Factors affecting secondary students' enjoyment of English private tutoring: Student, family, teacher, and tutoring

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8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In many Asian countries and increasingly in the West, primary and secondary school students receive private tutoring, often in the form of lectures in cram schools. As English is an international lingua franca, many students enroll in English courses after school. Students enrolled in English private tutoring (EPT) are often examination-driven and extrinsically motivated to learn English, but past studies have not examined whether they like EPT lessons. Hence, we integrate motivation and tutoring into a theoretical model of EPT enjoyment at different levels (student, family, teacher, tutoring) and empirically test it with the survey responses of 543 Secondary Six (Grade 12) students enrolled in EPT courses in cram schools. The findings show that most Secondary Six students in Hong Kong like EPT lessons. Family, reasons for tutoring, tutoring, and student attributes are linked to EPT enjoyment. These students are more likely to like EPT if they (a) are in families perceived to have superior financial resources, (b) are not influenced by advertisements or other people to join EPT lessons, (c) attend face-to-face tutoring, (d) have a specific tutor, (e) like the tutor more than their teachers, (f) are interested in English, or (g) have greater English self-concept. The results of this study can contribute to our understanding of which motivation and tutoring factors affect students' enjoyment of EPT and inform EPT improvements. Copyright © 2020 De La Salle University.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)509-518
JournalThe Asia-Pacific Education Researcher
Volume29
Issue number6
Early online dateMar 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

Citation

Yung, K. W. H., & Chiu, M. M. (2020). Factors affecting secondary students' enjoyment of English private tutoring: Student, family, teacher, and tutoring. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 29(6), 509-518. doi: 10.1007/s40299-020-00502-4

Keywords

  • Shadow education
  • English private tutoring
  • Student enjoyment
  • Cram schools
  • Motivation
  • Hong Kong

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