ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, the outstanding performance (especially in mathematics) of Far Eastern Asian students compared with students around the globe has attracted the attention of sociologists, educationalists, and psychologists. Numerous studies have been conducted to account for this “phenomenon of the CHC 2 learner.” Social, cultural, and pedagogical factors are used to explain the apparent excellence of these students. Researchers have repeatedly proven that students from CHC regions have a stronger preference for deeper approaches, rather than rote learning, than their Western counterparts. Other researches support the hypothesis that the excellent academic performance of Asian learners is due to a synthesis of memorization and understanding; this type of learning is uncommon among Western students (for details, refer to Wong, 2004). Furthermore, Biggs (1994) offered a new perspective on “the teacher as the authority in the [CHC] classroom” which was formerly regarded as contrary to a favorable learning environment. He identified the relationship between teacher and students as a “mentor/mentee relationship.” Also, Hess and Azuma (1991) noted a mixture of authoritarianism and student-centeredness in the CHC classroom. All these point to the conclusion that there is a uniquely successful learning environment in CHC regions. That is precisely the theme of this chapter: to delineate what the Chinese mathematics classroom looks like and its possible change under the educational reform that is taking place in China.
