Hong Kong ESL teachers' questions about English grammar

Hong Kong ESL teachers' questions about English grammar

• Wu, Kamyin TELEC, Dept. of Curriculum Studies, University of Hong Kong
• Sengupta, Sima Dept. of English, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Language and Education, 12(2), 137-53, 1998

Routledge

1998

• F Learning & Teaching
  • FD Application of Communicative Media, IT in Learning & Teaching
• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GB English Language
    • GBF Teaching Methods of Grammar & Rhetoric & Their Outcomes

Computer Mediated Communication Computer Networks Databases English (Second Language) Foreign Countries Grammar Interviews Language Teachers Second Language Instruction Hong Kong Questions

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

This paper reports an exploratory study of questions about English grammar sent in by a group of Hong Kong ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers to a teacher support computer network, TeleNex. The study examines the questions Hong Kong ESL teachers ask about the English language. Arising from the questions posed, the paper then delineates the kinds of language support that ESL teachers may need. Grammar questions sent in by teachers to the network constituted the data source. The questions were analysed in terms of the frequency of the contentwords used, linguistic categories, and teacher knowledge. The principal findings are that the teachers' grammar-related questions typically arose outof their everyday pedagogical needs and these needs seem to be shaped by their implicit models of grammar as a set of rules for 'correct' language use. Such information on 'correct' use does not seem to be easily available from major reference books. These findings confirm the value of a computer network where teachers can obtain continuous informational support and participate in collaborative discussions, which can develop an awareness of grammar as a meaning-making tool.
[Copyright of Language and Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500789808666744]

• English

Journal Articles

• 09500782

• 10.1080/09500789808666744

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/8ad750e1

2010-11-24