The Paradox of Chinese Reading Classes: A Perspective of Classroom Goal Structure Theory

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  In Poster Session: Examining Motivation and Cognition in Context

Abstract

Chinese reading classrooms present an intriguing paradox to the claim from classroom goal structure theory that mastery-oriented classrooms facilitate learning. Chinese reading classrooms are considered performance-oriented, but Chinese students do not have poor reading performance in international comparisons. The present study addressed this paradox by examining instructional practices in current mainland Chinese reading classes from 583 Beijing seventh graders. The results refute the stereotypical notion of Chinese classrooms as performance oriented. Although students perceived obvious performance-task and performance-autonomy/time, they also perceived a high degree of mastery-oriented classrooms. Positive relations between mastery-oriented variables and performance tasks showed the coexistence of mastery- and performance-oriented instruction in the classroom. It was also found that there are three profiles in current Chinese reading classes.

Authors

• Quan Qian, 香港中文大學

• Kit Ling Lau, The Chinese University of Hong Kong