Relationships between different instructional approaches and students' Classical Chinese reading comprehension and motivation

Abstract

Previous studies comparing teacher‐centred (TC) and learner‐centred (LC) instruction have presented a mixed picture of the effectiveness of these two instructional approaches. By examining the effectiveness of different types of instruction on students' Classical Chinese (CC) reading comprehension and motivation, this study aims to contribute to instructional research by elucidating the positive and negative aspects of TC and LC instruction when they are applied in the context of teaching CC reading. A total of 454 Secondary 4 students between the ages of 15 and 17 years agreed to participate in this study on a voluntary basis. They completed a CC reading comprehension test and a questionnaire that measured their CC reading motivation and perceived CC reading instruction. Relationships between students' perceived CC reading instruction, reading motivation and reading comprehension were examined by correlation and path analyses. The findings of the correlation analyses indicated that traditional TC instruction positively and significantly correlated with students' CC reading performance and extrinsic motivation. Motivating tasks, one type of LC instruction, positively and significantly correlated with all types of motivation but did not significantly correlate with CC reading performance. In the path analysis, TC instruction exhibited a significant positive effect on reading comprehension, whereas motivating tasks continued to exhibit a significant positive effect on intrinsic motivation after the effect of the examined schools' achievement level was controlled for. The findings highlight the essential role of teachers in instructing students who are weak in particular subjects. Instead of viewing TC and LC instruction as two contradictory approaches, the findings indicate that a combined approach of TC and LC instruction can more effectively facilitate students' learning in a difficult school subject.