Abstract
This paper critically reviews evidence of the relevance of Western educational
literature for guiding educational reform in Asia. I conclude that reforms based on
constructivist notions and the types of classrooms which lead to higher quality learning
outcomes may well be relevant. But even such notions need to be treated with caution as a
number of fundamental Western conceptions of the nature of teaching and learning do not
travel well across cultures.
There is now a massive amount of Western research on factors related to educational
achievement. A recent major meta-analysis of this data has produced clear evidence of which
instructional approaches are likely to be most effective in Western educational settings in
terms of improving student learning outcomes (see Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Such
evidence has (sometimes) been used to inform educational reforms in Western countries. But
are these findings relevant for Singapore and elsewhere in Asia? In this paper I will try to
answer this question by reviewing research mainly done by my colleagues and myself in
Hong Kong and some other Asian countries to try to highlight some of the areas where it is
relevant and where it is not. Our research questions the basis of much of the current
educational reforms in Hong Kong which emphasise more student-centred teaching,
improving motivation, and lessening the emphasis on competition, memorisation, and
external assessment but not reducing class sizes. I am certainly not arguing my findings will
necessarily apply to the rest of Asia. But rather that educational research needs to be done in
context and taking into consideration local cultural values and beliefs.
Before attempting to answer the question in the title above, I will consider a related
even more fundamental one of the cross-cultural relevance of basic Western concepts of
teaching and learning.
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