Empirical Research Background: Krashen (1982) holds that affective factors are important for success in acquiring a foreign/second language. This paper attempts to operationalize the affective factors using comfort levels of English language learners. A Rasch calibrated scale properly designed targeting comfort levels in using the English language to exemplify a straightforward and efficient way to tap the affective factors in language acquisition. Empirical Research Aims: The study aims to establish a measure of comfort in using English as an index of the affective filter in learning English. The hypothesis is that levels of comfort in using the English do indicate level of ability in English. Empirical Research Sample: The sample consists of 15000 plus individuals from 7 regions in the Asia region: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The sample was randomly selected by commercial internet sampling firms in the regions. Empirical Research Method: A questionnaire targeting 3 areas of English language use was designed. The areas are contact with native speakers of English, using English media and reading English publications. 9 items were developed with categories of each item containing descriptions of different levels of comfort in using the English language. The questionnaire was administered via the internet in the 7 regions. Empirical Research RASCH: The returns were calibrated using the Rasch model. The locations of the item categories provide the basis for profiling three of comfort. Empirical Research Results: The levels of comfort in using the English are found to be significantly correlated with self-assessed English language ability included in the questionnaire. Empirical Research Conclusions: Calibration of item categories, if meaningfully described, can provide more detailed information on a survey instrument than the common used Lickert type scale with levels articulated in relative terms of more or less in some fashion

Hong Kong provides an excellent case study of language policy in a multilingual world. Cantonese is the medium of instruction for all government primary schools, where English and Putonghua are taught as subjects. The majority of HK's secondary schools are also Chinese (Cantonese) medium, but about a quarter are English medium. This policy has not been popular with parents and the government has now bowed to parental pressure for more access to English and announced a ‘fine-tuning' of the current policy, to take effect from the school year 2010-2011. This new policy will allow secondary schools to teach more subjects through English, as long as certain criteria concerning student and teacher capabilities and resources are met. After a brief historical review of Hong Kong's language policy, the paper will report on an empirical study into the practical and pedagogical consequences of the new fine-tuning policy. The study surveyed 127 secondary schools to identify what changes in practice were planned. The hypothesis was that schools would be primarily influenced by parental demand and that therefore the overwhelming majority of them would plan to use the maximum allowance given by fine-tuning to increase their teaching through English as a subject and as a medium of instruction. In reporting the findings, the paper will show whether these predictions were in fact met, and the effects it could have on schools, teachers and students.

MOI for sure affects the effectiveness of teaching, schooling and even language landscape of society. Under certain language policies or social language environments, selection of MOI is a metaphor of politics and resources. HK is a special place with a history of British colony over 150 years. After return of sovereignty to China in 1997, language landscape of HK does not change a lot. According to government statistical figures, Cantonese which HK people consider as their mother tongue is still a dominant language in daily life and local context (96.5% Proportion of the population able to speak Cantonese in 2006). This article is going to study how Putonghua becomes a core subject and Mol of Chinese Language subject in primary and secondary school curriculums from perspectives of policy making and responses of stake holders. According to scholars' research, by 2011, 46% of schools will adopt Putonghua as Mol for Chinese Language subject. Is enhancing Chinese standard of students the sole rationale behind this move? Can Putonghua, L2 or L3 of many Hong Kong students, enhance L1 Chinese standard of Cantonese speaking students? This is an interesting research question as Singapore is investigating how to use English, official L1 in Singapore, as Mol to teaching Chinese. As Putonghua has not developed from L2 or L3 to L1 in Hong Kong, is teaching Chinese Language subject in PMI a correct move right now? The findings of the paper can help us address the nature of L1 learning in multilingual and cultural societies such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

Scaffolding in education refers to the strategies of support which facilitates student development and aims at assisting them to learn effectively. When students are able to learn independently, the scaffolding can be withdrawn. This paper aims at analyzing how effective scaffolding is to the non-Chinese specking students in learning Chinese through video-recording of actual classroom teaching of three periods in a Hong Kong primary school. Research methods include observing classroom teaching and analyzing video-recording-turned scripts. The research finds out that teachers and students can communicate through the target language (Cantonese) without the need for translating. This implies it is feasible to apply immersion method in the teaching Chinese as the second language. The research also finds out that teachers applied eight scaffolding strategies in helping students to learn Chinese, namely: 1. recall scaffolding; 2. language scaffolding, including dialogue scaffolding, sentence pattern scaffolding and dominant language scaffolding; 3. predictable book scaffolding; 4. concept scaffolding; 5. “directed reading-thinking activity” structure scaffolding; 6. peer scaffolding; 7. demonstration scaffolding; 8. multi-media scaffolding. Most of the scaffolding strategies are effective in helping students to learn Chinese. However, a few of them are not running effectively and need to be improved.

In Hong Kong, three principal languages co-exist: Cantonese, English and Putonghua. For more than two decades, among policy-makers and educators, there has been a substantial debate on the language policies governing the three principal languages. Since the political transition in 1997, the Hong Kong government has made a series of language policy reforms trying to create a reasonable balance among the three languages, and a “biliterate and trilingual” policy has been adopted, with the aim of enabling Hong Kong residents to become biliterate in written Chinese and English, and trilingual in Cantonese, Putonghua and spoken English. The policy is now guiding the curriculum design in Hong Kong language education. However, currently, Hong Kong primary schools do not have an agreed approach or method for the implementation of trilingual education, and there is an urgent need to explore current successful or unsuccessful models. After a comprehensive historical review of the development of language education in Hong Kong schools, this study aims to find out how the ‘biliterate' and ‘trilingual' language policy is currently implemented in Hong Kong primary schools. A large scale questionnaire survey were carried out among Hong Kong primary school principals on how trilingual education was implemented in the schools. The findings suggest that, from school to school, the implementation of trilingual education varied significantly, and the effectiveness of the trilingual education models varied as well. It is hoped that this study will help us to gain a better understanding of trilingual education in Hong Kong, and the study could lead to some insightful and theoretical contributions to multilingual education in general.

Language in education debates in Hong Kong focus on the role and status of English (as the former colonial language and an important means for international communication); Cantonese, the mother tongue of the majority of the population; and Putonghua, the national language of China. I will examine language in education policy from an historical perspective, with particular emphasis on the period after the retrocession of Hong Kong in 1997. The questions I will address include: How have the role and status of each of the three language changed over time? What are the major influences on policy decisions? What do policy changes reveal about educational values and ideologies in Hong Kong? Who wins and who loses out?

香港是一個多元化的社會。2006年的人口統計，有超過34萬少數族裔人士。在少數族裔中，巴基斯坦、尼泊爾、印度尼西亞、菲律賓等人士，他們的孩子通常入讀本港的學校，與本地學生一樣享受12年免費教育。入讀公營學校的少數族裔學生，稱「非華語 (Non-Chinese speaking，簡稱NCS) 學生」。過去的教師培訓課程，從來沒有注意「非華語學生」這個板塊。任教中文科的老師，只接受過以中文為第一語言的教師培訓。香港教育學院在2009年1月首次推出「非華語學生」中文課程的教學與評估，為期8周。課程有三個必修單元，各佔30課時。本論文旨在介紹該教師培訓課程規劃的理念、設計、教學法和評估方式，與同行交流。
[Copyright © 2008 高等教育出版社.]

回歸以來，香港的授課語言在社會上曾引起不少爭議，發展“兩文三語”的方案眾說紛紜，討論熱烈。對中國語文教育而言，爭議的焦點往往是語文科應否採用普通話為授課語言。為此，本文嘗試借鑒話語修辭的理論和分析經驗，通過分析兩位香港小學語文教師的課堂語言，對照粵語與普通話的教學話語差別，以期揭示其中的規律及特徵，加深對近年香港語文教學媒介何去何從的思考和認識。

香港中小學都以粵語作為中國語文科的教學語言。隨著九七回歸，部分語文教學專窕學者倡議改用普通話作為中國語文科教學語言。這種改變會給語文的學與教帶來深遠影響，因此，在這種想法付諸實踐以前，有必要進行研究，探討教學語言的改變所引起的問題。 本研究嘗試通過比較研究的方法，初步探討社會上實際的語言環境對語文科教學語言運用效果的影響。研究涉及香港和臺灣兩個地區，研究範圍包括語言運用調查和教學實錄分析。相關的資料分析可以幫助找出教學語言的改變所引致的問題，並以此作為思考配套支援措施的參考。 研究結果顯示，由於香港社會上普通話環境之不足，不能幫助教師和學生發展全面的普通話運用能力，假如在這種情況下改用普通話教授語文科，會影響到教與學的成效。因此，在改用普通話教授語文科以前，必須為教師提供恰當的普通話教學能力培訓，以保證合理的教學成效。