Motivation and engagement in the ‘Asian Century’: a comparison of Chinese students in Australia,Hong Kong,and Mainland China

The present study investigated multidimensional motivation and engagement among Chinese middle school students in Australia (N?=?273), Hong Kong (N?=?528), and Mainland China (N?=?2106; randomly selected N?=?528). Findings showed that a multidimensional model of motivation and engagement fit very well for all three groups. Multi-group invariance tests showed that the number of factors, factor loadings, factor correlations and item uniquenesses were invariant across the three groups – as were inter-correlations with a set of cognate correlates (class participation, school enjoyment, positive intentions, academic buoyancy) – hence no differences of ‘kind’. However, differences of ‘degree’ were indicated through significant mean-level effects between groups, with self-reports favouring Australian Chinese students over Hong Kong and (to a lesser extent) Mainland Chinese students. We propose these findings shed important light on Chinese students’ academic motivation and engagement and also on socio-cultural perspectives on motivation and engagement because they assist understanding about effects attributable to context and effects attributable to ethnicity. Given this, the study is a timely contribution to current understanding of the Chinese learner in this, the ‘Asian Century’.     

Mainland Chinese undergraduates’ academic socialisation in Hong Kong

Research has confirmed that supportive social networks and associated resources play a critical role in the adaptation of migrating international students to host communities. Access to such social networks and resources requires migrating students to invest in and make efforts at academic socialisation, as mediated by various social processes. This article reports on an examination of 26 mainland Chinese undergraduates’ experiences of academic socialisation in a major university in Hong Kong. Drawing on these students’ experiential accounts, the inquiry identified a variety of linguistic, sociocultural and ideological challenges that undermine the participants’ academic socialisation with local students in Hong Kong. It also recorded strategic efforts undertaken by the participants to align themselves with their local counterparts linguistically and socially. These efforts helped some participants overcome various challenges in academic socialisation but most of them chose to socialise with other mainland Chinese students and further alienate themselves from local students. In light of shifting contextual conditions, it may be increasingly difficult for migrant students to construct a cohesive university community with local students. Therefore, institutions need to invest more in facilitating and supporting different groups of students’ engagement with each other in achieving mutual understanding through shared activities.     

Mainland immigrant and Hong Kong local students’ psychological sense of school membership

A Chinese version of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale was developed to find out the subjective PSSM of Mainland immigrant and local Hong Kong students. Five schools participated with 295 boys and 252 girls from Primary years 4, 5, and 6 taking part. Among those, 264 students were local Hong Kong students, while 283 were Mainland immigrant students who claimed that they had lived in Hong Kong for 7 years or less. The Chinese version of the PSSM scale was found to be reliable, and interestingly, Mainland immigrant students were found to have a significantly higher sense of school belonging, but had a lower feeling of rejection than Hong Kong students did. Results would be useful to understand how students feel towards support in school.     

Mainland Chinese students at an elite Hong Kong university: habitus–field disjuncture in a transborder context

Drawing on in-depth interview data from 31 mainland Chinese (MLC) students in a Hong Kong university, this article conceptualises MLC and Hong Kong higher education as two dissonant but interrelated subfields of the Chinese higher education field. The article argues that these MLC students’ habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and cultural capital, prompts a strong sense of entitlement to anticipated privileges. However, this sense of entitlement is disrupted by the differential capital valuations across these fields. There is thus notable habitus–field disjuncture, which, exacerbated by the hysteresis effect, gives rise to a sense of disappointment and ambivalence. This article demonstrates how the Hong Kong education credential, which these students initially set out to pursue as a form of capital, can become a disadvantage at multiple levels; the article illustrates that capital valuation and conversion in a transborder context is not a straightforward, but rather a complicated and sometimes contradictory, process.     

‘It’s more than care’: early childhood educators’ concepts of professionalism

This article reports on the findings from a small-scale study of early childhood educators’ perceptions of their roles, responsibilities and ideas related to professionalism. Twenty-five early childhood educators from Canada (Ontario), Nigeria and South Africa participated in qualitative interviews to address the following questions: (1) In what ways do early childhood educators perceive of themselves as professionals? (2) How is the concept of professionalism impacted by values, beliefs and experiences? And (3) Do contextual variations exist in conceptualizations of ECE professionalism? Valuable insights were gained into the commonality of educators’ experiences and ideas across contexts, as well as the prominence of an ‘ethic of care’ as an inherent aspect of teacher professionalism. The study’s findings provide support for the literature advocating for care (and passion) as a social principle within education and socially constructed ideals of professionalism.     

‘We spend more time with the children than they do …’: education,care and the work of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

Despite the ongoing global financial crisis, there is an increasing deployment of migrant workers across the globe, and in Hong Kong the foreign domestic worker occupies a ubiquitous presence in the lives of many families. Seven domestic workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand were interviewed to gain insight into their role in providing education and care for children in Hong Kong. This exploratory study focuses on the educational and care aspects of the work of foreign domestic workers. It considers the nature of their work and their relationship with the mother of the family. Findings reveal the difficulties of maintaining coordinated education and care of children in a culture where the dynamics of the unequal power relations are clearly demarcated. We raise new possibilities for interdisciplinary work to re-theorise the ways in which foreign domestic workers act as educators of young children and we call for new methodologies to enable their potential.     

Academic adaptation amid internationalisation: the challenges for local,mainland Chinese,and international students at Hong Kong’s universities

Internationalisation has been actively pursued by Hong Kong’s universities. Recent years have witnessed quantitative growth in non-local students. To ensure a qualitative success of internationalisation, it is crucial that universities cater for students with diverse academic backgrounds. This research explored challenges to academic adaptation. Focus group interviews were conducted with 124 local, mainland Chinese and international students at four Hong Kong universities. Findings revealed variation in academic adaptation challenges. First, adaptation to an English-medium-of-instruction was a concern for local and mainland Chinese students, while international students noted that limited English proficiency among other students undermined classroom discussions and led to tensions in group projects. Second, local students faced challenges in adapting to a wider range of assessment modes and academic writing, while mainland Chinese and international students reported how teacher-student relations and teaching approaches differed from prior educational experiences. Implications for the delivery of higher education amid internationalisation are discussed.     

Teacher self-efficacy in cultivating students to become ‘good citizens’: a Hong Kong case

Civic education is a contested subject in Hong Kong, and there is no agreement in society on what form civic education should take, which leaves each school to choose its own approach. Under these circumstances, each teacher needs greater capability and self-efficacy to develop school-based civic education. This study examined the factors that influenced Hong Kong primary school teacher confidence in teaching citizenship education with the ultimate goal of nurturing students to become ‘good citizens.’ The results of this study indicated that teacher self-efficacy was influenced by beliefs about the subject (Moral, Civic and National Education) and beliefs about teachers’ roles in the curriculum but not beliefs about teaching. Teachers felt more confident teaching social topics than political topics. While this study was conducted in the Hong Kong context, the findings could be valuable for policy makers and educators elsewhere who seek to strengthen teacher self-efficacy.     

‘Weep for Chinese university’: a case study of English hegemony and academic capitalism in higher education in Hong Kong

In the spring of 2005, students and alumni of the Chinese University of Hong Kong staged an adamant protest against University directives which they perceived would result in a significant increase in the number of courses taught in English. They denounced the administration of selling out on the founding mission of the University, for which, as stated in its Ordinance, the principal medium of teaching would be Chinese. The University, on the other hand, defended its policy in the name of ‘internationalization’ and the need to stay ahead in the midst of severe competition at home and abroad. This paper examines this language controversy against the wider context of English hegemony and the rise of academic capitalism, two forces which are inextricably linked for the non‐Western societies in a post‐colonial era. I will try to show that the controversy was ultimately a struggle over the meaning of university education, between what I would call the instrumentalists and the humanists in this age of globalization. I end the paper with a pessimistic note, saying that it is the former who have gained an upper hand, and that the scope and parameters of the language debate are heavily restricted.     

‘It’s not fair’: policy discourses and students’ understandings of plagiarism in a New Zealand university

Plagiarism is a concept that is difficult to define. Although most higher education institutions have policies aimed at minimising and addressing student plagiarism, little research has examined the ways in which plagiarism is discursively constructed in university policy documents, or the connections and disconnections between institutional and student understandings of plagiarism in higher education. This article reports on a study that explored students’ understandings of plagiarism in relation to institutional plagiarism discourses at a New Zealand university. The qualitative study involved interviews with 21 undergraduate students, and analysis of University plagiarism policy documents. The University policy documents revealed moral and regulatory discourses. In the interviews, students predominantly drew on ethico-legal discourses, which reflected the discourses in the policy documents. However, the students also drew on (un)fairness discourses, confusion discourses, and, to a lesser extent, learning discourses. Notably, learning discourses were absent in the University policy. Our findings revealed tensions between the ways plagiarism was framed in institutional policy documents, and students’ understandings of plagiarism and academic writing. We suggest that, in order to support students’ acquisition of academic writing skills, plagiarism should be framed in relation to ‘learning to write’, rather than as a moral issue.     

International doctoral students’ experience of supervision: a case study in a Chinese university

Internationalisation in higher education is now a worldwide phenomenon but there is little attention paid to internationalisation at doctoral level, although this phenomenon has grown exponentially in recent years. This study focuses on a university in China to examine how international doctoral students and their supervisors perceive supervision and the relations between supervisor and student. It describes and analyses the experiences of supervisors and students, and the concepts they used to articulate and reflect on them. Semi-formal interviews were conducted with six doctoral students and their supervisors. Analysis shows that, apart from formal supervision, informal enculturation through social and academic networks, the tongmen, plays an important role in supervision and in socialising the doctoral researchers into the community of practice. The study adds to the field a new case from a specific epistemological and intellectual tradition and challenges existing theories concerning methods and concepts of supervision.     

Hong Kong senior secondary students’ reading motivation and classical Chinese reading comprehension

Reading and Writing - This study investigated Hong Kong secondary students’ Classical Chinese (CC) reading comprehension, reading motivation, and the effects of different types of motivation...     

Difficulties of Hong Kong teachers’ understanding and implementation of ‘play’ in the curriculum

Play is a characteristic behaviour of young children. It is a vital way through which children reconcile their inner lives with the outside world. It is a central activity in kindergarten and nurseries. ‘Learning through play’ is recommended as the mode of learning and teaching for young children. In Hong Kong, it was documented in an official education report in 1986 and is the key guideline for the implementation of the aims of early childhood education for the next millennium. A case study of two kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong was conducted to investigate the understanding and implementation of play in the kindergarten curriculum. The findings showed immense difficulties in understanding the concept ‘learning through play’ and a gap between the practitioners’ espoused theories and practice. The study reflected the complex nature of learning and teaching and highlighted the core issue for reform, namely, the need for bridging the gap between theory and practice.     

Comparing shanghai and Hong Kong students’ psychological sense of school membership

The previous study demonstrated that the Chinese version of the PSSM scale was applicable for use by Hong Kong students, and in this study, the scale was also found to be workable for the measurement of Shanghai students' psychological sense of school membership. The only difference found in the 18-item PSSM scale distributed to Shanghai and Hong Kong students was that in Shanghai, simplified Chinese characters were used. Four schools from Shanghai and Hong Kong were chosen to participate in this study. By comparing two hundred and twenty 6th grade students of Shanghai and Hong Kong, it was found that Shanghai students had a significantly higher sense of school belonging and lower feelings of rejection.     

Guests in someone else’s house? Sense of belonging among ethnic minority students in a Hong Kong university

The evolution of globalisation and ensuing internationalisation of higher education need radical reform of institutional policies and practices to promote education for diversity, equity and inclusion. Extant literature on university/college student persistence/retention witnesses a lack of research on the subjective sense of belonging on campus among ethnic minoritised students who have been historically marginalised in higher education and are now part of the emerging demographic on campus. This study attempted to fill the gap. Engaging qualitative individual interviews with 12 university students of South/Southeast Asian ethnicity in Hong Kong, the purpose of this study was to examine their perceptions and experiences of institutional affiliations and engagement in university. Findings suggested that being connected to the programme and university, and the depth and quality of intragroup dynamics, are key to a sense of belonging among ethnic minority students. Findings also elucidated a lack of cross-cultural interaction and racial/ethnic diversity within the university environment, which shaped participants’ feelings of isolation and exclusionary experiences as they sought to adjust to the campus academically and socially. The study’s findings could help inform the development and evaluation of institutional strategies that can sustain minoritised students in university transitions and promote institutional connectedness and academic success among all students on campus.     

‘Selective cosmopolitans’: tutors’ and students’ experience of offshore higher education in Dubai

As the offshore mobility of higher education has increased in recent times, the question of how it interacts with the recipient cultures has become ever more significant. Using ethnographic methods, this empirical study examined the adaptation of the UK teacher education model – the Postgraduate Certificate in Education – to the context of Dubai. The study asks ‘how do students and tutors experience the adaptation of British education in the context of Dubai?’ This paper will argue that tutors and students in offshore Dubai teacher education are ‘selective cosmopolitans’ who negotiate cross-cultural influences pragmatically and ambivalently. The study addresses a significant gap in the literature, as there is little written on the internationalisation of higher education in the context of Gulf Cooperation Council countries. There is also an inadequate appreciation of the role of local culture and religion in offshore education and tutors and students’ role as active agents in negotiating cross-cultural dynamics in the offshore educational setting.     

‘It’s just because we’re girls’: How female students experience and negotiate masculinist school sport

This article focuses on the inequalities experienced particularly by girls who attend co-educational secondary schools where specific male sports dominate school life. The research was undertaken in the Republic of Ireland in three schools known for the participation and success of boys’ teams in Gaelic football, hurling and rugby. Through a Bourdieusian account of ‘masculine domination’, this article examines how girls (and some boys) attending these schools have experienced inequalities in obtaining recognition in sport, and discrimination in accessing male-orientated sports, as well as unequal opportunities, resources and support. School management, teachers and students (both male and female) will be shown to often protect this male preserve by strategies that maintain the exclusion of girls through the normalisation of gender binaries. The article will also show how girls reflect upon their experiences and attempt to mobilise change.     

Practical and conceptual aspects of children’s play in Hong Kong and German kindergartens

This study examines the practical and conceptual dimensions of children’s play in German and Hong Kong Chinese kindergartens. German (n?=?24) and Chinese (n?=?24) children (3–6 years) were randomly selected and videotaped during their free play for 5?min continuously on five consecutive days. Play behavior was analyzed by adopting the Parten-Smilansky play scale. Ten teachers were interviewed to elicit their views on play, learning, and play arrangements. The findings indicate that a significant difference was found between all the play categories of Hong Kong and German children. The most frequent behavior in both contexts is non-playing behavior (Non-Play), which includes completing assignments and onlooker behavior. German children show a slightly higher level in the social and cognitive dimensions of play, compared with their Chinese counterparts. Moreover, there is an association between children’s play and teachers’ views on play and, to some degree, the curriculum foci. This comparative study has implications for the curricula currently under reform, based on consideration of whether play should be applied to or removed from the curriculum.     

Hong Kong secondary school students’ attitudes towards science: a study of structural models and gender differences

This paper is concerned with children's conceptions of the structure and function of the human digestive system. It is based on data from an investigation carried out with 45 children between the ages of four and ten. The results indicated that (1) children possess biological knowledge as an independent knowledge domain from the age of 4; (2) the acquisition of the concept of digestion leads to a conceptual revision and enrichment; (3) the concept of transformation can constitute an obstacle to comprehension of the scientific model of the functions of the digestive system.     

Korean and foreign students’ perceptions of the teacher’s role in a multicultural online learning environment in Korea

This study investigated Korean and foreign students’ perception of the teacher’s role in multicultural online learning environments in Korea. On the basis of a literature review, a survey questionnaire was developed and piloted with 248 university students in Korea. The questionnaire was subsequently modified on the basis of the results of the pilot study, and a final 20-item questionnaire was constructed. Three hundred and eighty-four university students participated in the main study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used for statistical analyses. The results indicated that students have a particular perception of the teacher’s role in a multicultural online learning environment. Five different types of teacher’s roles—pedagogical, managerial, technical, affective, and differentiating—were identified. The teacher’s affective and differentiating roles, which were not identified as crucial in previous research, were found to be significant roles for both Korean and foreign students.