published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This research aimed to investigate whether or not intellectual styles are malleable and to study the effects of intellectual styles on learning achievement. These aims were achieved through investigating whether or not teachers’ teaching behavior could lead students to change their intellectual styles in learning, and examining the relationship between students’ intellectual styles and learning achievement. Surveys and an experiment were employed in this research. The surveys consisted of two pilot studies (Study 1 and Study 2), while the experiment formed the main study (Study 3). The pilot studies were performed to evaluate the two inventories (the Questionnaire for Teacher Interaction and the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised) used in the main study, and to investigate the relationship between thinking styles and preferred teacher teaching behavior among students and teachers. Two hundred and forty-seven students and 94 teachers were recruited in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. Findings in these two pilot studies verified that the two inventories were applicable to Chinese secondary school teachers and students. These two studies also revealed that preferred teacher teaching behavior and thinking styles of students and teachers were related. In particular, students and teachers with a dominant preference for Type I thinking styles preferred student-centered teaching behavior to teacher-centered teaching behavior. Moreover, they preferred a wider range of teaching behavior than did the students and teachers with a dominant preference for Type II thinking styles. Also, in the teacher sample, the relationship between thinking styles and preferred teaching behavior exhibited a clearer pattern than in the student sample. The experiment was an eight-month instructional research. Five experimental classes were formed, with five teachers and 139 students as participants. Each teacher taught one class, after being trained to adopt only one type of teaching behavior to teach and to interact with students. Dominant, oppositional, and submissive teaching behaviors were the respective types adopted for three of the classes. The remaining two classes were taught by teachers adopting cooperative teaching behavior. Hence, the experiment adopted a 2 (time) × 5 (learning environment) repeated-measures design. Students’ thinking styles were measured by the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised before and after the experiment. Also, an investigation of student learning achievement was conducted after classroom instruction. The results showed that students’ thinking styles changed in all of the five experimental classes, with teachers’ teaching behavior in teaching being the main factor contributing to the changes. Moreover, teacher-centered and student-centered teaching behaviors led to student thinking style changes along different directions. Teacher-centered teaching behavior tended to cause student thinking style changes that diverged from the teachers’ own preferred thinking styles, while student-centered teaching behavior tended to shift students’ thinking styles in a direction towards their teachers’ preferred thinking styles. Furthermore, students’ thinking styles and their learning achievement were related. Specifically, Type II styles and the internal style tended to positively predict student learning achievement, while Type I styles and the external style tended to negatively predict learning achievement. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

This research aimed to explore the phenomenon of perfectionism in Hong Kong Chinese primary school students, including those with academic talents, and to delineate any causal relationships among perfectionism, social connectedness and academic self-efficacy. To this end, three sequential studies were designed. Study One aimed to develop and validate a version of the Adaptive/Maladaptive Perfectionism Scale (AMPS) translated into Chinese. This instrument permits the examination of various dimensions of perfectionism and made available a reliable perfectionism measure for use in Study Two. The Chinese version of AMPS is now available to other researchers for future perfectionism studies with Chinese students. In Study One, 599 fourth to sixth grade students completed the Chinese version of the AMPS. It was found that perfectionism in this population could be considered in terms of four dimensions, namely: Compulsiveness, Sensitivity to Mistakes, Contingent Self-Esteem, and Need for Admiration. All the dimensions were positively inter-correlated. Study Two then aimed to use the validated Chinese version of AMPS to help develop a causal model to illustrate the direct predictive power of perfectionism on academic self-efficacy, and its indirect influence through the mediation of social connectedness. For this purpose, a structural equation modeling was used. A sample of 1425 fourth to sixth grade students completed a detailed questionnaire which assessed their perfectionism, their perceived social connectedness, and their academic self-efficacy. The results confirmed perfectionism as a significant and direct predictor of academic self-efficacy, and identified social connectedness as an indirect but reliable mediator in the causal relationship between perfectionism and academic self-efficacy. Study Thee focused on academically talented students in fourth to sixth grades. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 students nominated by their teachers as “academically talented”. The aim was to collect qualitative data to supplement the quantitative findings already obtained in Study One and Study Two. In particular, the purpose was to investigate conception of perfectionism, as well as the relationships among perfectionism, social connectedness, and academic self-efficacy in academically talented Chinese students. The findings showed Compulsiveness, Sensitivity to Mistakes, and Need for Admiration to be influential dimensions within these students’ conceptions of perfectionism but, together, all four dimensions of perfectionism directly influenced students’ perceived academic competence. Students’ perfectionism was also found to be influenced by their perceived connectedness to their families, teachers, peers and school. Perceived social connectedness, in turn, played an important role in determining academic self-efficacy. Stemming from ecological theory and social cognitive theory, this research has provided an interactive framework for understanding the personal-social development of Chinese primary school students, particularly the academically talented. The quantitative and qualitative findings have pointed to the importance of cultural diversity in understanding perfectionism and social connectedness, and for appreciating the early impact perfectionism has on Chinese students. The implications of the findings are discussed, with due attention given to relevant theories, research methodology, directions for future research, and guidance and counseling. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this research was to investigate the nature of thinking styles as it relates to style value and style malleability through examining the relationships between thinking styles, motivational orientations, and academic achievement in learning physics among secondary school students in Hong Kong. Specifically, the research aimed to determine whether or not teaching styles change students’ thinking styles, and if so, the association of these changes on students’ motivational orientations; and to determine the extent to which motivational orientations and thinking styles link academic achievement in physics. This quantitative research employed a quasi-experimental longitudinal design and was composed of one pilot study and one main study. The pilot study purposed to evaluate the two inventories used in the main study: the Motivational Orientation Scales in Learning Physics (MOSLP) and the Thinking Styles Inventory Revised II (TSI-R2). A total of 76 secondary school students participated in the pilot study. Results revealed that the MOSLP and the TSI-R2 were applicable to Hong Kong school students. The main study was an experimental study aimed at determining the impact of teaching styles on students’ thinking styles, motivational orientations, and academic achievement in physics. A total of six teachers and 449 secondary students constituted the experimental group, and five teachers and 347 students constituted the control group. The intervention, involved students in physics lessons instructed under Type I teaching styles, was implemented in each participating teacher’s school for one semester. Pre-and post-tests were conducted, in which students’ thinking styles and motivational orientations were measured by the TSI-R2 and the MOSLP respectively. Students’ physics examination results were also collected at the time of the post-test. A series of statistical analyses were conducted to reveal the effects of thinking styles on motivational orientations, to identify changes in students’ thinking styles, and to determine their relationships with academic achievement in both the experimental and control groups. Overall results demonstrated that Type I thinking styles were positively associated with task orientation and negatively connected with work avoidance orientation, thus which indicated adaptive value of Type I styles; Type II styles were not particularly associated with any of the motivational orientation scales, which suggested that they were value-differentiated; and Type III styles were found to be associated with ego orientation (in the pre-test), which suggested that they had less adaptive value. Moreover, students in the experimental group unexpectedly demonstrated a decreasing trend in their use of some Type I styles, some maladaptive Type II styles, and some Type III thinking styles for learning physics, whereas students in the control group decreased their use of some Type III thinking styles. Also, reduction in ego orientation among students in the experimental group was found to be greater than that of the control group. Finally, results demonstrated that teaching styles played a mediating role in boosting academic achievement. Students in the experiment and control groups studying in different forms modified either their thinking styles or motivational orientations. The magnitudes of these changes positively associated with students’ levels of achievement in physics. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

Chinese college students' 1993 perceptions of gains in achievement as a result of informal student-faculty relations outside the classroom were investigated at Liaoning Normal College of Foreign Language in Liaoyang, China. This study included assessment of pre-enrollment demographics and analyzed perceived gains due to student-faculty informal contact in the areas of academic achievement, intellectual achievement, and personal development.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy