A quasi-experimental research study is reported in this paper. Its aim was to evaluate the effects of different types of pedagogy on the cultivation of students' critical thinking dispositions. One hundred and forty Secondary 4 students (i.e. tenth-grade students at 15–17 years of age) from two Hong Kong schools joined a teaching intervention in which they learnt strategies of argumentation through an established critical thinking framework (i.e. Kuhn's model The Skills of Argument, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991]). Analysis revealed collaborative group work to exert positive impacts on students' development of critical thinking when used in conjunction with explicit instruction in reasoning and evidence-based justifications during the intervention. The research results also showed the students who received teacher guidance to have engaged more interactively in joint learning tasks, thereby illustrating the important role of the teacher in facilitating group discussions.
[Copyright of Thinking Skills and Creativity is the property of Pergamon Press.]

Hong Kong, a leading city of China, is a place with students having good examination results but being regarded as incapable of thinking critically. In 2005, the Education Bureau decided to make Liberal Studies as a core subject and aroused controversial debate. This change, proposing to use a core subject to nurture student critical thinking skills, is a drastic curriculum change in this society. This study, inquiring into the perceptions and practices of teachers teaching Liberal Studies, consists of two research questions. First, how do teachers perceive the aims and nature of the core subject Liberal Studies in the new curriculum? Second, how do they nurture the critical thinking habits of students in their classroom? Qualitative study was conducted to investigate teachers’ perception and practices of critical thinking in Liberal Studies. Both interview and documentary analysis are used in this study. First, the researcher interviewed five Liberal Studies teachers, who were experienced in teaching Liberal Studies. Each teacher individually attended the interview for about one hour. The researcher audio-recorded the conversation and transcribed word by word. Second, in order to follow up with interviews, teachers were invited to provide supporting materials such as teaching plan for further analysis. The study showed that a positive side in this reform. Teachers with strong perceptions for nurturing critical thinking skills of pupils were empathetic in teaching Liberal Studies. Teachers had initiated various methods to provide students opportunities to reflect on thinking and learning, which were drastically differed from traditional culture of Hong Kong. This study also showed that teachers’ perception of critical thinking skills in Liberal Studies also influences their practices in teaching the discipline. However, with the traditional pedagogical culture and examination bounded system, shifting from transmission of knowledge to nurturing critical thinking

From the 2012/13 academic year, the undergraduate degree programme in Hong Kong higher education has been transferred from a three-year to a four-year structure, with introduction of a rigorous component of general education in the new four-year curriculum. The present study aims to evaluate the implementation and impact of a new general education program, the "General University Requirements" (GUR), in the new four-year undergraduate curriculum of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) based on the views of teachers. A total of 68 teachers who had taught different GUR subjects in 2013/14 academic year were recruited to fill in an evaluation sheet designed to understand their views towards the GUR subjects. A total of 75 qualitative evaluation sheets were collected. Both close-ended and open-ended questions were used to assess teachers' perceptions. Data analyses indicated that teachers generally had positive evaluation about the GUR. They perceived that the content, teaching methods, and assessment components of GUR subjects successfully engaged students in the learning process and helped students achieve the intended learning outcomes. Teachers also had positive impression and feelings towards the GUR subjects they taught, and perceived the GUR subjects as helpful in broadening students' knowledge, cultivating their characters and important generic competences. Meanwhile, challenges in the implementation process were also noted. Findings from this study indicated the basic effectiveness of the GUR at PolyU based on teachers' views. It also provided indications for further improvements of the GUR and general education programs in Hong Kong higher education.
[Copyright Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2017]

The integration of popular culture into English language learning has recently been formalised in the Hong Kong New Senior Secondary curriculum, with the development of critical reading indicated as one of the key objectives. Whether and how students respond to popular culture texts is, however, under-researched. The present paper reports findings from a study that investigated how a group of 33 senior secondary (Grade 11) students from three schools representing different levels of academic performance in Hong Kong conducted reading of an authentic print English advertisement. In small groups, the students articulated in Cantonese, their first language, an analysis of the text including its purpose, target audience, and intended impacts. Insights from Stuart Hall's three major decoder positions (dominant reading, oppositional reading, and negotiated reading) were drawn on to conduct a qualitative content analysis of the students' reading. The findings showed that three-quarters of the students irrespective of their English proficiency levels displayed evidence of critical consumption of the text, but many seemed to have constructed oppositional or negotiated reading positions due to their failure to appreciate linguistic creativity, and spontaneous evaluation of the visual images. The authors argue that language curricula in schools should strengthen students' critical multimodal literacies.
[© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group]

This paper argues that the planned introduction of visual literacy into the New Secondary School Curriculum can play a crucial role in enabling students to think critically and creatively in Hong Kong's highly visual landscape. As Hong Kong's educational system remains entrenched in long-established and conventional pedagogies, the primacy given to the written word is in sharp contrast with the pragmatic roles that visual images play in students' day-to-day life. Hong Kong is well-known for its extremely high level of Internet / broadband penetration and media saturation, yet visual literacy is still in a state of infancy in Hong Kong. Therefore, from a curricular standpoint, as Hong Kong society relies to a greater degree than ever before on visual communication strategies, it is vital that visual literacy be integrated as part of the new curriculum under the current educational reforms. As contemporary Hong Kong culture becomes increasingly dependent on the visual environment, developing visual literacy to enhance students' learning can be an important step in the future towards a more successful implementation and development of the New Secondary School Curriculum.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge]

There is a strong belief that critical thinking should be cultivated in schools. But it is not clear how critical thinking is understood by front-line teachers who are given the responsibility of training critical thinkers. Based on a study conducted in Hong Kong, we found that some school teachers were in favor of a “positive” image of critical thinker who is knowledgeable, prudent, being critical to the critics who are ready to criticize, and being constructive after making criticisms. We try to argue that such a positive portrayal, although uncontroversial from a detached point of view, may not be adequate in the context of Hong Kong where a critical stance toward power holders and established interests is badly needed. Without paying due attention to the “aporetic” dimension, such understanding of critical thinking would make it difficult for students to adopt a critical stance to the prevailing cultural beliefs, social values, political institutions, or economic ideologies that merit the greatest attention.
[Copyright © 2016 The Author(s).]

This article reports the results of a one-year longitudinal study examining a teaching intervention designed to enhance students' learning of critical thinking in Hong Kong. Seventy participating students (age 16-18) learned how to make reasoned arguments through a series of collaborative activities, including critical-thinking modelling tasks and group debate. Of particular interest was the role of Chinese traditional values in the students' perceptions of ground rules and the potential influence those rules had on their learning of critical thinking in debate-type discussions. The findings show that Confucian beliefs, such as Li (ritual, 禮) and Chi (shame or 'face disgrace', 恥), do influence Chinese students' understanding of ground rules. Follow-up analysis revealed positive correlations between the establishment of these rules and students' demonstration of critical-thinking abilities. The results thus refute previous scholars' criticism of the use of ground rules in classroom talk.
[Copyright of Pedagogy, Culture & Society is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2014.899611]

Despite extensive discussion on critical thinking (CT) by Chinese students, there are still debates over the question of why Chinese higher education students, when studying abroad, lack (or rather do not demonstrate) CT skills. The main objective of this paper is to explore how far it can be established from the published research literature whether the key factor affecting Chinese university students' CT with respect to academic study in English is cultural background or previous training. The conclusion is that culture cannot be the sole explanation for Chinese students' CT performance at universities abroad. The evidence strongly suggests that, while CT elements can indeed be found in ancient Chinese culture, many other factors, especially students' previous learning experiences, are of more immediate relevance and likely to affect performance. As a result, a holistic approach is suggested. The review also suggests that there is at times a lack of clear definitions and/or explanations of the scope of the key concept - culture - in the current literature.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2010.546400]

Around the world, increasing numbers of students receive after-school private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring may be provided through informal channels or by companies, and it may be received one-to-one, in small groups or in large classes. The tutoring is commonly called shadow education since its content mimics that of regular schooling. The spread of shadow education is part of a global shift of balance with increased roles for the private sector. Hong Kong is among the societies in which shadow education enrolment rates are particularly high. Much of the shadow education focuses on techniques for performance in external examinations, and is not consistent with the emphases stressed by teachers and the government. This paper focuses on a newly introduced subject called Liberal Studies in which the tensions are especially visible. Although the official curriculum emphasizes creativity and critical thinking, many students have sought large-class tutoring focused on formulae for passing examinations. Interviews exposed the needs that the students felt were not being met in their schooling. The findings illustrate some of the complexities in relationships between the public and private sectors. Viewed in a wider context, the paper illuminates some of the mechanisms and effects of marketization, which are increasingly evident globally.
[Copyright of Journal of Curriculum Studies is the property of Routledge . Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2014.883553]