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The effectiveness of self-regulated learning instruction on students’ classical Chinese reading comprehension and motivation

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Abstract

In this study, an intervention program was designed based on the instructional principles of self-regulated learning (SRL), and its effectiveness in enhancing Hong Kong secondary three students’ classical Chinese (CC) reading comprehension and motivation was evaluated. A pretest–posttest treatment–control group quasi-experimental design was used. During the study, 191 students between the ages of 13 and 16 years were assigned to three groups and received different treatments: in the experimental group (EG), teachers implemented all the instructional practices designed based on SRL instructional principles in the intervention package; in the control group (CG1), teachers used the traditional teacher-centered approach to teach the same instructional materials from the intervention program; and in the baseline control group (CG2), teachers adopted traditional teacher-centered, text-based instruction to teach the CC texts in students’ original textbook. Reading comprehension tests, questionnaires, and interviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The findings indicated that the EG and CG1 students had significantly better CC reading comprehension performance and prior knowledge than the CG2 students. The EG students also showed positive attitudes towards the intervention program. Implications of the findings are discussed to provide insights into the potential applicability of SRL instruction in the Chinese context.

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Notes

  1. In Hong Kong, all secondary students are categorized into three bands under the Secondary School Place Allocation system. The calculation of allocating bands is based on students’ standardized internal assessment results in Grades 5 and 6. According to these scores, the highest, moderate, and lowest 33.3% of students are classified into Bands 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The two schools involved in the study mainly admitted Band 2 students who are moderate-achieving students.

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Funding

This article is part of a research project funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC 14612517).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T, Hong Kong

    Kit-ling Lau

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Appendices

Appendix 1: A Sample lesson plan of the SRL intervention program designed for the experimental group

Grade level: secondary Three

Class: S.3B and S.3C (experimental group)

Module: module 1 “love between parents and children”

Lesson#: lesson 12–13 (100 min)

Topic: confucian filial piety

Knowledge and strategies learnt in previous lessons:

  • Basic principles of confucian filial piety

  • Eight types of CC word interpretation strategies

  • Reading comprehension strategies: integration strategy, concept map, and questioning strategy

  • Goal setting and monitoring strategies

Learning materials:

  • Two CC stories on the theme of confucian filial piety

  • Online news and videos reporting people who did not take care of or abuse their parents

  • Pre-class worksheet

  • Class activity worksheet

  • Peer assessment form

Lesson objectives:

  • Apply different word interpretation strategies to understand the meaning of words in the two stories

  • Apply the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas and themes of the two stories

  • Comment the behaviors of the sons in the two stories based on the principles of Confucian filial piety

  • Reflect the value and applicability of Confucian filial piety in modern society

Pre-class assignments: complete the pre-class worksheet --

  • Apply different word interpretation strategies to explain the meaning of words in the two stories

  • Watch the online news and videos.

Lesson structure:

Time (min)

Objectives

Learning activities (principles of SRL instructionala)

15

Apply word interpretation strategies to explain the words in the two stories

Students share their answers of the pre

  

Students’ answers are checked through group competition games. Each group has to explain what strategies they have used to guess the meanings of words in the two stories (SI-1, TN-4 & EP-12)

  

Teacher gives feedbacks based on students’ performance on using the word interpretation strategies (TS-6)

15

Connect the principles of Confucian filial piety to students’ daily life

Teacher briefly reviews the basic principles of Confucian filial piety with students (SI-3)

  

Teacher invites students to comment on the behaviors of the sons and daughters in the online news and video reports based on the principles of Confucian filial piety (TN-5 & TS-6)

30

Apply the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas and themes of the two stories

Students apply the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas and themes of the two stories in groups (SI-2, TN-4, & SA-10)

 

Comment the behaviors of the sons in the two stories based on the principles of Confucian filial piety

 
  

Radio broadcasting imitation activity

  

Story telling program: Each group takes turn to use one sentence to summarize a main plot of the stories. At the end of the story, each group has to explain the implied moral meanings of the stories (TN-4 & EP-12)

  

Phone-in program: Teacher plays the role of radio DJ and students play the role of phone-in audiences. Students are free to support or criticize the sons’ behaviors in the two stories. Teacher summarizes the students’ comments and does not make any judgement at this stage (TN-4 & SA-9)

35

Reflect the value and applicability of Confucian filial piety in modern society

Court imitation activity

  

Each group plays the role of the son in one of the stories and discusses what reasons he might have for not treating his parent well (TN-4, SA-9, & SA-10)

  

Teacher plays the role of judge and invites group representatives to make self-defense for their bad behaviors (SA-9)

  

Other students play the role of jurors and fill in the peer assessment form to assess the performance of each group representatives based on the criteria provided in the form (EP-13 & EP-14)

  

Teacher asks students to vote whether the sons in the two stories should be punished for their bad behaviors. Students are free to take their stance and give explanations for their votes (SA-9)

  

Teacher concludes the activity by summarizing students’ explanations and encourages students to reflect whether we should adhere to the principles of Confucian filial piety and love our parents under different circumstances (TN-5 & TS-6)

5

 

Home assignments

  

Complete the self-assessment form to evaluate what you have learnt from the two CC stories (EP-14)

  

Make a card to your parent to express your love and share your reflections in these two lessons to them (EP-12)

  1. aSI represents the principle of strategy instruction; TN represents the principle of task nature; TS represents the principle of teacher support; SA represents the principle of student autonomy; EP represents the principles of evaluation practices. The number marked after each principle refers to the instructional design of that principle which is shown in Table 2

Appendix 2: A sample lesson plan of the SRL intervention program designed for the control group 1

Grade level: secondary three

Class: S.3A and S.3D (control group 1)

Module: module 1 “love between parents and children”

Lesson#: Lesson 12–13 (100 min)

Topic: confucian filial piety

Knowledge and strategies learnt in previous lessons:

  • Basic principles of confucian filial piety

  • Eight types of CC word interpretation strategies

  • Reading comprehension strategies: integration strategy, concept map, and questioning strategy

Learning materials:

  • Two CC stories on the theme of confucian filial piety

  • Pre-class worksheet

  • In-class worksheet

  • Home assignment worksheet

Lesson objectives:

  • Apply different word interpretation strategies to understand the meaning of words in the two stories

  • Apply the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas and themes of the two stories

  • Understand the implied moral meanings of the two stories

  • Comment the behaviors of the sons in the two stories based on the principles of Confucian filial piety

Pre-class assignments: complete the pre-class worksheet

  • Apply different word interpretation strategies to explain the meaning of words in the two stories

  • Answer comprehension questions of the two stories.

Lesson structure:

Time (min)

Objectives

Learning activitiesa

15

Apply word interpretation strategies to explain the words in the two stories

Teacher briefly reviews the eight word interpretation strategies with students

  

Teacher asks students their answers of the word interpretation items in the pre-class worksheet. If a student’s answer is correct, teacher will ask him/her to explain what strategies he/she has used. If a student’s answer is wrong, teacher will explain the correct meaning to students and model how to use strategies to guess the meaning of that word

25

Apply word interpretation strategies to explain the words in the two stories

Teacher teaches the two CC stories word by word to students and explains how to use different strategies to interpret the meanings of each word in the stories

25

Apply the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas and themes of the two stories

Teacher briefly reviews the integration strategy with students

  

Students apply the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas of the two stories by filling out the in-class worksheet. Teacher walks around and gives help to students who have questions on doing the worksheet

  

Teacher asks students their answers of the worksheet. If a student’s answer is correct, teacher will ask him/her to explain how he/she summarize the main ideas of the stories. If a student’s answer is wrong, teacher will model how to use the integration strategy to summarize the main ideas

15

Understand the implied moral meanings of the two stories

Teacher questions students about the implied moral meanings of the two stories

  

Teacher gives feedbacks to students’ answers and asks them to write down the themes of the two stories

15

Comment the behaviors of the sons in the two stories based on the principles of Confucian filial piety

Teacher briefly reviews the basic principles of Confucian filial piety with students

  

Teachers asks students to comment the behaviors of the sons in the two stories based on the principles of Confucian filial piety

  

Teachers gives feedbacks to students based on their comments and concludes it is an important tradition in Chinese culture to respect and take care of our parents

5

 

Home assignment worksheet: Text comprehension questions of the two CC stories

  1. aSI represents the principle of strategy instruction; TN represents the principle of task nature; TS represents the principle of teacher support; SA represents the principle of student autonomy; EP represents the principles of evaluation practices. The number refers to the concrete design of each principle which is shown in Table 2

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Lau, Kl. The effectiveness of self-regulated learning instruction on students’ classical Chinese reading comprehension and motivation. Read Writ 33, 2001–2027 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-020-10028-2

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