This article documents the authors' reflections on a teacher professional development programme conducted in 38 Hong Kong primary schools on the teaching of English through Process Drama. The authors draw upon the views of school principals, subject panel head teachers, English teachers, students and parents in focus group interviews to examine the learning and teaching experiences at the heart of the Programme. These reflections focus on how Process Drama can enhance second language acquisition by accommodating more affective factors in learning, by stressing creativity and by shifting the didactic discourse in the classroom to one that is more authentic and less threatening and which encourages increased amounts of student talk. The authors describe how, based on the focus group interview data, a piece of Verbatim Theatre was created and used as a stimulus to elicit deeper reflective responses to the Programme. They also reflect upon the level of understanding of Process Drama's complex pedagogy and artistry demonstrated by those teachers new to it and consider what further research might help the long-term implementation of drama in Hong Kong classrooms.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2011.617099]

This paper reports the progress of a pilot project exploring the integration of a collaborative virtual learning environment (Second Life) with the instruction of English courses at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. An educational partnership was developed with two TESOL teacher-training courses at Texas A&M University in the US. The project enrolled over 200 participants, with about half from each participating university. Coordination of online activities was done using the Moodle learning management system. A large non-traditional language learning facility was developed in the Second Life virtual environment in the style of a 1950's American diner on a private island, complete with Cadillac booths, traditional diner booths and tables, and outdoor campfire settings to facilitate conversational groupings. Both IM typed chat and VOIP voice interactions were explored inside the virtual environment. Student behavior observed during the study indicates the conditions which result in the most productive interactions, and also highlights several key problem areas which must be addressed before successful interactions can be achieved. This paper presents a process which has been developed and trialed, and the plans at Lingnan University to adopt it on a wider scale to support the development of language skills.
[Copyright of Electronic Journal of E-Learning is the property of Academic Conferences Ltd.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.ejel.org/main.html]

This paper outlines a study that explored educational applications of blogs with a class of postgraduate students in a Hong Kong university over a period of one semester in 2006, and considers its outcomes. Rather than using the usual learning management system to support learning in the class, the facilitator-researcher organised a blog-based environment where students accessed course material, posted reflections featuring artifacts created in the learning tasks, commented on each other's contributions, and in other ways participated on a regular basis throughout the semester. The study results suggest that when appropriately managed by a facilitator, blogs have the potential to effectively support teaching and learning activities. The experience from this study also suggests that in order to maximise teaching and learning opportunities, a blog system can be effectively expanded by the use of a variety of other Web 2.0 applications.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2011.564009]

The article reviews citizenship education in Hong Kong, China after the handover of Hong Kong from the British to China. It is said that education during this socio-political transition has become a political issue and is a concern for educators and researchers. The author doubts whether schools can foster leadership and provide a balanced citizenship education in Hong Kong due to expansion in national education, institutional limitations and lack of teacher and student awareness.
[Copyright of JEP: EJournal of Education Policy is the property of Northern Arizona University.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: https://www4.nau.edu/cee/jep/]

This study aimed to initially explore the possibility of helping front-line teachers to integrate the principles of self-regulated learning (SRL) into Chinese reading instruction in a 1-year collaborative project. A total of 197 Secondary 3 students and 6 Chinese language teachers from a secondary school in Hong Kong participated in the study. The findings of quantitative and qualitative data in this study generally support the feasibility of incorporating the elements of SRL in Chinese reading instruction. Students improved their comprehension performance, intrinsic motivation, strategic knowledge, and strategy use after this learning experience. Teachers also expressed positive attitudes towards the new instruction and made constructive changes on the instructional materials and activities. However, the study found teachers' traditional beliefs might affect theimplementation of SRL instruction. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' capacity for SRL and planning effective reading instruction to enhance their SRL abilities are discussed.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2011.589985]

Service users' and carers' involvement in health and social care education has become a mainstream activity in Britain. However, members from black and minority ethnic communities (BME) remain under-represented in this area of participation. In this article, we will take the readers across the globe to explore the difficulties and opportunities of engaging such an under-represented group, the Chinese community. The journey will begin in Britain where barriers to engagement of service users and carers from the Chinese community will be discussed. We will then travel to Hong Kong, a cosmopolitan city, where successful engagement in work with Chinese service users and carers will be explored. Throughout the journey, we will highlight the importance of the consideration of cultural factors, particularly Confucian beliefs such as social harmony and collectivism, when working with Chinese people. We will also fully explore the issue of 'trust' as a culturally laden concept in Chinese societies and its significance for successful engagement in work with Chinese service users and carers in different parts of the world.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2010.491542]