The Model Student? An Investigation of Chinese Australian Students' Academic Achievement, Studying, and Causal Attributions for Academic Success and Failure

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Australian students of Asian background are performing very highly in secondary and tertiary education. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this ethnic stereotype. The present study investigated Chinese Australian students' academic achievement, IQ, time spent studying, and causal attributions for academic success and failure. Based on the findings of North American research, it was hypothesised that the Chinese Australian students would have higher academic achievement than Anglo-Australian students of the same level of ability. It was also predicted that these students would have stronger beliefs in the importance of effort as a cause of academic success and would expend greater effort in their academic studies. While the results indicated no difference between the ethnic groups in terms of academic achievement and IQ, there were significant differences in academic effort such that the Chinese Australian students reported spending more time studying than a comparable group of Anglo-Celtic Australian students. Moreover, responses to the measure of causal attributions suggested a perception of Asian background students as “model” students. The results are discussed in relation to the role of effort beliefs and behaviour in the academic achievement of Asian Australian students.