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SCMP Reporter

IF YOU ARE Chinese, you are likely to do better in maths tests than your Western counterparts - at least that is what an ongoing survey suggests.

This widely held belief has been supported by preliminary findings of the cross-cultural study TIMSS-R.

Recently at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), researchers and educators from around the world discussed the phenomenon.

The TIMSS-R - Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat - is conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

The study was started in 1999 in 38 countries and regions after TIMSS in 1995, which covered 26 regions. HKU is involved in the Hong Kong part of the study.

Besides assessing Form Two students' ability to solve maths problems, TIMSS-R also looked at factors such as teaching styles, confidence among teachers and students, home resources and more.

Early findings put students from Confucian heritage culture (CHC) regions - Singapore, Korea, Taipei, Hong Kong and Japan - at the top with average scores of 604, 587, 585, 582 and 579, respectively, well above the international average of 487.

However, there was a general lack of confidence in maths among students in these regions: Singapore topped the CHC areas with 15 per cent of highly confident students, compared to 27 per cent in Canada, where the average score was 531.

Between eight and 66 per cent of CHC students were taught by confident teachers, compared to an overwhelming 87 per cent in the United States, where the average score was 502.

Dr Frederick Leung Koon-shing of HKU's Faculty of Education, who has taken part in numerous cross-cultural studies including the TIMSS and the TIMSS-R, said culture was a significant factor.

'I came to this conclusion by method of elimination,' Dr Leung said, citing figures from various studies.

'Many Western countries have a centralised syllabus like we do. CHC regions have a slightly more demanding curriculum, but the difference is insignificant.'

The TIMSS-R found that the time spent on teaching maths was more or less the same - between 11 and 15 per cent - in all countries.

And 16 per cent of Hong Kong and Korean students spent more than three hours on maths homework. The figures for the US and Canada were 22 and 24 per cent.

'Hong Kong's education expenditure, in terms of gross national product, was among the lowest in the world last year. Home resources are also better in Western countries,' Dr Leung said. 'That leaves us with culture as he only explanation.'

He said maths teaching in CHC regions focused more on the procedures of solving problems than the concepts, in order to deal with exams. Dr Leung said it was a pragmatic attitude rooted in Confucian teachings.

In one of Dr Leung's studies, maths teachers in Hong Kong, Korea and Shanghai showed a better understanding of concepts than their American counterparts. All of them were able to explain division of fractions but less than half of the American teachers could do so.

'Confucian teachings demand teachers to be scholars,' Dr Leung explained. 'There is pressure on teachers to do well.'

He cited another study on teachers' values in Hong Kong, London and Beijing: 'Our culture is a mix of Chinese and British cultures. Our teachers' values are always somewhere in between. This shows there is cultural influence on teaching and learning.'

More evidence is needed to confirm the role culture plays in maths education. But if the link is firmly established, there will be policy implications.

'It would mean that you can't just copy or adopt a teaching method from elsewhere without looking at the cultural aspect of it. It may not work in our culture,' Dr Leung said.

'To improve results, we have to first look into our culture. This is an important factor to consider in the education reform.'

The IEA is an independent, international co-operative of research institutions and governmental research agencies. It conducts large-scale comparative studies of educational achievements with the aim of understanding the effects of educational policies and practices



Culture adds up