Why do I teach? Teachers' instrumental and prosocial motivation predict teaching quality across East and West.

BACKGROUND: Individuals pursue teaching careers for numerous reasons, such as for instrumental or prosocial purposes. AIMS: This study examined the personal (instrumental motivation) and social (prosocial motivation) utility of teaching as predictors of teaching quality in terms of clarity of instruction, classroom management, and cognitive activation. SAMPLE: We used data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018, which included 50,595 teachers from 1252 schools in 10 countries and regions. METHODS: We performed a series of regression analyses to test a model of instrumental and prosocial motivation to predict three indicators of teaching quality (clarity of instruction, classroom management, and cognitive activation) while controlling for demographic characteristics (age, sex, educational level, and teaching experience). We examined this model in countries and regions from Eastern (Japan, Korea, Singapore, Shanghai and Taipei) and Western (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States of America) cultures. RESULTS: Results demonstrated that instrumental motivation predicted clarity of instruction in the East and classroom management in both the East and West; prosocial motivation, however, was a more consistent predictor of all indicators of teaching quality, except classroom management in the West, across cultures. CONCLUSION: Teachers' prosocial motivation to benefit others and contribute to society must be considered to understand teaching quality across various cultural contexts. Implications for theory, practice and policy are discussed.

Exploring the interplay between socioeconomic status and reading achievement: An expectancy-value perspective.

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic status (SES) and motivation are both important predictors of student achievement. However, most studies have investigated these factors separately, and very few have looked into the interplay between SES and motivation as determinants of student reading achievement. AIMS: We intend to bridge this gap by examining a model of SES predicting reading achievement through motivation (i.e., expectancy and value) at both student and school levels. SAMPLE: We used the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 of 26,281 students from four regions in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taipei). METHODS: We used multi-group multilevel path analysis to test whether SES would predict reading achievement mediated by expectancy and value in student and school levels across four regions, with gender as a covariate. RESULTS: Results showed that at the student level, SES significantly predicted reading achievement indirectly through both expectancy and value across four regions. At the school level, the relationship between school SES and school reading achievement was mostly direct. CONCLUSION: The study was able to demonstrate the motivational gap as a pathway in which economic inequality can contribute to students' reading achievement gap.

Migrant domestic workers' character strengths and the role of work-related factors: A strengths-based perspective.

Most studies on migrant domestic workers (MDW) focus on their problems and vulnerabilities, whereas not much is known about their positive attributes and character strengths. Hence, this study intends to deviate from the usual deficit-based view of MDW, which portrays them as victims, to a strengths-based perspective, which highlights their character strengths. In this study, we examined MDW's character strengths (i.e. positive human attributes that contribute to the thriving of oneself and others) and work-related factors associated with it. The participants of the study were 631 Filipino female MDW in Hong Kong. We examined how work-related factors (employer support and working conditions) predicted different character strength domains (courage, humanity, justice, moderation, transcendence and wisdom) through strengths use. Results of structural equation modelling revealed that employer support consistently predicted all six domains of character strengths through increased strengths use. These findings highlight the important role of employer support on MDW's character strengths. More importantly, it can raise critical awareness on MDW's strengths and well-being, and provide a platform for future strengths-based programmes and policies.

Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children.

This study investigated the effects of a 12-week language-enriched phonological awareness instruction on 76 Hong Kong young children who were learning English as a second language. The children were assigned randomly to receive the instruction on phonological awareness skills embedded in vocabulary learning activities or comparison instruction which consisted of vocabulary learning and writing tasks but no direct instruction in phonological awareness skills. They were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness at the syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels, reading, and spelling in English before and after the program implementation. The results indicated that children who received the phonological awareness instruction performed significantly better than the comparison group on English word reading, spelling, phonological awareness at all levels and expressive vocabulary on the posttest when age, general intelligence and the pretest scores were controlled statistically. The findings suggest that phonological awareness instruction embedded in vocabulary learning activities might be beneficial to kindergarteners learning English as a second language.

A 6-month follow-up of the effects of an information and communication technology (ICT) training programme on people with intellectual disabilities.

We investigated the long-term effects of an information and communication technology (ICT) training programme for people with intellectual disabilities (ID). A community-based ICT training programme was designed to enhance the computer skills of people with ID and prepare them to make use of ICT in their daily life. Of the 100 who had participated in the original ICT training programme, 59 of them and their caregivers agreed to participate in the follow-up interview. A computer skills checklist was used to assess the ICT competence of the participants before training, after training, and at the 6-month follow-up assessment. All caregivers were interviewed at the 6-month follow-up session to explore the use of ICT by people with ID and their needs for further training. Results from repeated measures ANOVA showed that participants maintained at the 6-month follow-up the basic ICT skills that they acquired during training [F=13.86, p<0.001]. Caregivers reported that participants spent more time in using the computers, but still needed occasional guidance. They also reported a need to advance their ICT skills beyond the basic computer training. We concluded that ICT training for people with ID would help them in maximizing the benefits of information technology via computers.