Motivation and engagement in the ‘Asian Century’: a comparison of Chinese students in Australia, Hong Kong, and Mainland China

Does instrumental motivation help students with low intrinsic motivation? Comparison between Western and Confucian students

“…Chinese students treasure learning as an important activity for both the betterment of the nation and their own personal advancement (Chen et al, ). A. J. Martin, Yu, and Hau () also showed that Chinese students valued academic motivation and outcome (instrumental motivation) more saliently than students in the West do. Due to these values, Chinese students may see a large part of the teachers' controlling behavior as “needs” or “identified value” (Cheng, Shu, Zhou, & Lam, ).…”

“…A. J. Martin, Yu, and Hau (2014) also showed that Chinese students valued academic motivation and outcome (instrumental motivation) more saliently than students in the West do. Due to these values, Chinese students may see a large part of the teachers' controlling behavior as "needs" or "identified value" (Cheng, Shu, Zhou, & Lam, 2016).…”

Personal best (PB) goal structure, individual PB goals, engagement, and achievement: A study of Chinese‐ and English‐speaking background students in Australian schools

“…Cross‐cultural research has established that there are differences in academic processes such as goals, motivation, engagement, and achievement between students in Asian and Western countries (Givens Rolland, ; King, McInerney, & Watkins, ; Martin & Hau, ; Martin, Yu, & Hau, ). Students in Asian countries tend to report less adaptive types of goal pursuits, motivation, and engagement at school (e.g., lower self‐efficacy, higher anxiety) than students in Western countries; however, they also attain higher achievement levels (Leung, ; Martin & Hau, ; Martin, Yu et al ., ). Reasons for these cross‐cultural differences have generally been attributed to different views towards education in Eastern and Western contexts.…”

“…Given that the cultures within which students live appear to have a strong impact on their academic experiences (Martin, Yu et al ., ; Turner & Meyer, ), it is not surprising that these differences play out in academic processes such as goal pursuits, motivation, and achievement. However, the extent to which such differences also occur when students from different cultural backgrounds live and study within the same context deserves further attention – that is, examining academic processes multiculturally, rather than cross‐culturally.…”

Between students' instrumental goals and how they learn: Goal content is the gap to mind

“…Researchers in some contexts have moved away from the approach/avoidance aspect of achievement goals and simply focused on a mastery/performance dichotomy (e.g., Lee, McInerney, Liem, & Ortiga, ). Other research has concentrated on examining mastery orientations as a part of a broader fabric of student motivation (e.g., Martin, Yu, & Hau, ). With a purposeful approach to achievement motivation, it is possible to focus specifically on how such adaptive motivations are developed and their mediating role for instrumental sources of motivation.…”