The relationship among thinking styles, learning approaches, value attachment, and academic performance of junior secondary school students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined how thinking styles, learning approaches, value attachment, and family background of a student relate to his or her academic achievement.

Methods: One hundred and ninety-seven Hong Kong junior secondary school students participated in the study. Sternberg’s Thinking Style Inventory (TSI), Biggs’ Learning Process Questionnaires (LQP), and Rudowicz’s questionnaire were used respectively to evaluate thinking styles, learning approaches, and value attachment adopted by students.

Results: Principal component analysis revealed a five-factor structure for the TSI and a two-factor structure for the LPQ. Results indicated that legislative thinking style was positively related to academic achievement. It was also found that deep and achieving learning approaches were correlated with higher academic results. The “versatile learners” image of Hong Kong students using different learning approaches in order to get higher academic results was confirmed. Students’ background was found to be an important factor influencing their thinking styles and learning approaches and hence their academic results. Attachment to Chinese values was shown to be positively correlated with academic achievement.

Discussion: The results suggest that teachers should design different learning activities to accommodate different needs of students to enhance learning motivation and effectiveness.