The literature on acculturation illustrates that a bulk of non-dominant ethnocultural minorities consider themselves bicultural, involving both dominant and ethnic cultures. Yet, little is known about how bicultural individuals perceive and construct dual cultures, and how their two cultural identities are played out in daily interactions. While these issues are under-researched, they are vital to policy and practice initiation towards ethnocultural minorities’ integration and upward mobility as well as for the receiving society’s social cohesion and economic competitiveness. To this end, this study used the concept of bicultural identity integration and tapped into the processes of biculturalism among 16 secondary school students coming from South and Southeast-Asian groups in Hong Kong. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to unearth the internal construct of bicultural identity and the trajectories of adapting to dual cultural influences across space. The participants’ accounts displayed a high level of cultural harmony yet low blendedness in choosing to separate affiliations into cultural domains. This internal complexity reflects the contradictory juxtaposing of ‘cultural diversity’ in the host society and its segregated schooling for minority student population.
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校本評核是指在日常學與教過程中，由學校任課教師評核學生的表現(香港考評局， 2015)。自2009 年香港推行新高中學制及新課程以來，不少科目將校本評核分數計入文憑試成績。這帶來一系列與校本評核有關的爭議，如：校本評核的效度與信度如何，分數調整機制是否公平，校本評核給師生帶來哪些壓力，校本評核多大程度促進學生學習，不同科目的校本評核應占多大比重等。本文將就這些議題展開分析，對比英國及加拿大之校本評核經驗，探討香港現行校本評核惹爭議之原因，並對未來香港校本評核發展提出建議。

Use of Textbooks: Textbooks, which reflects the curriculum, are an important informant to portray the intended curriculum (Johansson, 2003). They are absolutely a valuable source for teachers (Stodolsky, 1999; Remillard, 2005; Tarr et al., 2006). The research on textbooks benefits substantively to the understanding of a curriculum in a particular region (Thaqi & Gimenez, 2016). Outstanding Performance in Some Regions: Mathematics learning in some Asian regions interests many educators, as the students from these regions have outperformed others in several worldwide mathematical assessments. The PISA report highlights that more than a quarter of students from each of the top-performing regions: Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China), Hong Kong (China) and Chinese Taipei could mathematically verbalize complicated problems (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016). Another renowned international assessment TIMSS also shows that almost half (i.e. 47-49%) of students at Secondary 2 in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong reach the advanced international benchmark (Mullis et al., 2012). The textbooks adopted by these Asian countries or regions are definitely worth referencing. Textbook Content Analysis: This study selected one textbook from each of these Asian regions and their content was decoded according to a proposed framework called Assessment-Background-Content textbook analysis, which was developed from the textbook context analysis of Incikabi & Tjoe (2013), Huntley (2008), Alajmi (2012) and National Research Council (2004). Textbooks were coded according to their lesson components. Pickle (2012) adapted from Jones’s (2004) coding suggested ten lesson components in identifying units in the textbooks. The ten components include description, definition, question, activity, worked example, oral exercise, follow-up practice, highlight, project, and reflection (Pickle, 2012, p.51). Textbooks in Asian Regions: The proposed presentation will compare the

近年香港少數族裔學童的中文學習備受各界關注。文獻顯示他們經常受到中文能力不足而限制了中小學教育以至日後進修的途徑。當少數族裔學童入讀以粵語為教學語言的主流學校之後，能否駕馭作為第二語言的粵語，成為他們學習成功的關鍵。 本文將報告三十位南亞裔學童小學三年級在一年之間的粵語口語發展與轉變。口語能力測試的重點是詞彙、語法以及敘述能力三個向度，使用了標準化測試工具「香港兒童粵語口語能力量表」中的三個分測驗 : 名詞表達、語法理解及故事重述。另外我們也調查了學童的語言背景以及在不同場所的語言運用。結果顯示，在第一次測試中，所有小三學童在三個分測驗中的表現都遠低於常模的年齡期待值，名詞表達能力與期待值的落差最大，部分學童是低於五歲半常模。在一年之後，學童的語法理解及故事重述都有顯著進步，特別是在語法方面的名詞組和複雜句理解，以及故事重述中的參照指涉標示。但是多數受試學童在名詞表達測試中沒有任何進步，許多與本地文化關係密切的詞彙，如粽、蘿蔔、茶葉等，即使在測試後允許使用英語補充，也無法正確說出名稱。在判斷涉及否定詞的語句時，也有相當困難。以上的結果呈現出南亞裔學童的粵語學習是與本地學童的第一語言發展是有明顯不同的發展軌跡。 另一方面，南亞裔學童語言運用調查的結果顯示，他們在家中是以南亞族語為主(65%)，在鄰舍以及學校教室外的互動則是使用英語 (33%-42%) 和南亞族語 (38%-34%)，粵語的角色相對的低 (29%-24%)。由此可見，粵語在南亞裔學童的日常生活中並沒有明確的功能與地位。以全美外語教學委員會 (ACTFL) 的《全球外語學習標準》來看，這些學童的粵語 / 中文學習，在貫連 (connection) 和社群 (community) 這兩個維度有明顯的不足；許多學童在離開了教室後，英語、南亞族語是他們的主要溝通工具，中文學習形同孤島。所謂沉浸式學習只是空中樓閣。有關當局必須正視少數族裔學童的獨特語言學習環境生態，以學習者為中心，建立一個真正多元多軌的中文為第二語言課程，使得少數族裔學童能夠透過中文，連結不同場所生活與學習經驗的功能，融入社群。

The purpose of this study is to explore the possible impact of short-term Mainland exchange programmes on the Hong Kong youths’ national identity. A study using both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted in 2016/17 to investigate the students’ national identity. There were 676 secondary school students completed the survey and subsequent focus group interviews were conducted to examine whether there was any difference in their national identity after they returned from the Mainland exchange programmes. The results show that some of the participants’ cultural identity was enhanced while their national identity was not necessary strengthened. These findings were related to the structure and the objectives of the Mainland exchange programmes. The complexity of the formation of national and local identities will be discussed. This presentation will provide insights for schools to enhance meaningful Mainland exchange activities and inform policy makers ways to formulate effective strategies for promoting such activities. This study is supported by Public Policy Research (PPR) Grant.

Stemming from a long tradition of liberal education in Hong Kong universities, General Education (GE) courses and programs have been part of Hong Kong tertiary education structure for less than a decade. Together with the recently implemented compulsory 2009 New Senior Secondary Liberal Studies (NSS LS) curriculum, GE represents a continues and sustainable structure of liberal education in the city. Although thousands of young Hongkongers participate in liberal studies courses and programs through secondary and tertiary levels of education, the influence of this structure of liberal education on their mindset remains unclear. This paper features selected results of the RGC funded study, which investigated sustainability consciousness of Hong Kong first year university students, enrolled in GE programs. The analysis of ~5000 student surveys and over 1000 reflections revealed three main features of students' sustainability consciousness: intentionality to make a difference; engagement with complex questions about identity, society and nature; and eschatological perspectives, which included imaginative, future-oriented and action-oriented approaches to critical reflection, supported by the rhetoric of hope, promises and commitment for better future. This presentation aims to discuss ways for implementing these findings in the GE and NSS LS classrooms with reference to local and international practices of liberal studies education.

Request is a prominent daily life speech act which a speaker manipulates appropriate linguistic forms to make a hearer perform an action to fulfill the speaker’s needs. Variations in the use of request forms will normally reflect a speaker’s pragmatic competence; i.e. language and culture. Research findings by Rose (2000 & 2009), Achiba (2003), Dewart and Summers (1995) and Ellis (1992) have pointed out that request forms used by young children provide a lot of important information about the pragmatic development of young children in their L1 and/or L2 learning. Previous research on pragmatics has concentrated on the learning of English or other European languages as a second language by adult learners. Not much has been known about pragmatic development among young children learning a second language. As a result of internationalization and global mobility of people, it is getting common that some children start learning a second language in early years for schooling adaptation in the host country. In recent years in Hong Kong, the lack of research evidence in inter-language pragmatics, with special regard to child language (i.e. Cantonese as L2) development, has made it difficult for policy-makers and educators to make decision on the Chinese language (as L2) education instruction and intervention for education equity of ethnic minority children studying in mainstream schools. This paper aims at examining (i) the relationship between L2 Cantonese pragmatic knowledge (language proficiency and cultural knowledge) and Pakistani preschoolers’ expression of Cantonese request strategies; (ii) the relationship between Pakistani parents’ Cantonese proficiency and their children’s Cantonese request strategies; (iii) the difference in the ability of using Cantonese request strategies by Pakistani preschoolers at different grade levels in kindergarten; i.e. K1, K2 and K3. All discussions in the paper are based on findings from an on-going research project which is

The Basic Law, a law of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, plays a fundamental role in the life of Hong Kong people, As Gittings (2013) recently explained: As the highest law with practical effect in Hong Kong, it sets the framework for Hong Kong’s system of government, how its courts operate, and the rights and freedoms enjoyed by its residents, to name just a few examples. Yet the school curriculum does not deal with these major civic issues in any great depth. As Chinese citizens, the city’s youth need to be aware of what defines their citizenship in legal terms, how they can take on their responsibilities as citizens and how they can make a productive contribution to Hong Kong and the nation. This paper will draw on the Basic Law Education Project that has been funded by The Education University of Hong Kong. It will describe the five domains of study that have been identified (Rule of Law, Rule by Law, Historical Contexts of the Basic Law, How the Basic Law was Made, Changing the Basic Law), compare and contrast these to other law education projects both in Hong Kong and internationally and indicate pedagogies that can be used to enliven Basic Law Education in Hong Kong classrooms.