Content area
Abstract
This study used a qualitative research method to investigate Chinese teachers' implicit beliefs about important student characteristics. It also explored how variables such as school, grade, and academic achievement level were associated with teachers' utilization of important student characteristics. Two elementary schools in an eastern city in China participated in this study. The two schools were categorized as a regular school and a key school. In China, a key school, compared to a regular school, typically means that it has more educational resources, funds, and academically high performing student population. Student development records of 450 students, grades 1 to 5, were analyzed. Overall, the analysis of narrative student evaluations showed that Chinese moral character, effort, learning, and behavior were used most frequently by Chinese teachers from the two schools. Teachers' positive comments tended to focus on Chinese moral character, effort and learning while negative comments tended to focus on effort, behavior, and learning. The positive reference to Chinese moral character was significantly associated with variables of school, grade level and achievement level. Teachers in the key school tended to comment on Chinese moral character positively more often than those in the regular school. Students at higher grade and achievement levels tended to be evaluated more often in terms of positive reference to Chinese moral character.
School and achievement level were significantly related to teachers' positive reference to effort and learning. Teachers in the key school tended to comment on effort and learning positively more often than those in the regular school. Achievement level was significantly associated with teachers' tendencies to use positive versus negative comments in their evaluations. Students at higher achievement levels received more positive comments in the evaluations than did those in the lower groups. These findings increase our understanding of Chinese teachers' beliefs about important student characteristics, and are expected to help develop the knowledge base about culturally and socially meaningful aspects of Chinese schooling.
