As one of the most influential constructs in educational psychology, academic motivation represents individuals’ drives and energies to learn; as an emerging construct attracting increasing interest, engagement manifests individuals’ drives and energies, such as the use of self-regulation strategies. However, little existing research simultaneously considers these two groups of constructs within one framework, or takes their antecedents and outcomes into account, especially in regards to Chinese university students. The present study attempts to systematically study motivation and engagement on the basis of social-cognitive motivation theory and achievement orientation theory as a means of unifying substantive and empirical claims. To accomplish these purposes, two studies, each with two parts, have been conducted with Chinese university students as participants. In Study One, Part One explores the factor structure of several instruments – including the Motivation and Engagement Scales-University/College (MES-UC), the Goal Orientation and Learning Strategies Survey (GOALS-S), the Scale of Institution Integration (SII) and the Academic Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ) – in half the sample (426 cases). Cross-validation with the other half of the sample is then undertaken (423 cases). Part Two investigates a process model, which includes student multiple motivational beliefs, engagement and educational outcomes through path analysis. The results suggest that students’ work avoidance goal predicts their academic dissatisfaction directly and indirectly via maladaptive engagement; their social concern goal indirectly predicts intellectual development via adaptive engagement; their social approval goal directly influences achievement; and student engagement mediates the impacts of other motivational beliefs on their academic dissatisfaction, intellectual development and achievement. Furthermore, social concern, social approval, social status goals and work avoidance goals are significantly related to motivation and engagement. 　　In Study Two, Part One cross-validates the MES-UC instrument in a new independent sample (836 cases) of Chinese university students. Other instruments including the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS) are also validated. Part Two investigates a process model, which includes classroom goal structure, motivational beliefs, engagement and achievement through path analysis. The results find that the classroom mastery goal structure predicts adaptive and maladaptive engagement via adaptive motivation, and the classroom performance-avoidance goal structure affects maladaptive engagement via personal performance-approach goal orientation and maladaptive motivation In summary, by considering the classroom goal structure as a contextual antecedent and a variety of motivational beliefs as individual antecedents, as well as achievement-related constructs as outcomes, the thesis finds the mediation effect of motivational beliefs between classroom goal structure and student engagement, as well as the mediation effect of engagement between motivational beliefs and achievement-related outcomes. The thesis also summarizes the main contributions, and implications, noting the limitations and pointing out some directions for future research in the field of student motivation and engagement. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The Best PhD Thesis in the Faculties of Architecture, Arts, Business & Economics, Education, Law and Social Sciences (University of Hong Kong), Li Ka Shing Prize, 2001-2003. / published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Curriculum and Educational Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

First, from the distributive justice perspective, strong perceptions of distributive injustice are found among undergraduates from national minority and lower-middle and lower classes. The perceptions of distributive injustice can further be differentiated into injustice in educational accesses, educational processes, educational outputs and educational outcomes. Both undergraduates from national minority and from lower-middle and lower classes have registered strong sense of "accumulative distributive injustice" in their educational-advancement experiences. Attributions of educational distributive injustice to disparities of educational resources among regions have also been revealed in this study. However, educational injustice attributed to gender differences seems to be insignificant among perceptions of the subjects under study. / Second, from the relational justice perspective, the perceptions of educational injustice among undergraduates are investigated and categorized in accordance with Young's framework of relational injustice, namely exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence. It is common among undergraduates from national minority and lower-middle and lower classes to have relatively strong sense of relational injustice relating to cultural imperialism and violence. However, the experiences of violence revealed are mostly in the form of symbolic rather than physical violence. They also have substantive sense of relational injustice pertaining to marginalization and powerlessness. Experiences on exploitation are rarely reported among subjects from national minority and lower-middle and lower classes. This study finds that perceptions on relational injustice attributed to gender differences are insignificant among female subjects. / Social justice has risen to be one of the major social issues in Chinese mainland. As attainment of higher education has become one of primary determinants of attainments in social status among future generations, justice in higher education has therefore constituted as one of the areas of concerns among scholars in the field of Chinese education. / Third, differences in ethnicity and class have been revealed as the primary contributing factors to the perceptions of educational injustice among the subjects under study. Perceptions of educational injustice reported by undergraduates from national minority are mainly concentrated on subjects who are Islamite and Tibetan Buddhist from Xinjiang and Tibet. Among subjects of lower-middle and lower classes, subjects from rural areas have relatively stronger sense of injustice than those of comparable class backgrounds from urban areas. Therefore, it seems that disparities in class position and regional differences seem to have crystallized and asserted reinforcing effects on students' perceptions of educational injustice. / This study focuses on a group of the undergraduates from disadvantaged social backgrounds. It investigates their perceptions on educational injustice that they have experienced during their studies. The perceptions of injustice will be studied from the perspectives in both the distributive and relational justice. This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the perceptions of justice among students of higher education in Chinese mainland. Twenty-two undergraduates from disadvantaged social backgrounds have been selected to be subjects of the study from four universities in Nanjing city of Jiangsu province. From the data collected, the following major findings are revealed. / This study has contributed to the scholarly discourses on distributive and relational justice by injecting first-hand qualitative data generated from the context of higher education in Chinese mainland. Furthermore, this study has provided some deep descriptions of the perceptions and experiences of educational injustice in a group disadvantaged background undergraduates in Chinese mainland. It is hoped that these data may help policy makers in formulating educational policy in the future. These data may also sensitizing teachers and other persons working in higher education sectors to address the perceptions and experiences of injustice among undergraduates from disadvantaged social backgrounds. Lastly, it is hoped that the study may be viewed as one of the tiny efforts that have been accumulated over the years by educators all over the world to constitute a relatively more equal and just educational system in human societies. / 钟景迅. / Adviser: Wing-kwong Tsang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-307). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Zhong Jingxun.

陸根書. / 論文(博士)--香港中文大學, 1999. / 參考文獻 (p. 194-205) / 中英文摘要. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Lu Genshu. / Lun wen (Bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 1999. / Can kao wen xian (p. 194-205) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.

Schwartz and Bilsky (1987, 1990) constructed a universal psychological structure for cross-cultural studies of motivational dynamics. To test this structure, Simmons (1991) adapted data from a twenty year broad-based value survey of student cohorts at an American university. The availability of reliable, long-term data on American students permitted a comparison with responses of contemporary Chinese college students to a standardized personal value questionnaire. Ratings and priorities assigned by the Chinese and American students differed significantly. Chinese students emphasized Achievement, Maturity, and Prosocial motivational domains. American students emphasized Self-Direction, Security, and Enjoyment. Tradition, Power, and Stimulation were listed as least important for both groups. The effects of traditional Chinese religious and philosophical teachings on the stability of community norms were noted, as was some evidence of priority shifts in the values for Chinese youth, suggesting changes in response to altered political and economic expectations in China. / Graduation date: 1992