published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

西方動機研究指出對學習較為理想的動機以自主及內在取向為主。但近年的跨文化動機研究指出，雖然東方社會的學習環境未必對培養內在動機有利，但國際研究 (如：PISA) 指出東方學生的成績較西方學生為佳。 / 本研究邀請249名高中學生於考試前兩周填寫學習動機量度問卷。多層線性回歸分析指出正面的自尊感可預測基於平時分預測以外的中文、英文及數學科考試成績。而中文科及英文科考試成績亦同時受到不同類型的動機概念所影響。 / 本研究亦發現性別與不同程度的自我調控動機的交互影響可影響語文科的考試表現 (中文及英文科)。這些交互影響與考試成績的關係可歸因於女生在學習語文科目時的女性取向及她們在語文科的成績優勢。男生的交互影響則受競爭取向及希望獲取優異考試成績而引致的焦慮所影響，使男生分別在中、英文科成績受到正面(中文)及負面(英文)的影響。 / In Western motivational studies, high achieving and successful students are characterized as autonomous, self-directed, and intrinsically motivated. To optimize learning and academic achievement, Western motivational theories emphasize learning with goals that are aimed at mastering content and developing one's competence. In recent years, many academic achievement studies with international comparisons suggest that East Asian students are often among the top achievers (Hau & Ho, 2010; Li, 2002). In contrast to Western learning environments, the education environment in these East Asian countries, like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Korea is characterized as demanding and exam-oriented. Students' learning is believed to be predominately driven by extrinsic motivation. Such a learning environment is likely to create a less desirable condition for the development of optimal academic motivation in students. Thus, it is surprising to note the latest OECD PISA report (OECD, 2010) showed these Asian countries being ranked highly in academic achievement, occupying the third to fourth rankings among all participating countries. The outstanding achievement of East Asian students has been of great research interest in recent years. Researchers have focused on the cultural factors and socialization processes for explaining the outstanding academic achievement of East Asian students, and have studied how cultural factors and socialization processes contribute to different motivational mechanisms in initiating and sustaining students' academic engagement. / In the present study, a questionnaire which consisted items of self-regulating motivations, goals orientations, contingent self-worth, self-esteem, task value and goal investment were administered to examine how different motivational processes contributed to Hong Kong Chinese high school students' (N=249) academic achievement. Students filled in the questionnaire two weeks before their final examination. Their pre-examination term marks and gender were entered as controlled variables for predicting students’ final examination achievement along with the motivation variables. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that different motivational processes exerted different influences on students' performance in compulsory academic subjects. / Consistent across the three core academic subjects (Chinese, English and Mathematics), the higher one's self-esteem two weeks before their final examination, the greater was his or her achievement on top of what would have been predicted by their term scores. The boosting effect of motivational constructs were also found in the humanities subjects, particularly for English, students with higher performance goal, contingent self-worth, external regulation and lower identified regulation achieved better examination results in respective academic subjects. For Chinese language, higher external regulation predicted better examination achievement. Plausible explanations including cultural influences and relative importance of these subjects in Hong Kong context were discussed. / Findings in the present study also documented interaction effects between gender and self-regulated motivation for humanities examination achievement. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that two types of self-regulating motivation interacted with gender on the achievement of different language arts subjects. Findings showed that girls with low introjected regulation achieved much better Chinese examination results than boys did. The interaction effect for the two sexes was relatively smaller for students with higher introjected regulation. / For English language, girls with high identified regulation had better examination results than boys did. The interaction effect for the two sexes was relatively smaller for students with low identified regulation. / The findings confirmed that self-regulating motivation interacted with gender for different academic subjects. In general, language subjects were deemed as feminine orientations, in which girls tend to possess greater internal value towards learning this academic subject, and girls' achievement suffered as heightened introjected regulation externalized self-regulating motivation. Whereas, boys' performance did not suffer as they were more receptive to heightened external regulation and competition. / In the learning of non-native language, achievement in English examination was negatively affected by identified regulation. In a previous study, it was documented that upper-grade students were less motivated in reading than lower-grade students (Lau, 2009a). As there is tremendous pressure for students to master English in Hong Kong, identified regulation may not be a strong propelling force for students' learning two weeks before their final examination. However, the negative effects differed across both genders. As girls enjoy the beneficial effects of feminine orientations and higher language competence, they maintain their identified value for English language and hence relatively similar English achievement levels were observed in girls regardless of the level of identified regulation. Whereas, for boys, the negative impact of identified regulation was more obvious. As boys were found to be more anxious in learning English than their female counterparts in CMI schools (Salili & Lai, 2003), high identified regulation reflected their stronger desire to get good grades or stronger personal importance attached with the subject which in turn heightened their anxiety and adversely affected the boys' achievement. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wong, Chin-pang. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-119). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background of the Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Significance of the Study --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter2 --- Review of Literature --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- Approaches of Studying Human Motivation --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Behavioral Approaches --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Cognitive Approaches --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Summary --- p.13 / Chapter 2.2 --- Major Motivational Theories and Constructs --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Atkinson and Achievement Motivation --- p.14 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Weiner and Attribution Theory --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Performance Goals and Mastery Goals --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Self-Determination Theory --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- Gender Differences in Major Motivation Variables --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Summary --- p.28 / Chapter 2.3 --- Effects of Cultural and Contextual Factors on Different Motivational Constructs --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Goal Theory --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Attribution Theory --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Self-Determination Theory --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Summary --- p.38 / Chapter 2.4 --- Achievement Motivation in Chinese Societies --- p.41 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Goal Theory in Chinese Societies --- p.43 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Attribution Theory in Chinese Societies --- p.45 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Self Determination Theory in Chinese Societies --- p.49 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Summary --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter3 --- Method --- p.55 / Chapter 3.1 --- Participants --- p.55 / Chapter 3.2 --- Procedure --- p.55 / Chapter 3.3 --- Measure and Instruments --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4 --- Statistical Analysis --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Motivational Processes and Academic Achievement --- p.63 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Gender Differences in Academic Motivation --- p.65 / Chapter Chapter4 --- Results --- p.67 / Chapter 4.1 --- Motivational Processes and Academic Achievement --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2 --- Prediction of Final Chinese Examination --- p.74 / Chapter 4.3 --- Prediction of Final English Examination --- p.77 / Chapter Chapter5 --- Discussion --- p.80 / Chapter 5.1 --- Self in Learning among Chinese --- p.80 / Chapter 5.2 --- Task Engagement (Ego Involve and Task-Oriented) of Chinese Students --- p.83 / Chapter 5.3 --- Chinese Self-Regulating Motivation --- p.88 / Chapter 5.4 --- Self-Regulating Motivation and Gender Differences --- p.94 / Chapter 5.5 --- Conclusion and Implication --- p.102 / Chapter 5.6 --- Limitations and Future Studies --- p.105 / References --- p.108

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of teacher motivational strategies on student motivational behavior in Chinese Foreign Language classroom. Specifically, the study attempted to explore the relationship between motivational strategies and student actual classroom behavior and students preference on motivational strategies in enhancing student motivational behavior. The participants were three Chinese foreign language teachers and their Year 8 classes (78 pupils) of the two lowest levels class of Chinese in the school. The study was conducted during the second and third term of the 2010-2011 academic year in an international school in Hong Kong. Using a MOLT observation scheme, a check list of motivated practices, five classes of each teacher were observed to gather data on their motivated behaviors in their classroom. Post lesson interview was also conducted with the students after the observed lessons. It is revealed that teacher motivated practice is associated with student motivational behavior and that Activity-Design-related practices are more prominent factors. On the other hand, it is also discovered that effective motivated practice are varied according to teachers i.e. how teachers employ the strategies in class and the learning environment they provided for students. In short, the findings of the study might provide teacher insights on effective practices that enhance student motivated behavior and implications on classroom practice other that motivational strategies. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study aims at obtaining a deeper and clearer understanding of various factors that motivate teacher to work in profit-making schools. Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory on motivation is adopted as the main theoretical basis. A questionnaire survey was used to gather data from English teachers in a profit-making school. Of the 95 returned questionnaires, 87 were found valid for statistic analysis which was processed by SPSS 17.0. The major findings were summarized as follows. First, the most important factor is Job Security while the least important one is Responsibility. Second, it is found that hygiene factors are more important than motivators to motivate teachers in this case school, which is not so consistent with Herzberg’s theory. Third, the results of the study also challenged the Maslow’s theory. Maslow’s statement that lower level needs must be satisfied before the desire of the next high level is not confirmed by this study. Fourth, when concerned with the relationship between teachers’ background and the motivation factors, this study showed that teachers with different gender, age, working experience, academic background and marital status have different perceptions of the importance of the factors. Further study could be follow-up to extend this study to other employees, such as middle management in schools. Since this study only answer the question “what” motivate teachers, “how” those factors affect teachers to work is another area. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Liberal Studies has become a core subject of senior form students in the new education system in Hong Kong since 2009. One purpose of the subject is to develop students as life-long learners. To enhance teaching effectiveness and achieve this goal, learning environment is an important element. This study investigated the effects of co-operative learning on Form Four (Grade 10) and Form Five (Grade 11) students’ metacognition and self-motivation towards Liberal Studies. Participants were 245 students from Form Four and Form Five in a local band two secondary school located in Tin Shui Wai. 68 of them were taught by the author with co-operative learning and 177 of them were taught by other teachers with other teaching methods. Data collection was conducted using questionnaires and group interviews to assess students’ motivation and abilities of self-directed learning in Liberal Studies among different teaching groups. Results of the study showed that co-operative learning is more likely to enhance students’ motivation and self-regulatory skills in their learning than other teaching methods. However, with limitations, results of this study were not precise enough. It is suggested that further research should be conducted to find a more concrete effects of co-operative learning on students’ metacognition and self-motivation towards Liberal Studies. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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