Self-concept of Primary Two and Four Chinese Students Participating in Different Modes of Remedial Classes in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objectives. The primary aim of the study was to examine the self-concept of primary two and primary four Chinese Hong Kong students in remedial classes, and to compare the conceptions of participants under different mode of remedial teaching. In addition, the study also examined the effects of age and gender. This study also investigated the reliability and validity of Chinese version of SDQ-I for primary two and four students studying in remedial class in Hong Kong context.

Methods. To conduct the research, the Chinese version of the Self Description Questionnaire I (SDQ-I) was administered to 245 students from one primary school in Hong Kong. Seven of them were invited to follow-up interviews to explore what they thought about selected items in the questionnaire.

Results. Findings revealed that (i) students participating in remedial class had lower self-concept in the areas of non-academic, academic and global than students in regular class; (ii) primary two remedial class students scored higher in all domains of self-concept than primary four remedial class students; (iii) male remedial class students did better in physical ability and mathematics self-concept scores but lower reading self-concept score than female remedial class students. Data analysis employing t-tests was used, significant difference was not found. And, Shavelson’s framework was found to be highly correlated with Marsh’s SDQ-I.

Discussion. The results demonstrate the difference in self-concept scores for students studying in remedial and normal classes. Grouping students with learning difficulty into different class may generate labelling effect, which may in turn affect their self-concept.