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.
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This paper considers issues in customising descriptions of English grammar in the context of creating an electronic database for secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. In developing the database, we have aimed to incorporate insights from functional grammar and corpus linguistics while keeping the information accessible and relevant to teachers familiar only with traditional approaches to grammar. This has involved exploiting the advantages of hypertext, explicitly foregrounding pedagogical concerns and developing a metalanguage that will allow discussion of areas such as transitivity and theme without alienating the teacher-users. We illustrate the kinds of compromises that are necessary in order to match the linguistic information to the needs and existing knowledge of the teacher-users.
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An in-depth investigation is currently being conducted into the metalinguistic awareness of a group of practising L2 teachers, all non-native speakers teaching English in Hong Kong secondary schools. The investigation focuses on teacher metalinguistic awareness (TMA) as it relates to grammar. As part of this in-depth study, a test was administered in order to explore the declarative dimension of TMA: the teacher's explicit knowledge of grammar and grammatical terminology. The test was based largely on Alderson et al. (1996), which in turn draws upon Bloor (1986). The present paper reports on the test performance of these serving teachers as an indication of the level and nature of their explicit knowledge of grammar and grammatical terminology. It also compares their performance with that of two groups of prospective teachers of EFL/ESL: one group of native-speakers and the other of non-native speakers. Comparison with the former helps to shed light on the native/non-native issue (see, for example, Medgyes, 1994) as it relates to explicit knowledge of grammar, while comparison with the latter offers some indication of the effects of post-secondary education and teaching experience upon such knowledge.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658419908667125]

The authors report that, aiming at providing a body of content knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge relevant to English language teaching, "Telegram," an electronic grammar database for English as a second language teachers in Hong Kong, was designed. The essentials of explicit grammatical knowledge in efficient language teaching is then discussed.

*The author reports that the use of cohesive conjunctions by Hong Kong student writers is contrasted with the use by native speakers and that the impact of teaching, textbooks and transfer on Hong Kong students, and the level of misuse and unnecessary use by Hong Kong students are studied.

To help English as a Second Language teachers provide effective error-correction feedback to students, the author proposes an error taxonomy which focuses on structural and lexical errors; two examples are given.

*The paper reports a study that Hong Kong secondary school English teachers' metalinguistic awareness was related to the ability to explain a grammar point by asking teachers with different backgrounds and experience to role play a grammar point on two separate occasions. Analysis was made on the transcripts of teachers' role-plays.