How Do Students’ Mindsets in Learning Reflect their Cultural Values and Predict Academic Achievement?

Abstract

Inspired by previous research indicating implicit beliefs about the malleability of human qualities, namely mindset, to affect learning outcomes, this article compares how Chinese and Finnish students' mindsets and attributions for success reflect their cultural values and predict their academic achievement. The study was conducted in one Chinese (N=705) and two Finnish (N=495) middle schools utilizing Dweck's mindset inventory, Weiner's attribution scale and students' school marks. The results illustrated that both Chinese and Finnish students held a growth mindset, and all identified the nature of intelligence as being more malleable than giftedness. However, Chinese students did not differentiate between intelligence and giftedness as clearly as Finnish students. Both students attributed the cause of their academic achievements to effort and ability, but placed more emphasis on effort. Furthermore, Chinese students' preference for effort significantly accounted for higher language marks, whereas Finnish students with fixed mindsets about giftedness achieved higher mathematics marks. Cultural interpretation, implications and limitations of the results were discussed.

Peer Feedback Reflects the Mindset and Academic Motivation of Learners

“…The findings of growth-oriented mindset among all adolescents and the higher malleability attribution to giftedness in Chinese students than their Finnish counterparts, confirms results reported in previous empirical studies on China and Finland well ( Zhang et al, 2017 , 2019 ). The Finnish students tended to report more negative academic motivation, which is reflected in the latest PISA studies, Finland having lost its top position and China having taken the lead ( OECD, 2019 ).…”

“…Common sayings in China, for instance, highlight either effort -"Making an effort to compensate for inadequate intelligence" (qín néng bǔ zhuō) -or power that is beyond one's control -"Man proposes, God disposes" (móu shì zài rén, chéng shì zài tiān). The former saying reflects the Chinese effort-oriented culture (Dweck, 2000;Hofstede et al, 2010;Wang and Ng, 2012), in which students attribute individual performance to effort rather than ability (Zhang et al, 2019). Particularly noteworthy is that destiny in Chinese philosophy is not fixed: it has the characteristic of constant motion and regular recurrence (Raphals, 2003).…”

“…Academic achievement and competition are major learning-related concerns in China (Ma et al, 2013), and numerous students take tutorials and attend special schools in order to be higher achievers academically. Given their effort-oriented culture (Dweck, 2000;Hofstede et al, 2010;Wang and Ng, 2012), Chinese students prefer to attribute learning achievement to effort rather than to ability (Zhang et al, 2019). On the other hand, individual holistic development and "equal opportunity and high-quality education for all citizens" (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2016) are highlighted more than pure academic achievement in Finland (Tirri and Kuusisto, 2013).…”

Profiles of Parents’ Beliefs About Their Child’s Intelligence and Self-Regulation: A Latent Profile Analysis

“…A validation of the emerging profiles in other cultural contexts might be an important next step in further research. For example, cross-cultural studies with Chinese and Finnish students illustrate both similarities and differences in students’ implicit theories with regard to academic achievement ( Zhang et al, 2019 , 2020 ). As this study was conducted with a German sample, the question arises if different profiles would emerge when other cultural contexts would be considered: Cross-cultural studies with parents show that Chinese parents seem to emphasize good grades and competition in comparison to Western parents who place a high value on individual growth ( Tobin et al, 1989 ; Sang, 2017 ).…”

Growth Mindset as a Personal Preference Predicts Teachers’ Favorable Evaluation of Positive Education as an Imported Practice When Institutional and Normative Support for It Are Both Strong or Both Weak

“…The PISA data also showed that the percent of students with a growth mindset was higher in other Chinese societies (Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan) than in Hong Kong. Therefore, the relatively low prevalence of growth mindset may be unique to Hong Kong's performance-oriented culture, and does not generalize to Chinese students in general (seeZhang et al, 2019).Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org…”