Student-centred teaching, deep learning and self-reported ability improvement in higher education: Evidence from Mainland China

This study aims to determine the benefits of student-centred teaching methods for students’ cognitive and practical improvement and the mediating effect of deep learning on the relationship between them. We developed a scale of student-centred teaching for the Chinese context using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Data were collected from 976 students from 16 large classes in a university in Mainland China. Results showed that the student-centred teaching method positively predicted student’s use of a deep learning approach and self-reported ability improvement in large classes, and deep learning had a mediating effect on the relationship between the student-centred teaching method and self-reported ability improvement. This finding suggests that even in large classes, teachers can also use a student-centred method to promote students’ use of a deep learning approach and improve their cognitive and practical abilities.