Despite much research on Chinese children’s learning achievement, little
research exists on their early development of beliefs about learning. This study
examined the perceptions of purposes for and affective and value expression toward
learning among 129 Chinese preschoolers aged 3–6 years. To tap culturally
valid perspectives, free narratives prompted by story beginnings and responses to
probes about books and school scenarios were collected and analysed both
qualitatively and quantitatively. We identified four types of benefits from learning
that children revealed: (1) Intellectual benefits emphasising acquisition of skill,
continuous personal growth, and ‘‘a lot’’ of
knowledge; (2) respect/admiration for learning; (3) social benefits for others; and
(4) economic benefits. Children also expressed highly positive feelings and value
toward learning. These trends increased with age. The findings are discussed in
light of Chinese cultural values of learning and their influence on
children’s development of beliefs about learning.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ames, C.
, &
Archer, J.
(1988).
Achievement goals in the classroom: Students’ learning strategies
and motivation processes
. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80,
260–267
.
2.
Au, T.K.F.
, &
Harackiewicz, J.M.
(1986).
The effects of perceived parental expectations on Chinese
children’s mathematics performance
. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 32,
383–392
.
3.
Berg, B.L
(1998). Qualitative research methods for the social
sciences. (3rd ed.).
Boston: Allyn & Bacon
.
4.
Betsky, A
(1997). Icons: Magnets of meaning.
San Francisco: Chronicle Books
.
5.
Cai, J.-F.
(2000).
Mathematical thinking involved in US and Chinese students’
solving of process-constrained and process-open problems
. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 2,
309–340
.
6.
Chao, R.K.
(1994).
Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding
Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training
. Child Development, 65,
111–1119
.
7.
Chen, C.S.
, &
Uttal, D.
(1988).
Cultural values, parents’ beliefs, and children’s
achievement in the United States and China
. Human Development, 31,
351–358
.
8.
Cheng, K.-M
(1996). The quality of primary education: A case study of
Zhejiang Province, China.
Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning
.
9.
Coley, R.J.
(2002). An uneven start: Indicators of inequality in school
readiness.
Princeton, NJ: ETS
.
10.
Damon, W.
(1988). The moral child: Nurturing children’s
natural moral growth.
New York: The Free Press
.
11.
D’Andrade, R.
(1987). A folk model of the mind. In
D. Holland
&
N. Quinn
(Eds.), Cultural models in language and thought (pp.
112–148).
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
12.
D’Andrade, R.G.
(1992). Schemas and motivation. In
R.G. D’Andrade
&
C. Strauss
(Eds.), Human motives and cultural models (pp.
23–44).
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
13.
D’Andrade, R
(1995). The development of cognitive anthropology.
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
Eccles, J.
,
Wigfield, A.
, &
Schiefele, U.
(1998). Motivation to succeed. In
W. Damon
(Series Ed.) and
N. Eisenberg
(Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and
personality development (5th ed.).
New York: Wiley
.
16.
Flavell, J.H.
(1993).
Young children’s understanding of thinking and consciousness
. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2,
40–42
.
17.
Flavell, J.H.
(2000).
Development of children’s knowledge about the mental world
. International Journal of Behavioral Development,
24,
15–23
.
18.
Flavell, J.H.
,
Green, F.L.
, &
Flavell, E.R.
(2000).
Development of children’s awareness of their own thoughts
. Journal of Cognition and Development,
97–112
.
19.
Flavell, J.H.
,
Green, F.L.
,
Flavell, E.R.
, &
Lin, N.T.
(1999).
Development of children’s knowledge about unconsciousness
. Child Development, 70,
396–412
.
20.
Fong, V.L.
(2002).
China’s one-child policy and the empowerment of urban daughters
. American Anthropologist, 104,
1098–1110
.
21.
Ford, M
(1992). Motivating humans: Goals, emotions, and personal
agency beliefs.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage
.
22.
Ford, M.
, &
Nichols, C.W.
(1987). A taxonomy of human goals and some possible
applications. In
M.E. Ford
&
D.H. Ford
(Eds.), Humans as self-constructing living systems: Putting the
framework to work (pp. 289–311).
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
23.
Ford, M.
, &
Nichols, C.W.
(1991). Using goals assessment to identify motivational
patterns and facilitate behavioral regulation and achievement. In
M.L. Maehr
&
P.R. Pintrich
(Eds.), Advances in motivation and achievement, Vol. 7. (pp.
51–84).
Greenwich, CT: JAI
.
24.
Fung, H.
(1999).
Becoming a moral child: The socialization of shame among young Chinese children
. Ethos, 27,
180–209
.
25.
Harkness, S.
, &
Super, C.
(1992). Parental ethnotheories in action. In
I. Sigel
,
A. McGilliguddy-Delisi
, &
J.J. Goodnow
(Eds.), Parental belief system: The psychological consequences for
children (pp. 373–391).
Hillsale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
26.
Harmon, M.
,
Smith, T.A.
,
Martin, M.O.
,
Kelly, D.L.
,
Beaton, A.E.
,
Mullis, I.V.S.
,
Gonzalez, E.J.
, &
Orpwood, G
(1997). Performance assessment in IEA’s Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS International Study
Center, Boston College
.
27.
Harter, S
(1985). Manual for the self-perception profile for
children.
Denver, CO: University of Denver
.
28.
Hau, K.T.
, &
Salili, F.
(1991).
Structure and semantic differential placement of specific causes: Academic
causal attributions by Chinese students in Hong Kong
. International Journal of Psychology, 26,
175–193
.
29.
Hess, R.D.
, &
Azuma, M.
(1991).
Cultural support for schooling: Contrasts between Japan and the United States
. Educational Researcher, 20,
2–8
.
30.
Holsti, O.
(1968). Content analysis. In
G. Lindzey
&
E. Aronson
(Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, Vol. 2 (2nd
ed., pp. 596–692).
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
.
31.
Hwang, K.K.
(in press). Obligatory morality and utilitarian morality: Moral
judgment in Taiwanese society. In
Gielen, Lei
, &
Miao
(Eds.), Moral values and moral reasoning in Chinese societies.
Location: Publisher name
.
32.
Kobayashi, Y.
(1994).
Conceptual acquisition and change through social interaction
. Human Development, 37,
232–241
.
33.
Kohlberg, L.
(1976). The psychology of moral development: The nature
and validity of moral stages. In
T. Lickorn
(Eds.), Moral development and moral behavior (pp.
170–205).
New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston
.
34.
Kwok, D.C.
, &
Lytton, H.
(1996).
Perceptions of mathematics ability versus actual mathematics performance:
Canadian and Hong Kong Chinese children
. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66,
209–222
.
35.
Lee, S.-Y.
(1998). Mathematics learning and teaching in the school
context: Reflections from cross-cultural comparisons. In
S.G. Paris
, &
H.M Wellman
, (Eds.), Global prospects for education: Development, culture, and
schooling (pp. 45–77).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
.
36.
Lee, T.H.C
(1985). Government education and examinations in Sung China,
960–1278.
Hong Kong: Chinese University Press
.
37.
Lee, W.O.
(1996). The cultural context for Chinese learners:
Conceptions of learning in the Confucian Tradition. In
D.A. Watkins
&
J.B. Biggs
(Eds.), The Chinese learner (pp.
45–67).
Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre
.
38.
Lewis, C.C
(1995). Educating hearts and minds: Reflections on Japanese
preschool and elementary education.
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
39.
Li, J.
(2001).
Chinese conceptualization of learning
.. Ethos, 29,
111–137
.
40.
Li, J.
(2002).
A cultural model of learning: Chinese ‘‘heart and mind
for wanting to learn’’
. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33,
246–267
.
41.
Li, J.
(2003a).
The core of Confucian learning
. American Psychologist, 58,
146–147
.
42.
Li, J.
(2003b).
US and Chinese cultural beliefs about learning
. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95,
258–267
.
43.
Li, J., & Yue, X.-D. (2003). Learning conceptions, desires, and
actions among Chinese school children. Manuscript in preparation.
44.
Li, J.
, &
Li, J.-M.
(2002).
‘‘The cow loves to learn’’: The
hao-xue-xin learning model as a reflection of the cultural relevance of
Zhima Jie, China’s Sesame Street
. Early Education and Development, 13,
379–394
.
45.
Li, J.
, &
Wang, Q.
(in press). US and Chinese preschool children’s perceptions
of achievement and their achieving peers. Social Development.
46.
Maehr, M.L.
, &
Midgley, C.
(1991).
Enhancing student motivation: A schoolwide approach
. Educational Psychologist, 26,
399–427
.
47.
Matsushita, K.
(1994).
Acquiring mathematical knowledge through semantic and pragmatic problem solving
. Human Development, 37,
220–232
.
48.
McKnight, C.C.
,
Crosswhite, F.J.
,
Dossey, J.A.
,
Kifer, E.
,
Swafford, J.O.
,
Travers, K.J.
, &
Cooney, T.J
(1987). The underachieving curriculum: Assessing US school
mathematics from an international perspective.
Champaign, IL: Stipes
.
49.
Murstein, B.I.
(1961). The role of the stimulus in the manifestation of
fantasy. In
J. Kagan
&
G. S. Lesser
(Eds.), Contemporary issues in thematic appreceptive methods (pp.
229–273).
Springfield, IL: Thomas
.
50.
Nicholls, J.G.
(1984).
Achievement motivation: Conceptions of ability, subjective experience, task
choice, and performance
. Psychological Review, 91,
328–346
.
51.
Nucci, L.P.
, &
Weber, E.K.
(1995).
Social interactions in the home and the development of young
children’s conceptions of the personal
. Child Development, 66,
1438–1452
.
52.
Perner, J.
,
Leekam, S.R.
, &
Wimmer, H.
(1987).
Three-year olds difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit
. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5,
125–137
.
53.
Quinn, N.
(1992). The motivational force of self-understanding:
Evidence from wives’ inner conflicts. In
R.G. D’Andrade
&
C. Strauss
(Eds.), Human motives and cultural models (pp.
90–126).
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
54.
Quinn, N.
, &
Holland, D.
(1987). Introduction. In
D. Holland
&
N. Quinn
(Eds.), Language and thought (pp.
3–40).
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
55.
Rosch, E.
(1975).
Cognitive representations of semantic categories
. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104,
192–233
.
56.
Rumelhart, D.
, &
Ortony, A.
(1977). The representation of knowledge in
memory. In
R.C. Anderson
,
R.J. Spiro
, &
W.E., Montague
(Eds.), Schooling and the acquisition of knowledge (pp.
99–135).
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
57.
Salili, F.
,
Chiu, C.Y.
, &
Lai, S.
(2001). The influence of culture and context on
students’ achievement orientations. In
F. Salili
,
C.Y. Chiu
, &
Y.Y. Hong
(Eds.), Student motivation: The culture and context of learning
(pp. 221–247).
New York: Plenum Press
.
58.
Salili, F.
, &
Mak, P.H.T.
(1988).
Subjective meaning of success in high and low achievers
. International Journal of Intercultural Relations,
12,
125–138
.
59.
Shaver, P.
,
Schwartz, J.
,
Kirson, D.
, &
O’Connor, C.
(1987).
Emotion knowledge: Further exploration of a prototype approach
. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52,
1061–1086
.
60.
Shweder, R.A
(1991). Thinking through cultures.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
.
61.
Smetana, J.G.
,
Daddis, C.
,
Toth, S.L.
,
Cicchetti, D.
,
Bruce J.
, &
Kane, P.
(1999).
Effects of provocation on maltreated and nonmaltreated
preschoolers’ understanding of moral transgressions
. Social Development, 8,
335–348
.
62.
Spinillo, A.G.
, &
Pinto, G.
(1994).
Children’s narratives under different conditions: A comparative study
. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 12,
177–193
.
63.
Spiro, M.E.
(1987). Collective representations and mental
representations in religious symbol systems. In
B. Kilborne
&
L.L. Langness
(Eds.), Culture and human nature: Theoretical papers of Melford E.
Spiro (pp. 161–184).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
.
64.
Stevenson, H.W.
(1992).
Learning from Asian schools
. Scientific American, 267,
70–76
.
65.
Stevenson, H.W.
,
Hofer, B.K.
, &
Randel, B.
(2000).
Mathematics achievement and attitudes about mathematics in China and the West
. Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies, 1,
1–16
.
66.
Stevenson, H.W.
, &
Lee, S.Y.
(1990).
Context of achievement
. Monograph of the Society of Research in Child Development,
55, (1–2, Serial No. 221).
67.
Stevenson, H.W.
, &
Stigler, J.W
(1992). The learning gap.
New York: Simon & Schuster
.
68.
Stigler, J.W.
, &
Hiebert, J.
(1999). The teaching gap.
New York: Free Press
69.
Stipek, D.J
(1988). Motivation to learn: From theory to practice.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
.
70.
Stipek, D.J.
,
Weiner, B.
, &
Li, K-X.
(1989).
Testing some attribution-emotion relations in the People’s
Republic of China
. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56,
109–116
.
71.
Strauss, C.
(1992). Models of motives. In
R.G. D’Andrade
&
C. Strauss
(Eds.), Human motives and cultural models (pp.
1–20).
New York: Cambridge University Press
.
72.
Sue, S.
, &
Okazaki, S.
(1990).
Asian-American educational achievements: A phenomenon in search of an explanation
. American Psychologist, 45,
913–920
.
73.
Tweed, R.G.
, &
Lehman, D.R.
(2002).
Learning considered within a cultural context: Confucian and Socratic Approaches
. American Psychologist, 57,
89–99
.
74.
Tu, W.M
(1979). Humanity and self-cultivation: Essays in Confucian
thought.
Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press
.
75.
Wang, Q.
, &
Leichtman, M.D.
(2000).
Same beginnings, different stories: A comparison of American and Chinese
children’s narratives
. Child Development, 71,
1329–1346
.
76.
Watkins, D.A.
, &
Biggs, J.B.
(1996). The Chinese learner: Cultural, psychological, and
contextual influences.
Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research
Centre (CERC)
.
77.
Wellhousen, K.
(1993).
Eliciting and examining young children’s storytelling
. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 7,
62–66
.
78.
Wellman, H.M.
, &
Cross, D.
(2001).
Theory of mind and conceptual change
. Child Development, 72,
702–707
.
79.
Wellman, H.
,
Cross, D.
, &
Watson, J.
(2001).
Meta-analysis of theory of mind development: The truth about false belief
. Child Development, 72,
655–684
.
80.
Wellman, H.M.
, &
Gelman, S.A.
(1998). Knowledge acquisition in foundational
domains. In
W. Damon
,
D. Kuhn
, &
R. Siegler
(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, perception and
language (5th ed., pp. 523–574).
New York: Wiley
.
81.
Wu, D.Y.H.
(1996). Parental control: Psychocultural interpretations
of Chinese patterns of socialization. In
S. Lau
(Eds.), Growing up the Chinese way: Chinese child and adolescent
development (pp. 1–28).
Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press
.
82.
Wu, D.Y.H.
, &
Tseng, W.-S.
(1985). Introduction: The characteristics of Chinese
culture. In
D.Y.H. Wu
&
W.-S. Tseng
(Eds.), Chinese culture and mental health (pp.
3–13).
New York: Academic Press
.
83.
Wu, S.-P.
, &
Lai, C.-Y.
(1992). Complete text of the Four Books and Five Classics in
modern Chinese [in Chinese].
Beijing, China: International Culture Press
.
84.
Yao, E.
(1985).
A comparison of family characteristics of Asian-American and Anglo-American
high achievers
. International Journal of Comparative Sociology,
16,
198–208
.
85.
Yu, A.-B.
(1996). Ultimate life concerns, self, and Chinese
achievement motivation. In
M. Bond
(Eds.), The handbook of Chinese psychology (pp.
227–246).
Hong Kong: Oxford University Press
.
86.
Yu, A.B.
, &
Yang, K.S.
(1994). The nature of achievement motivation in
collectivist societies. In
U. Kim
,
H.C. Triandis
,
C. Kagitcibasi
,
S.C. Choi
, &
G. Yoon
(Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method, and
applications (pp. 239–250).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
