Although motivational variables have been extensively examined in the context of English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL), they have received little attention when learning Chinese as a second language (CSL), especially among elementary school students in lower grades. Considering the significant impact of psychological variables on language learning and the dilemma of Chinese reading for non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students from Hong Kong, this study examined the structural relationship between the ideal L2 self and intrinsic motivation, as well as their impacts on the learning engagement and reading performance of 475 Hong Kong first-grade NCS students. Two findings were noteworthy: (1) under the simultaneous consideration of the above-mentioned variables, intrinsic motivation affects learning engagement and Chinese reading performance more than the ideal self; (2) the indirect effects of intrinsic motivation on reading performance through learning engagement are more significant than its direct effect on reading performance. The implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright ©2024 De Gruyter.

Introduction: Readability formulas are crucial for identifying suitable texts for children’s reading development. Traditional formulas, however, are linear models designed for alphabetic languages and struggle with numerous predictors. Purpose: To develop advanced readability formulas for Chinese texts using machine-learning algorithms that can handle hundreds of predictors. It is also the first readability formula developed in Hong Kong. Method: The corpus comprised 723 texts from 72 Chinese language arts textbooks used in public primary schools. The study considered 274 linguistic features at the character, word, syntax, and discourse levels as predictor variables. The outcome variables were the publisher-assigned semester scale and the teacher-rated readability level. Fifteen combinations of linguistic features were trained using Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF) algorithms. Model performance was evaluated by prediction accuracy and the mean absolute error between predicted and actual readability. For both publisher-assigned and teacher-rated readability, the all-level-feature-RF and character-level-feature-RF models performed the best. The top 10 predictive features of the two optimal models were analyzed. Results: Among the publisher-assigned and subjective readability measures, the all-RF and character-RF models performed the best. The feature importance analyses of these two optimal models highlight the significance of character learning sequences, character frequency, and word frequency in estimating text readability in the Chinese context of Hong Kong. In addition, the findings suggest that publishers might rely on diverse information sources to assign semesters, whereas teachers likely prefer to utilize indices that can be directly derived from the texts themselves to gauge readability levels. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of character-level features, particularly the timing of a character’s introduction in the textbook

Mastering the visually complex characters of the Chinese language poses significant challenges for students. The situation is even worse in Hong Kong, where students with different backgrounds, including students with/without dyslexia and non-Chinese speaking students (NCS), are placed in the same class. Interactive design has been proven effective in enhancing students' learning performance and engagement. However, developing a learning tool for students with diverse backgrounds is challenging. This study proposes a robot-assisted Chinese learning system (RACLS) for those with diverse backgrounds and investigates its impact on learning motivation by a comparison study. In particular, 39 students participate in a five-day robot-led training program, while another 39 students received traditional teacher-led training. The comparison results show that RACLS can enhance the emotional engagement of students with dyslexia and strengthen the behavioural engagement of students without dyslexia. Interestingly, the learning motivation of NCS students in the experimental and control groups is enhanced similarly. Copyright © 2025 IEEE.

Prescreening children for specific learning disabilities, e.g., dyslexia, is essential for effective intervention. With a quick and reliable prescreening result, special education coordinators (SENCOs) can provide students with early intervention and relieve their learning pressure. Unfortunately, due to the limited resources, many students in Hong Kong receive dyslexia assessments beyond the golden period, i.e., under the age of six. To this end, information technology could establish automatic prescreening tools to address this issue. However, dyslexia prescreening for children learning Chinese is challenging due to the lack of sound-script correlation in Chinese. In this article, an automatic dyslexia prescreening system (ADPS) is developed to provide a quick test to identify at-risk children. Through a two-stage approach, we first develop a gamified tool based on linguistic characteristics and then evaluate the result by a comparison study. Results from a pilot test on 30 students with dyslexia and 32 students without dyslexia indicate that the ADPS can effectively distinguish between two groups of students. Furthermore, the interactive design elements can motivate students to conduct the prescreening independently. Copyright ©2024 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

現存識字教學研究主要旨在提出教學方法，而本文的旨趣則在於基礎觀念的論述。本文先概述變易學習理論，繼而討論何謂識字教學，並提出變易理論指導下的識字是怎樣的。本文接着，報告筆者一項研究計劃的成果，計劃以變易理論的識字作為資料分析的工具。計劃所欲探究的是，幼稚園幼兒在日常自然情境下，在認字活動中會呈現哪些類型的學習錯誤？計劃共招募到 142 位在職教師協助觀察幼兒的日常表現。最終收集到的學習錯誤共 758 個，呈現為四個類型：（一）混淆符號的功能；（二）混淆符號；（三）混淆字的其他符號；（四）混淆字符號以外的其他方面。筆者會剖析變易理論的識字，與先前文獻的結果有何異同，以及提出對教學實踐的啟示。 Copyright © 2024 香港教育大學.

目前， 現有的針對香港非華語學生的中文教材存在數量有限， 質量參差不齊的問題。筆者認為造成這種現象的原因與在編寫和評估方面缺少理論指導相關。 因此， 為了達到系統且客觀的瞭解現有非華語中文教材的優缺點、 提升非華語學生中文教材的編寫水平,筆者參考了中文二語教材編寫和評估的理論、 原則及相關框架， 建構了適用於香港非華語學生中文教材編寫和評估的理論框架， 即《非華語學生中文教材編寫和評估框架》 。研究同時將框架應用於實踐中， 具體表現為： （1） 根據框架的指引， 評估現有的三套非華語中文教材， 並根據所得結果對框架的內容進行修訂； （2） 根據框架的指引， 編寫適用於課後補習性質中文輔導班的教材並邀請相關領域的前線教師、 專家和學者對教材內容進行評估， 依照評估所得的結果， 進一步修訂和優化框架內容， 從而構建最終版本的框架。研究結果顯示， 依照框架編寫的自編教材內容排布科學， 能夠得到前線教師、 專家及學者的認可。 本研究構建的框架能夠幫助前線教師、 專家及學者編寫和評估針對非華語學生的中文教材。 因為， 非華語學生長期居住在香港社區， 且主要來自於南亞國家，所以框架同時能夠為豐富地域化的教材評估標準做貢獻。All rights reserved.

本研究旨在探討語料庫在古代漢語教學中的多重作用，尤其聚焦於語料庫如何有助於教材編纂、改善教學方法及策略，以及增強學生自學能力三個方面。隨著現有的古代漢語教材在體例、選材和語法概念等方面存在顯著差異，本研究發現定量分析大規模語料的重要性。首先，語料庫提供大量數據，教材製作者或教師可以從中挑選具有代表性及教學價值的素材，確保教材涵蓋古代漢語中重要的語言現象。其次，教師亦可利用語料庫分析其語法結構或詞彙出現的頻率，在教學時輕易地識別須要掌握的重點，並利用語料庫創建互動式學習活動，擺脫以往較傳統的教學方式，增強學習趣味性。最後，語料庫賦予學生更大的自主學習空間，在課堂外學生亦可自行查詢語料庫，其中的搜尋工具和過濾功能允許學生根據自己的學習需求找到相應的語言材料，包括特定的詞彙使用、句式結構或者語法功能等，從而更深入地理解文本和語言運用的方法，並加強學習者在學習過程中的自學及自主研究能力。 Copyright © 2024 香港教育大學.