factor analysis, item-total correlation, and reliability analyses were undertaken to assess the psychometric quality of the CGOQ. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis was used to provide further validation for the revised questionnaire. The relationships among different goal orientations and that with students' perceived classroom environment and self-efficacy were also explored using structural equation modelling. RESULTS: Findings of exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 and confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2 supported the proposed factor structure of the CGOQ. All the subscales in the questionnaire also showed good internal consistency reliabilities. The construct validity of the CGOQ was supported by its significant relationship with criterion measures. While most of the relationships between the three types of goal orientation and the learning-related variables measured in our study were consistent with the revised goal orientation theory, the positive relationships between performance-avoidance goals, mastery goals, and perceived classroom environment were different from previous studies. CONCLUSION: Our findings generally supported the trichotomous framework of the revised goal orientation theory with Chinese students in Hong Kong. Consistent with the revised goal orientation theory, our findings indicated that both mastery and performance-approach goals had positive impacts on students' learning. However, the positive relationships between performance-avoidance goals, mastery goals, and perceived classroom environment were contradictory to the conceptualization of performance-avoidance goals in the revised theory. Cultural and social factors affecting Hong Kong students' goal orientations are discussed.