Hong Kong teacher education students' epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning

Abstract

A study investigated the relation between epistemological beliefs and study approaches adopted by Hong Kong teacher education students. Data were collected from 292 teacher education students enrolled in the Certificate in Education course at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Results revealed that the four dimensions of epistemological beliefs held by the students—innate/fixed ability, learning effort/process, authority/expert knowledge, and certainty knowledge—were significantly related to the deep, surface, and achieving study approach constructs. Results supported the suggestions in previous research that epistemological beliefs are related to metacognitive activities and clarified the misperception of Western scholars regarding the study approaches adopted by Chinese students. The implications of the results for classroom teaching and learning and for the future direction of research in this area are considered.