Beliefs about learning, self-regulated strategies and text comprehension among Chinese children.

BACKGROUND: Most studies have investigated college and high school students' epistemological beliefs in Western contexts, with few studies examining how beliefs about learning are related to children's strategies and comprehension in the Chinese cultural context. AIMS: The present study investigated Chinese elementary school children's beliefs about learning and examined their relations with self-regulated learning strategies and text comprehension. SAMPLE: The participants were 417 Grade 5 (mean age=10.8 years) and 420 Grade 6 (mean age=11.9 years) elementary school children in Hong Kong. METHODS: A questionnaire assessing children's beliefs about learning was constructed; children were also asked to complete the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and several text comprehension tasks assessing deep understanding. RESULTS: Factor analysis indicated two contrasting factors of constructivist and reproductive beliefs about learning. High achievers outperformed low achievers on beliefs, strategy and comprehension scores. Multiple regression indicated that constructivist beliefs contributed to text comprehension over and above the effects of grade and strategy. CONCLUSIONS: This study corroborates current research on the roles of beliefs and strategies in text comprehension and suggests that meta-cognitive beliefs and strategies examined in English reading can also be identified among Chinese children in text comprehension.

Test of the technology acceptance model for a Web-based information system in a Hong Kong Chinese sample.

The modified technology acceptance model was used to predict actual Blackboard usage (a web-based information system) in a sample of 57 Hong Kong student teachers whose mean age was 27.8 yr. (SD = 6.9). While the general form of the model was supported, Application-specific Self-efficacy was a more powerful predictor of system use than Behavioural Intention as predicted by the theory of reasoned action. Thus in this cultural and educational context, it has been shown that the model does not fully mediate the effect of Self-efficacy on System Use. Also, users' Enjoyment exerted considerable influence on the component variables of Usefulness and Ease of Use and on Application-specific Self-efficacy, thus indirectly influencing system usage. Consequently, efforts to gain students' acceptance and, therefore, use of information systems such as Blackboard must pay adequate attention to users' Self-efficacy and motivational variables such as Enjoyment.

Superstition and self-efficacy in Chinese postgraduate students.

43 Chinese postgraduate education students (16 men and 27 women), whose mean age was 33.5 yr., completed a questionnaire measuring superstitious beliefs (Superstitious Beliefs Scale) and self-efficacy (General Perceived Self-efficacy Scale). Higher scores on belief in superstition were associated with lower rated self-efficacy. While not significant, the observed correlation of -.28 between superstitious belief and self-efficacy was of a similar magnitude and in the same direction as that previously reported for western students. Such cross-cultural validation is consistent with the generality of this relationship. Suggestions for further research are made.

A nonparametric item analysis of a selected item subset of the learning process questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Although there have been numerous studies conducted on the psychometric properties of Biggs' Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ), these have involved the use of traditional omnibus measures of scale quality such as corrected item total correlations, internal consistency estimates of reliability, and factor analysis. However, these omnibus measures of scale quality are sample dependent and fail to model item responses as a function of trait level. And since the item trait relationship is typically nonlinear, traditional factor analytic methods are inappropriate. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to identify a unidimensional subset of LPQ items and examine the effectiveness of these items and their options in discriminating between changes in the underlying trait level. In addition to assessing item quality, we were interested in assessing overall scale quality with non-sample dependent measures. METHOD: The sample was split into two nearly equal halves, and a undimensional subset of items was identified in one of these samples and cross-validated in the other. The nonlinear relationship between the probability of endorsing an item option and the underlying trait level was modelled using a nonparametric latent trait technique known as kernel smoothing and implemented with the program TestGraf. After item and scale quality were established, maximum likelihood estimates of participants' trait level were obtained and used to examine grade and gender differences. RESULTS: A undimensional subset of 16 deep and achieving items was identified. Slightly more than half of these items needed some of their options combined so that the probability of endorsing an item option as a function of increasing trait level corresponded to the ideal rank ordering of the item options. With this adjustment, scale quality as measured by the information function and standard error function was found to be good. However, no statistically significant gender differences were observed and, although statistically significant grade differences were observed, they were not substantively meaningful. CONCLUSIONS: The use of nonparametric kernel-smoothing techniques is advocated over parametric latent trait methods for the analysis of attitudinal and psychological measures involving polychotomous ordered-response categories. It is also suggested that latent trait methods are more appropriate than traditional test-based measures for studying differential item functioning both within and between cultures. Nonparametric kernel-smoothing techniques hold particular promise in identifying and understanding cross-cultural differences in student approaches to learning at both the item and scale level.

Psychometric properties of the proactive attitude scale in students at the University of Hong Kong.

The 15-item Proactive Attitude Scale is defined as a unidimensional measure of belief in one's ability to effect positive life changes. The current study tested the scale's unidimensionality assumption with confirmatory factor analysis on a mixed sample of 157 fourth-year Bachelor of Education (n=30) and first year Masters of Education (n=121) students from The University of Hong Kong. 49 were men and 108 women, with a median age of 31 yr. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor congeneric model fit the data significantly better than the unidimensional model. The two factors were characterized as reflecting proactive attitude and independent mindedness, respectively. The moderate correlation between these factors clearly defined them as reflecting distinct constructs, making untenable the scale's unidimensionality assumption.

Beliefs about Learning in Children's Understanding of Science Texts.

This study examined elementary school children's beliefs about learning and assessed the influences of such beliefs on their understanding of science texts. Eighty-three children, 46 from Grade 4 and 37 from Grade 6, were administered a questionnaire on children's implicit notions of learning. Children were also asked to read a science text and complete several tasks that assessed their understanding of text information. Results indicated that older children were more likely to hold constructivist views of learning, and they also performed better than younger children on the text-processing tasks. As well, children's views of learning were significantly related to depth of text understanding when age effects were controlled. This study extends current research on epistemological beliefs of university and high school students. Implications of children's beliefs about learning and their roles in knowledge construction are discussed. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.