Investigating the Relationship between Extracurricular Activities, Learning Approaches and Academic Outcomes in Chinese Sub-degree Students

Abstract

Biggs’s 3P model on student learning has identified the relationship among individual difference, learning approaches and academic achievement in higher education. Previous studies have typically revealed that the deep approach is positively associated with academic achievement. It is argued that extracurricular activities enhance students’ confident in their ability which encourage a deep motive in their learning. Comparatively little is known about such relationship in Hong Kong Chinese continuing education context especially for full-time sub-degree students under the new secondary school system in Hong Kong. The research aims to investigate the relationships of extracurricular activities, learning approaches and academic outcomes among Hong Kong Chinese sub-degree students. 131 full-time sub-degree students participated in this research on a voluntary basis by using Biggs’s Revised Two-Factor Study Processes Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) to examine the fit of the variables to hypothesized model. The results indicated that sub-degree students with lots of extracurricular activities experiences were more likely to use the deep approach.

Keywords

• learning approach
• academic outcomes
• extracurricular activities
• community college