In the cognitive-psychological process in second language (L2) learning, explicit and implicit knowledge acquisition is always related to automatic and effortful processing. Based on the interlanguage hypothesis and error analysis, this study reviews learning experience of four English learners from China who currently live in Hong Kong. A focus group interview was organized with a convenience sample of four participants whose English proficiency levels distinctively vary. Content analysis was conducted on the verbatim transcripts, and reveals the nature of the participants’ second language input, the types of learning strategies they have employed, the state of their interlanguages, and the types of errors they make. In addition, a piece of written work was analysed to identify errors the participants made. Attempting to advance into the terrain of second language acquisition (SLA) theories, this study answers some specific questions with self-reported information and theoretical exploration. Despite little ground for scientific generalization considering the nature of this multiple case study, it displays to the readers some theoretical insights in terms of English as a Second Language (ESL) Chinese learners studying in Hong Kong. The recommendation is that, instruments like the grammaticality judgement task be employed to catch more information about the nature of learners’ interlanguages. Combined with corpus analysis and computer-aided error analysis, it will add to the body of SLA literature more insightful findings.

“用普通話教中文”（普教中）是香港近年基礎教育的中國語文教學新趨勢，課堂的教學媒介語由廣州話（普遍香港人的母語）轉為普通話。“普教中”既構成了多方面的困境，也出現了教與學發展的契機。各方先導者積極開發的“普教中”元素，由實證行動而來的經驗總結，可提供予開始了或仍未開始“普教中”的學校和教師參照和啟示。 “促進評估的學習”是 20 世紀 80 年代以後基礎教育改革的世界性取向，在教學實踐中，課堂上的提問回饋是一個重要且有效促進學生學習的評估策略。本研究通過觀察及分析經驗教師同時任教同一級“用普通話教中文”及“用廣州話教中文”兩班學生的課堂實踐，比較分析教師在“普教中”和“廣教中”不同教學媒介語的影響下，語文課堂提問中回饋策略的異同，以檢視及提煉“普教中”的有效提問回饋策略。

In this chapter, I problematize a widespread belief that teachers in Asian contexts including Japan and China are well protected by a tradition that reveres teachers. Instead I contend that cultural traditions, together with educational reforms and sociocultural changes, can also undermine the teaching profession. To this end, I report on an inquiry that explored the social censure of teachers, especially language teachers in Hong Kong. In the inquiry, I took advantage of an Internet discussion concerning the ‘falling’ language standards, a widespread concern in the region. The analysis of the discussion revealed the high expectations that the public had of language teachers as well as the increasingly complex conditions for teachers’ professional practices due to ongoing educational reforms and cultural changes.
[Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht]

This chapter reports on a qualitative study that explored the discursive positioning of native-speaking English teachers (NETs) within schools in Hong Kong. It draws on insights from discourse theory to examine NETs self-positioning, as well as their positioning by other stakeholders, as part of a dynamic process of identity formation. The participants were eight teachers who were employed in both primary and secondary schools under the Hong Kong Governments Native English Teacher Scheme. In-depth interviews with each of the participants were used to understand how the teachers discursively positioned themselves, as well as how they believed they were positioned by others, within their schools. The findings suggest that the NETs self-positioning as ‘professional language teachers’ was challenged by other stakeholders who questioned the value of their teaching experience and practices within the context of English language classrooms in Hong Kong. The chapter explores how NETs attempted to negotiate the antagonism between different positionings. Implications for attracting and retaining NETs, as well as for future research, are also discussed.
[Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht]

A teacher shortage in Hong Kong in core subjects, such as English, has led to interest in the recruitment and retention of teachers. In Chap. 6, it was argued that recruiting large numbers of non-local students to undergraduate teacher education programs does not necessarily offer a reliable solution to this difficulty and suggests the need to explore alternative routes through which teachers may be recruited. This chapter considers one such alternative, namely the role second career teachers could play in meeting possible teacher shortages in multilingual contexts such as Hong Kong. The chapter draws upon Wenger’s (Communities of practice. Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998) theory of identity formation and using data from interviews with eight second-career English language teachers in Hong Kong, this chapter explores how second-career teachers may be better supported in their professional development. The study found that second-career teachers’ skills and experiences were not valued within their schools and that this was reflected in a rigid division the participants drew between the institutionally endorsed identity positions made available to them and the type of teachers they wanted to be. In response to this antagonism, second-career teachers used their position of non-participation to establish identity territories that connected aspects of their first-career identities such as engineers and managers to their emerging teacher identities. It is suggested that non-participation, a potentially negative experience in Wenger’s (Communities of practice. Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998) framework, was deployed by this group of teachers to create the space they needed to enact their own preferred teacher identities. Implications for attracting and retaining second-career teachers are discussed.
[Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht]

Short term international experience programmes are a common element of English second language (ESL) teacher education in many countries. This chapter problematizes the belief that such programmes necessarily result in beneficial changes in preservice teachers thinking about themselves as teachers – their beliefs, habits, and values – by exploring the experiences of eight preservice ESL teachers from Hong Kong as they undertook a short term international experience programme in Australia. Drawing on a theory of identity construction, the findings suggest that identity conflicts impacted how the student teachers experienced this programme as they struggled to reconcile past, present, and future trajectories of teacher identity. In particular, the student teachers constructed rigid divisions between different types of teachers and teaching they experienced at home and abroad. These divisions were reflected in antagonistic relations between the types of English language teachers and teaching they aligned their own teaching activities and practices with and the teacher identities that they perceived to be available to them within the Hong Kong education system. Implications for addressing such identity conflicts throughout international experience programmes are considered and implications for future research are discussed.
[Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht]

This paper outlines the changes in English medium of instruction policy in Hong Kong secondary schools since it became a specially administered region of China on 1st July, 1997. It gives a brief description of the background to the present situation, outlining the special place of English in Hong Kong schools and the reasons for the failure of policy initiatives in the past. The rationale for the present policy changes is critically discussed as are reasons for the resistance to change in certain Hong Kong schools as expressed by the school principals, the staff, parents and pupils. The paper concludes by examining the success of the present policy initiatives and examines the future of English medium education in Hong Kong schools.

This paper reviews a series of studies on the effects of accent on second language listening comprehension (L2 LC). It is shown that some of the studies have been misinterpreted as indicating the existence of an own, or local, accent advantage in L2 listening. From the review, it is clear that there is insufficient evidence to support such conclusions. Given previous research findings and current state of knowledge concerning the LC process, it is hypothesised that different but familiar accents should cause no problems for L2 listeners. This hypothesis is tested in an experiment featuring 63 Hong Kong school students. The results support the hypothesis. From the findings, it is argued that degree of familiarity is the crucial issue with regard to whether a particular accent causes LC problems for L2 listeners to English. In contrast, whether or not a speaker's accent is similar to the listener's is a secondary issue, which is important only in so far as it relates to the issue of familiarity.
[Copyright © 1997 Sage Publications.]

This paper explores how Hong Kong student teachers develop professional knowledge in learning to teach English as a Second Language (ESL). Three student teachers were tracked over the two years of their initial teacher education programme with data collected at periodic intervals during the programme in order to chart the development of their professional knowledge. Results show that although the student teachers underwent critical changes in their thinking and knowledge, these changes were not necessarily reflected in their classroom practice. This enquiry into the student teachers’ professional learning extends our understanding of the impact of initial teacher education on ESL student teachers’ thinking about language teaching and learning, and their development of pedagogical knowledge. Implications are drawn for developing second language teacher education programmes in the Hong Kong context.
[Copyright © 2003 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]