Motivational beliefs, study strategies, and mathematics attainment in high- and low-achieving Chinese secondary school students

In order to examine the relationship between cognitive and motivational var iables and their relationship to mathematics attainment, Hong Kong-Chinese students enrolled in schools for high-, average-, and low-achievers complet ed questionnaires in Year 10 and in Year 11. Low-achievers perceived academ ic learning as being less useful over time and reported spending less time studying in Year 10 than in Year 11 but high- and low-achievers did not dif fer on their use of self-regulated learning strategies. Performance on the public examination in mathematics was predicted by prior achievement and Se lf-Concept of Mathematics Ability. Results underscore the importance of con sidering cultural beliefs systems and educational systems in models of acad emic motivation, (C) 2000 Academic Press.