Motivation for writing and Chinese writing performance among adolescents.

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the relationships between writing motivation and Chinese written composition among Hong Kong Chinese high school students. Particularly, in light of the Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), this study investigated the extent that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (intrinsic motivation, external regulation, introjected regulation and identified regulation) facilitated writing processes. Method: A total of 238 Chinese students in Grade 8 and Grade 10 in Hong Kong was administered an adapted version of the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire-Adapted (Deci, Hodges, Pierson, & Tomassone, 1992) to assess their various intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in writing and a Chinese argumentation written composition task. Results: Multiple regression analysis results showed that intrinsic motivation and identified regulation were significant predictors of Chinese written composition when the four types of writing motivation were entered into the equation simultaneously. The interaction effect between grade and intrinsic motivation and the interaction effect between grade and identified regulation were not significant. Conclusions: Our results suggested the significance of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation in Chinese written composition development among high school students. These findings were different from those reported in a study by Yeung et al. (2015) among elementary grade students, in which students’ writing performance was significantly predicted by introjected regulation and identified regulation. The importance of self-determination in writing development seems to be stronger among high school students than among elementary grade students. These findings have pedagogical implications for the writing instructions in schools in Hong Kong, which tend to place less emphasis on authentic writing goals and contexts.