International journal of adolescent medicine and health, Jan 14, 2016
To promote leadership and intrapersonal development in university students, a subject entitled &q... more To promote leadership and intrapersonal development in university students, a subject entitled "Tomorrow's Leaders" was developed and offered at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. To assess the perceived effectiveness of this subject, 647 students completed the student feedback questionnaire (SFQ). Results showed that the feedback questionnaire had very good psychometric properties, including internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Regarding students' views of the subject, results showed that students generally had good evaluation of the content of the subject, teaching quality, and perceived benefits of the subject. The present findings have implications for the teaching of general education regarding leadership development.
This study aims to explore the specific contributions of derivational, inflectional, and
compoun... more This study aims to explore the specific contributions of derivational, inflectional, and
compounding morphological awareness to reading comprehension through decoding
and syntactic awareness. A total of 181 Grade 3 and 4 Chinese primary school children learning English as a second language in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results of structural equational modeling show that all the three types of morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension through decoding and syntactic awareness, and they explained about 66% of the variance in decoding and 47.2% of the variance in syntactic awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness affected decoding more strongly than compounding morphological awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had stronger effects on decoding than on syntactic awareness, whereas compounding morphological awareness had stronger effect on syntactic awareness than on decoding. In addition, derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had unique direct effects on reading comprehension beyond decoding and syntactic awareness. The unique effect of inflectional morphological awareness was stronger than that of derivational morphological awareness. These results advance our understanding of the multiple roles of the three types of morphological awareness in reading comprehension.
This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2... more This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an L2. A total of 167 Grade 3 and 4 primary school students (M age = 8.99 years) in Hong Kong were tested on English morphological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1, and they were also tested on English decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2, one year later. Our regression models showed that word knowledge tested at Time 1 was a significant predictor of decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2; and word knowledge explained more variance in decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension in children who had higher levels of word knowledge. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that vocabulary contributed to reading comprehension fully through decoding and listening comprehension. Morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension partially through vocabulary and decoding, and it also had a unique direct contribution to reading comprehension. The findings from this study suggested the importance of emphasizing word knowledge in developing children's reading comprehension in an L2 at an early stage of learning to read.
This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awarene... more This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension contributed to the growth of each other. A total of 184 Chinese primary school children (91 girls) aged 8-10 years old in Hong Kong participated in the pre-test of this study. Among them, 88 were in Grade 3 and 96 were in Grade 4. One year later, 178 of these children also participated in the post-test. These children learned English as an L2 at school. They completed a series of English language tasks. The results from a cross-lagged panel model show that vocabulary predicted the growth of syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Syntactic awareness predicted the growth of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Reading comprehension facilitated the growth of vocabulary, and it also predicted the growth of syntactic awareness in Grade 4 students but not in Grade 3 students. Implications for teaching children an L2 are discussed.
This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study... more This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study 1) and explores the factors that potentially influence the use of and change in learning approaches through a qualitative research method (Study 2) in a Chinese cultural context. In Study 1, 439 Chinese university students participated in the pre-test, and 352 of them also participated in the post-test 9 months later. The results of repeated measures MANOVA show that students' deep learning approach did not change, but they increasingly used surface learning approach during their studies. In Study 2, 26 students from Study 1 joined focus group interviews. The results of content analysis indicate that assessment requirements, quality of teachers, students' interests, and perceived peer influence affected learning approaches. These influences could also explain the differences in learning approaches based on academic disciplines and year of study. Theoretical and practical implications in education are discussed.
We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via... more We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via students’ enjoyment across Eastern and Western contexts. Data came from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 focusing on the reading domain. The respondents were 84,017 adolescents (51% girls) with a mean age of 15.17 years old from both the West (US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand) and the East (Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taipei, Singapore, Japan, and Korea). The results show that perceived teachers’ teaching enjoyment and reading enjoyment predicted reading achievement in both the Western and Asian students. Perceived teacher enjoyment related to student enjoyment demonstrating emotional contagion, and the association between perceived teacher enjoyment and student achievement was mediated by student enjoyment. We did not find cross-cultural differences in the strength of emotional contagion demonstrating cross-cultural universality. Implications for education and cross-cultural research are discussed.
International journal of adolescent medicine and health, Jan 14, 2016
This study investigated students' evaluations of a positive youth development program entitle... more This study investigated students' evaluations of a positive youth development program entitled Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social program) in Hong Kong. The participants were 19,790 Secondary 1, 2 and 3 students who joined this program at the extension phase of the project. They were required to complete a subjective outcome evaluation form to indicate their perceptions of the program content, instructors, and effectiveness. Results showed that the students evaluated this program positively. Amongst the students in the three grades, Secondary 1 students evaluated the program most favorably whereas Secondary 3 students had the relatively least favorable evaluation. In addition, the program content and instructors accounted for approximately 35% of the variance in program effectiveness. The findings generally imply the successful implementation of this program in the community-based phase.
Scant research investigated the relationships between learning approaches and personality traits ... more Scant research investigated the relationships between learning approaches and personality traits in the Chinese educational contexts. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between the Big Four model of personality types (or in other words, psychological types) and learning approaches among Chinese university students. The participants were 217 students from a university in China. Psychological types and learning approaches were assessed by surveys. The results showed that deep learning approach positively related to sensing-intuition and negatively related to extraversion-introversion and thinking-feeling. Surface learning approach positively related to judgement-perception. Psychological types accounted for approximately 11 percent of the variance in deep learning approach and around 10 percent of the variance in surface learning approach, after controlling for gender and year of study. Moreover, learning approaches were related to gender, year of study, and parents’ education levels. The influence of sociocultural contexts on students’ learning approaches and practical implications for education were discussed.
ABSTRACT This study investigated the extent to which learning approaches can be accounted for by ... more ABSTRACT This study investigated the extent to which learning approaches can be accounted for by personal factors (i.e., demographics, ability, and personality). The participants were 443 students in a university in mainland China. The Revised Two-factor Study Process Questionnaire, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3, and the short form of Raven's Advanced Progress Matrices were respectively applied to test students' learning approaches, personality, and ability. The results of correlations and structural equation modelling indicated that male students were more likely to be deep learners than female students; relative to Year-one students, Year-three students were more likely to use the surface learning approach and less likely to use the deep learning approach. Openness to experience and conscientiousness had strong positive effects on the deep learning approach. Neuroticism had positive effect, whereas conscientiousness had negative effect on the surface learning approach. Approximately 44% of the variance in the deep learning approach and approximately 18% of the variance in the surface learning approach could be explained by the three personal factors. Personality was the strongest predictor of learning approaches, whereas ability was the weakest predictor. The implications of the results were discussed.
Student life satisfaction plays a key role in academic achievement; however, the exploration on t... more Student life satisfaction plays a key role in academic achievement; however, the exploration on the predictors of life satisfaction in secondary school students is insufficient. This study explored how indigenous personality traits and parenting style predicted students’ life satisfaction. The participants were 718 junior secondary students in China with a mean age of 13.39 years. Personality, parental style, and life satisfaction were assessed through inventories which were statistically supported in the literature. The results showed that personality, parenting style, and life satisfaction were interrelated. Personality and parenting style altogether accounted for around 31 % variance in student global life satisfaction. Specifically, global life satisfaction could be predicted by the personality factors of emotional stability, dependability, and indigenous interpersonal relatedness as well as authoritative and permissive parenting styles. Different domains of life satisfaction were predicted by personality factors and parenting styles to different extents. Implications for cross-cultural theorizing and positive education are discussed.
This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2... more This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an L2. A total of 167 Grade 3 and 4 primary school students (M age = 8.99 years) in Hong Kong were tested on English morphological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1, and they were also tested on English decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2, one year later. Our regression models showed that word knowledge tested at Time 1 was a significant predictor of decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2; and word knowledge explained more variance in decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension in children who had higher levels of word knowledge. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that vocabulary contributed to reading comprehension fully through decoding and listening comprehension. Morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension partially through vocabulary and decoding, and it also had a unique direct contribution to reading comprehension. The findings from this study suggested the importance of emphasizing word knowledge in developing children's reading comprehension in an L2 at an early stage of learning to read.
This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and ... more This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension contributed to the growth of each other. A total of 184 Chinese primary school children (91 girls) aged 8-10 years old in Hong Kong participated in the pre-test of this study. Among them, 88 were in Grade 3 and 96 were in Grade 4. One year later, 178 of these children also participated in the post-test. These children learned English as an L2 at school. They completed a series of English language tasks. The results from a cross-lagged panel model show that vocabulary predicted the growth of syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Syntactic awareness predicted the growth of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Reading comprehension facilitated the growth of vocabulary, and it also predicted the growth of syntactic awareness in Grade 4 students but not in Grade 3 students. Implications for teaching children an L2 are discussed.
Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2015
This study investigated the associations among intellectual styles in the three approaches: cogni... more This study investigated the associations among intellectual styles in the three approaches: cognition-centered, personality-centered, and activity-centered approaches. Field dependence-independence, psychological types, and learning approaches were respectively selected as the representatives of the cognition-centered, personality-centered, and activity-centered styles. This study also explored the relationships between intellectual styles and ability as well as between intellectual styles and personality. The participants in this study were 510 students in a Chinese university. The results showed that the three style constructs did not significantly share common variance, implying that styles in different approaches likely represent different rather than similar constructs. Also, field dependence-independence strongly associated with ability, whereas psychological types and learning approaches strongly associated with personality. This suggested that different style constructs rela...
The current study investigated the differences between intact and non-intact families in family p... more The current study investigated the differences between intact and non-intact families in family processes, including systematic family functioning, parental behavioral control, parental psychological control, and parent-child relational qualities. The participants were 3,328 Secondary One students, with a mean age of 12.59 years, recruited from 28 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Four validated scales were used to assess family processes. Results showed that adolescents in non-intact families perceived relatively poorer family functioning, lower level of paternal and maternal behavioral control, lower level of paternal psychological control, and poorer parent-child relational qualities than did adolescents in intact families. This generally indicated that family processes were poorer in non-intact families, compared with those in intact families. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.
This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study... more This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study 1) and explores the factors that potentially influence the use of and change in learning approaches through a qualitative research method (Study 2) in a Chinese cultural context. In Study 1, 439 Chinese university students participated in the pre-test, and 352 of them also participated in the post-test 9 months later. The results of repeated measures MANOVA show that students' deep learning approach did not change, but they increasingly used surface learning approach during their studies. In Study 2, 26 students from Study 1 joined focus group interviews. The results of content analysis indicate that assessment requirements, quality of teachers, students' interests, and perceived peer influence affected learning approaches. These influences could also explain the differences in learning approaches based on academic disciplines and year of study. Theoretical and practical implications in education are discussed.
We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via... more We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via students’ enjoyment across Eastern and Western contexts. Data came from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 focusing on the reading domain. The respondents were 84,017 adolescents (51% girls) with a mean age of 15.17 years old from both the West (US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand) and the East (Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taipei, Singapore, Japan, and Korea). The results show that perceived teachers’ teaching enjoyment and reading enjoyment predicted reading achievement in both the Western and Asian students. Perceived teacher enjoyment related to student enjoyment demonstrating emotional contagion, and the association between perceived teacher enjoyment and student achievement was mediated by student enjoyment. We did not find cross-cultural differences in the strength of emotional contagion demonstrating cross-cultural universality. Implications for education and cross-cultural research are discussed.
This study investigated the associations among bilingual phonological awareness, morphological aw... more This study investigated the associations among bilingual phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and vocabulary by focusing on their genetic and environmental etiologies. It also explored the influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) and language exposure amount on the genetic and environmental effects. A twin study was conducted with 349 pairs of Chinese-English bilingual twins (mean age = 7.37 years). Cross-language transfer was found in phonological and morphological awareness but not in vocabulary knowledge. A common genetic overlap was found among these bilingual abilities. We also found a common shared environmental effect that may account for the cross-language transfer in phonological awareness and the associations among English abilities. SES and language exposure were significant environmental influences on bilingual phonological awareness and English vocabulary. More teaching in Chinese was related to a stronger genetic effect on Chinese morphological awareness, whereas more teaching in English was related to a stronger environmental impact on English abilities.
International journal of adolescent medicine and health, Jan 14, 2016
To promote leadership and intrapersonal development in university students, a subject entitled &q... more To promote leadership and intrapersonal development in university students, a subject entitled "Tomorrow's Leaders" was developed and offered at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. To assess the perceived effectiveness of this subject, 647 students completed the student feedback questionnaire (SFQ). Results showed that the feedback questionnaire had very good psychometric properties, including internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Regarding students' views of the subject, results showed that students generally had good evaluation of the content of the subject, teaching quality, and perceived benefits of the subject. The present findings have implications for the teaching of general education regarding leadership development.
This study aims to explore the specific contributions of derivational, inflectional, and
compoun... more This study aims to explore the specific contributions of derivational, inflectional, and
compounding morphological awareness to reading comprehension through decoding
and syntactic awareness. A total of 181 Grade 3 and 4 Chinese primary school children learning English as a second language in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results of structural equational modeling show that all the three types of morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension through decoding and syntactic awareness, and they explained about 66% of the variance in decoding and 47.2% of the variance in syntactic awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness affected decoding more strongly than compounding morphological awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had stronger effects on decoding than on syntactic awareness, whereas compounding morphological awareness had stronger effect on syntactic awareness than on decoding. In addition, derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had unique direct effects on reading comprehension beyond decoding and syntactic awareness. The unique effect of inflectional morphological awareness was stronger than that of derivational morphological awareness. These results advance our understanding of the multiple roles of the three types of morphological awareness in reading comprehension.
This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2... more This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an L2. A total of 167 Grade 3 and 4 primary school students (M age = 8.99 years) in Hong Kong were tested on English morphological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1, and they were also tested on English decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2, one year later. Our regression models showed that word knowledge tested at Time 1 was a significant predictor of decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2; and word knowledge explained more variance in decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension in children who had higher levels of word knowledge. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that vocabulary contributed to reading comprehension fully through decoding and listening comprehension. Morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension partially through vocabulary and decoding, and it also had a unique direct contribution to reading comprehension. The findings from this study suggested the importance of emphasizing word knowledge in developing children's reading comprehension in an L2 at an early stage of learning to read.
This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awarene... more This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension contributed to the growth of each other. A total of 184 Chinese primary school children (91 girls) aged 8-10 years old in Hong Kong participated in the pre-test of this study. Among them, 88 were in Grade 3 and 96 were in Grade 4. One year later, 178 of these children also participated in the post-test. These children learned English as an L2 at school. They completed a series of English language tasks. The results from a cross-lagged panel model show that vocabulary predicted the growth of syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Syntactic awareness predicted the growth of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Reading comprehension facilitated the growth of vocabulary, and it also predicted the growth of syntactic awareness in Grade 4 students but not in Grade 3 students. Implications for teaching children an L2 are discussed.
This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study... more This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study 1) and explores the factors that potentially influence the use of and change in learning approaches through a qualitative research method (Study 2) in a Chinese cultural context. In Study 1, 439 Chinese university students participated in the pre-test, and 352 of them also participated in the post-test 9 months later. The results of repeated measures MANOVA show that students' deep learning approach did not change, but they increasingly used surface learning approach during their studies. In Study 2, 26 students from Study 1 joined focus group interviews. The results of content analysis indicate that assessment requirements, quality of teachers, students' interests, and perceived peer influence affected learning approaches. These influences could also explain the differences in learning approaches based on academic disciplines and year of study. Theoretical and practical implications in education are discussed.
We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via... more We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via students’ enjoyment across Eastern and Western contexts. Data came from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 focusing on the reading domain. The respondents were 84,017 adolescents (51% girls) with a mean age of 15.17 years old from both the West (US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand) and the East (Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taipei, Singapore, Japan, and Korea). The results show that perceived teachers’ teaching enjoyment and reading enjoyment predicted reading achievement in both the Western and Asian students. Perceived teacher enjoyment related to student enjoyment demonstrating emotional contagion, and the association between perceived teacher enjoyment and student achievement was mediated by student enjoyment. We did not find cross-cultural differences in the strength of emotional contagion demonstrating cross-cultural universality. Implications for education and cross-cultural research are discussed.
International journal of adolescent medicine and health, Jan 14, 2016
This study investigated students' evaluations of a positive youth development program entitle... more This study investigated students' evaluations of a positive youth development program entitled Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social program) in Hong Kong. The participants were 19,790 Secondary 1, 2 and 3 students who joined this program at the extension phase of the project. They were required to complete a subjective outcome evaluation form to indicate their perceptions of the program content, instructors, and effectiveness. Results showed that the students evaluated this program positively. Amongst the students in the three grades, Secondary 1 students evaluated the program most favorably whereas Secondary 3 students had the relatively least favorable evaluation. In addition, the program content and instructors accounted for approximately 35% of the variance in program effectiveness. The findings generally imply the successful implementation of this program in the community-based phase.
Scant research investigated the relationships between learning approaches and personality traits ... more Scant research investigated the relationships between learning approaches and personality traits in the Chinese educational contexts. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between the Big Four model of personality types (or in other words, psychological types) and learning approaches among Chinese university students. The participants were 217 students from a university in China. Psychological types and learning approaches were assessed by surveys. The results showed that deep learning approach positively related to sensing-intuition and negatively related to extraversion-introversion and thinking-feeling. Surface learning approach positively related to judgement-perception. Psychological types accounted for approximately 11 percent of the variance in deep learning approach and around 10 percent of the variance in surface learning approach, after controlling for gender and year of study. Moreover, learning approaches were related to gender, year of study, and parents’ education levels. The influence of sociocultural contexts on students’ learning approaches and practical implications for education were discussed.
ABSTRACT This study investigated the extent to which learning approaches can be accounted for by ... more ABSTRACT This study investigated the extent to which learning approaches can be accounted for by personal factors (i.e., demographics, ability, and personality). The participants were 443 students in a university in mainland China. The Revised Two-factor Study Process Questionnaire, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3, and the short form of Raven's Advanced Progress Matrices were respectively applied to test students' learning approaches, personality, and ability. The results of correlations and structural equation modelling indicated that male students were more likely to be deep learners than female students; relative to Year-one students, Year-three students were more likely to use the surface learning approach and less likely to use the deep learning approach. Openness to experience and conscientiousness had strong positive effects on the deep learning approach. Neuroticism had positive effect, whereas conscientiousness had negative effect on the surface learning approach. Approximately 44% of the variance in the deep learning approach and approximately 18% of the variance in the surface learning approach could be explained by the three personal factors. Personality was the strongest predictor of learning approaches, whereas ability was the weakest predictor. The implications of the results were discussed.
Student life satisfaction plays a key role in academic achievement; however, the exploration on t... more Student life satisfaction plays a key role in academic achievement; however, the exploration on the predictors of life satisfaction in secondary school students is insufficient. This study explored how indigenous personality traits and parenting style predicted students’ life satisfaction. The participants were 718 junior secondary students in China with a mean age of 13.39 years. Personality, parental style, and life satisfaction were assessed through inventories which were statistically supported in the literature. The results showed that personality, parenting style, and life satisfaction were interrelated. Personality and parenting style altogether accounted for around 31 % variance in student global life satisfaction. Specifically, global life satisfaction could be predicted by the personality factors of emotional stability, dependability, and indigenous interpersonal relatedness as well as authoritative and permissive parenting styles. Different domains of life satisfaction were predicted by personality factors and parenting styles to different extents. Implications for cross-cultural theorizing and positive education are discussed.
This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2... more This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an L2. A total of 167 Grade 3 and 4 primary school students (M age = 8.99 years) in Hong Kong were tested on English morphological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1, and they were also tested on English decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2, one year later. Our regression models showed that word knowledge tested at Time 1 was a significant predictor of decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2; and word knowledge explained more variance in decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension in children who had higher levels of word knowledge. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that vocabulary contributed to reading comprehension fully through decoding and listening comprehension. Morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension partially through vocabulary and decoding, and it also had a unique direct contribution to reading comprehension. The findings from this study suggested the importance of emphasizing word knowledge in developing children's reading comprehension in an L2 at an early stage of learning to read.
This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and ... more This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension contributed to the growth of each other. A total of 184 Chinese primary school children (91 girls) aged 8-10 years old in Hong Kong participated in the pre-test of this study. Among them, 88 were in Grade 3 and 96 were in Grade 4. One year later, 178 of these children also participated in the post-test. These children learned English as an L2 at school. They completed a series of English language tasks. The results from a cross-lagged panel model show that vocabulary predicted the growth of syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Syntactic awareness predicted the growth of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Reading comprehension facilitated the growth of vocabulary, and it also predicted the growth of syntactic awareness in Grade 4 students but not in Grade 3 students. Implications for teaching children an L2 are discussed.
Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2015
This study investigated the associations among intellectual styles in the three approaches: cogni... more This study investigated the associations among intellectual styles in the three approaches: cognition-centered, personality-centered, and activity-centered approaches. Field dependence-independence, psychological types, and learning approaches were respectively selected as the representatives of the cognition-centered, personality-centered, and activity-centered styles. This study also explored the relationships between intellectual styles and ability as well as between intellectual styles and personality. The participants in this study were 510 students in a Chinese university. The results showed that the three style constructs did not significantly share common variance, implying that styles in different approaches likely represent different rather than similar constructs. Also, field dependence-independence strongly associated with ability, whereas psychological types and learning approaches strongly associated with personality. This suggested that different style constructs rela...
The current study investigated the differences between intact and non-intact families in family p... more The current study investigated the differences between intact and non-intact families in family processes, including systematic family functioning, parental behavioral control, parental psychological control, and parent-child relational qualities. The participants were 3,328 Secondary One students, with a mean age of 12.59 years, recruited from 28 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Four validated scales were used to assess family processes. Results showed that adolescents in non-intact families perceived relatively poorer family functioning, lower level of paternal and maternal behavioral control, lower level of paternal psychological control, and poorer parent-child relational qualities than did adolescents in intact families. This generally indicated that family processes were poorer in non-intact families, compared with those in intact families. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.
This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study... more This study investigates the changeability of learning approaches via a longitudinal design (Study 1) and explores the factors that potentially influence the use of and change in learning approaches through a qualitative research method (Study 2) in a Chinese cultural context. In Study 1, 439 Chinese university students participated in the pre-test, and 352 of them also participated in the post-test 9 months later. The results of repeated measures MANOVA show that students' deep learning approach did not change, but they increasingly used surface learning approach during their studies. In Study 2, 26 students from Study 1 joined focus group interviews. The results of content analysis indicate that assessment requirements, quality of teachers, students' interests, and perceived peer influence affected learning approaches. These influences could also explain the differences in learning approaches based on academic disciplines and year of study. Theoretical and practical implications in education are discussed.
We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via... more We investigated whether perceived teacher enjoyment of teaching predicted student achievement via students’ enjoyment across Eastern and Western contexts. Data came from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 focusing on the reading domain. The respondents were 84,017 adolescents (51% girls) with a mean age of 15.17 years old from both the West (US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand) and the East (Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taipei, Singapore, Japan, and Korea). The results show that perceived teachers’ teaching enjoyment and reading enjoyment predicted reading achievement in both the Western and Asian students. Perceived teacher enjoyment related to student enjoyment demonstrating emotional contagion, and the association between perceived teacher enjoyment and student achievement was mediated by student enjoyment. We did not find cross-cultural differences in the strength of emotional contagion demonstrating cross-cultural universality. Implications for education and cross-cultural research are discussed.
This study investigated the associations among bilingual phonological awareness, morphological aw... more This study investigated the associations among bilingual phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and vocabulary by focusing on their genetic and environmental etiologies. It also explored the influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) and language exposure amount on the genetic and environmental effects. A twin study was conducted with 349 pairs of Chinese-English bilingual twins (mean age = 7.37 years). Cross-language transfer was found in phonological and morphological awareness but not in vocabulary knowledge. A common genetic overlap was found among these bilingual abilities. We also found a common shared environmental effect that may account for the cross-language transfer in phonological awareness and the associations among English abilities. SES and language exposure were significant environmental influences on bilingual phonological awareness and English vocabulary. More teaching in Chinese was related to a stronger genetic effect on Chinese morphological awareness, whereas more teaching in English was related to a stronger environmental impact on English abilities.
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compounding morphological awareness to reading comprehension through decoding
and syntactic awareness. A total of 181 Grade 3 and 4 Chinese primary school children learning English as a second language in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results of structural equational modeling show that all the three types of morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension through decoding and syntactic awareness, and they explained about 66% of the variance in decoding and 47.2% of the variance in syntactic awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness affected decoding more strongly than compounding morphological awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had stronger effects on decoding than on syntactic awareness, whereas compounding morphological awareness had stronger effect on syntactic awareness than on decoding. In addition, derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had unique direct effects on reading comprehension beyond decoding and syntactic awareness. The unique effect of inflectional morphological awareness was stronger than that of derivational morphological awareness. These results advance our understanding of the multiple roles of the three types of morphological awareness in reading comprehension.
compounding morphological awareness to reading comprehension through decoding
and syntactic awareness. A total of 181 Grade 3 and 4 Chinese primary school children learning English as a second language in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results of structural equational modeling show that all the three types of morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension through decoding and syntactic awareness, and they explained about 66% of the variance in decoding and 47.2% of the variance in syntactic awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness affected decoding more strongly than compounding morphological awareness. Derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had stronger effects on decoding than on syntactic awareness, whereas compounding morphological awareness had stronger effect on syntactic awareness than on decoding. In addition, derivational and inflectional morphological awareness had unique direct effects on reading comprehension beyond decoding and syntactic awareness. The unique effect of inflectional morphological awareness was stronger than that of derivational morphological awareness. These results advance our understanding of the multiple roles of the three types of morphological awareness in reading comprehension.