Examining the Cultural Specificity of Approaches To Learning in Universities in Hong Kong and Sydney

Abstract

Western research has characterized approaches to learning for specific learning tasks as discrete deep and surface approaches, distinguished by whether the intention is to understand or memorize. A more appropriate classification scheme for Hong Kong research is a continuum between deep and surface poles. In this article, the authors examine whether this characterization applies also to the West. University students in Australia ( n = 1,146) and Hong Kong ( n = 1,266) complete the revised Study Process Questionnaire. There are no effects by either discipline or study level in either country. Multiple-group analyses using structural equation modeling show configural invariance across the two samples, suggesting that the continuum characterization of approaches to learning is likely to be applicable for Western counterparts. Hong Kong students had higher mean scores for both deep and surface approaches, showing their greater use of intermediate approaches.

Students’ Approaches to Learning: Validating Study Processes Questionnaire for Use in Congolese Setting

“…The mentioned statement has been however widely interpreted as 'deep and surface approaches are mutually exclusive constructs' (Kember, 1996;Tormey, 2014;Watkins & Mboya, 1997;Xie, 2014). That gives rise to a debate and criticisms that might mainly be based on 'misinterpretations', given that Biggs and colleagues consider that the same student may flip from surface to deep approaches depending on his or her perceptions of the learning environments (Biggs et al, 2001;Leung et al, 2008). To avoid such misinterpretations, the current study deviated from Biggs et al's (2001) root, by deliberately omitting the use of constraints during confirmatory factor analysis.…”

“…The R-SPQ-2F was cross-culturally validated by Leung, Ginns, and Kember (2008). The aim of their study was to determine whether the same structure could be found in Western and Eastern contexts.…”

“…The term intermediate approach was also used to describe this combination of surface and deep approaches. From this perspective, Leung et al (2008), using the R-SPQ-2F, have demonstrated that Asian students adopted the intermediate approach more often than their Australian counterparts. Though they recognized that Western students also rely quite a bit on this approach, their argument was not sufficiently strong to contrast the assumption that the combination is an Asian specificity.…”

“…It appears relevant to scrutinize SAL in various contexts given the current change in the higher education population around the world (Manikutty, Anuradha, & Hansen, 2007;Schendel, 2014). In addition, several researchers have called for the validation of the instrument in various cultural contexts (Fryer et al, 2012;Leung et al, 2008). Considering on the one hand the appalling deficit of studies on SAL in African French speaking countries, and on the other hand, the lack of valid instruments to engage with this framework, this paper intends to fill the gap by investigating the reliability and the validity of the R-SPQ-2F in a Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) setting.…”

Study skills and strategies of the medical students among medical colleges in Mysore district, Karnataka, India

“…8 They have a relational nature and can vary according to learning context. [9][10][11] Hence, the purpose of this research is to compare the study skills and strategies of the medical students among medical colleges in South India.…”