The overarching aim of this research is to find out empirically about perceptions and experiences in self-directed language learning (SDLL) among university EFL students in two different social contexts: Mainland China and Hong Kong, and to provide empirical grounding for the potential attitudinal / behavioral differences in SDLL between successful and less successful language learners. The research is composed of a quantitative survey and two qualitative case studies. The survey study aimed at discovering and comparing the overall patterns of SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation among university EFL students in Mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as the potential interrelationships between these variables. To this end, a questionnaire was designed based a combination of theoretical input in the literature and students' initial responses in a pilot study. The case studies were designed to complement, verify and expand the findings from the survey study by focusing on examining the potential differences between successful and less successful EFL students with regard to SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation. The survey study identified significant differences concerning the overall patterns of SDLL attitudes, strategies and motivation between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students. With regard to SDLL attitudes, the mainland students appeared to hold a significantly stronger orientation towards learner independence in English learning, a significantly more robust sense of confidence and abilities in carrying out SDLL, and to be significantly less supportive of teacher direction in language learning. With regard to SDLL strategies, the mainland students reported a significantly greater use of metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies, whereas the Hong Kong students reported an overall significantly higher use of functional practice strategies. The two groups, however, reported generally the same low levels of social and affective strategies. With regard

Many studies show that teacher beliefs strongly influence their instructional decisions, which in turn affect classroom practice and curriculum implementation. Studies also reveal many curriculum reforms in the past failed because teacher beliefs had been neglected in the design and implementation process.
The new secondary Chinese language curriculum implemented in 2002 in Hong Kong is of student-centred basis, and thus teachers are required to change their beliefs. This qualitative study aims at investigating teaching beliefs of Chinese language teachers and their influence on curriculum implementation. By examining teaching beliefs of teachers, light can be shed on the problems and prospect of curriculum implementation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observations. Twelve teachers were selected purposefully from three different types of secondary schools, namely band 1, 2 and 3; which represent different range of students' academic competency. In each type of school, two expert teachers and two novice teachers with a variety of educational backgrounds and rankings at school were selected.
The results of this study indicate that teaching beliefs of teachers and their teaching behaviours are interrelated. It also highlights that the existing beliefs of transmission-oriented teachers are incongruent with the underlying philosophy of the new curriculum. This may hinder the implementation of the intended curriculum. But most of the beliefs held by the heuristics-oriented teachers are in line with the intended curriculum, which is likely to facilitate its successful implementation. The findings also have important implications for curriculum developers and teacher educators: curriculum implementation must be accompanied by continuous teacher development which fosters changes of beliefs and practices.
This study finds out that there are underlying commonalities in beliefs among the twelve teachers. In their opinion, the conception

This phenomenon might show that every teacher has some underlying beliefs, which could be made clear by narration. Lack of "traditional" art making experience, Helen thought the "Visual Learning" in art education could help students "unwrap packaging" and get to understand the hidden truth. On the other hand, other three teachers who love drawing from their very young age, focused more on different media of art making. To some extent, reflecting an "art for art sake" attitude, which shows quite a distance from the orientation of recent curriculum changes.
This study is an exploratory narrative research, focusing on the beliefs and their formation process of those teachers who regard themselves as art teachers. Hong Kong society seems ignore the importance of art education. Most teachers teach in primary school can have a share on having a few Art & Craft lessons, including those who even don't understand what is art. In this context, there are still some teachers who regard themselves as art teachers. Why? What beliefs do they hold towards art or art education? How are these belief constructed? Are these teachers conscious of their own beliefs? Are these beliefs related to their teaching experience and seniority?
Through "synthesis text" interview, teachers are provided with the opportunity to reflect their beliefs and discover the unaware "existential presumptions". It was a good chance for them to clarify their blurred perspectives, even to make change of them.
Through four interviewees' sharing of their "life stories" towards art or art education as well as "how" and "why" they transmitted such teaching activities, the researcher found that regardless their teaching seniority, they all showed that art teachers should possess drawing ability. Interactive interviews and self-evaluation of their own "synthesis text" were delivered. The researcher found that during their late phase of teaching life, Wangyi and Zhongliang were aware that they haven't thought

This study undertakes a new attempt in theory and practice in curriculum design in mathematics, which includes an operational model, its theoretical interpretation and experimentation.
The operational model, called Spiral bianshi (literally means variation) Curriculum, is extracted from the use of connecting problem clusters, one of the prominent features in current practice in mathematics instruction in Mainland China, the origin of which can be traced back to the Qingpu experience in Shanghai in the 1980s. Such a long history of practice was conceptualized according to the nature of mathematics and mathematics learning. The Spiral bianshi Curriculum comprises four components: The inductive bianshi which abstract mathematics notions from realistic situations, the deepening bianshi which lead one to new concepts and rules from already established one, the broadening bianshi which connects various concepts which are already acquired and the applicative bianshi which helps learners applying concepts and rules to more realistic situations.
Division of fraction was taken as the topic for experimentation. The corresponding bianshi curriculum was designed and experimented in 14 classes in three Primary schools in Hong Kong. The other 13 classes in three comparable schools were taken as control group.
The students' cognitive learning outcomes and self-efficacy were measured before and after the experimentation by means of a pre-test and a post-test. The students' approach to learning and other affective variables were measured too.
Significant positive results were obtained by the spiral bianshi curriculum. The post-test scores of learning outcomes in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group while all these scores indicated no significant differences in the pre-tests among these two groups. The students in the experimental group reflected that they have clearer relevant concepts than their counterparts. They also understood

This research explored student teacher's thinking in science and how they oriented to professional development from pre-service teacher education to beginning teaching. A more holistic view of teacher thinking with four focuses was embedded in this research: (1) conceptions of teaching and learning science; (2) planning; (3) teaching; and (4) reflections. The characteristics of these four aspects and their changes across time, the interrelationships of the four aspects and the change of their coherence in the longitudinal study were the main focus of the study.
An original group of 25 student teachers in Hong Kong were followed for three years, which included their two-year Certificate in Primary Education (Chinese) (Full-Time) Courses (1996-98) at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and their first year of beginning teaching in local primary schools in 1998-99. The student teachers were interviewed about their conception of teaching and learning science and what they had extracted from the experience. Also, they were asked to draw concepts maps to describe their thoughts during planning and were observed in their micro-teaching, school teaching experience and beginning teaching in local classrooms. After each of on these observations, they wrote journals to reflect on their teaching. The research approach involved in-depth qualitative analyses supplemented by quantification when necessary to allow clearer assessment of change in thinking.
In this longitudinal study, student teachers were found to espouse predominant or secondary constructivist conceptions of teaching and learning science to different degrees in different stages of study. Their planning became less intense in terms of lower complexity and fewer thoughts. Besides, teachers' development of constructivist teaching was evident and there was continuing evidence of confronting reflection among teachers throughout the three stages of the study.
An increase in the coherence between the different

This research is motivated by the scarcity of investigation into L2 learners' online processing problems in listening comprehension, in particular those relating to L2 proficiency. It aims to identify the online processing problems encountered by Hong Kong students of differing L2 proficiency and whether these problems can be overcome by compensatory schema use. Two questions are addressed: 1) Given the same listening situation, do high and low proficiency students experience the same online processing problems? 2) Does success in compensatory schema use vary according to L2 proficiency? Four data collection methods (semi-structured interviews, questionnaire survey, partial transcription, and introspection) and both quantitative and qualitative data analyses are employed. Exploratory semi-structured interviews indicate that apart from the problems of unfamiliar topics, vocabulary and accents, students report experiencing what might be called an "acoustic blur" during L2 listening. They hear streams of English speech sounds but cannot identify the key words. Even when they think they have identified the words, these words often do not fit the context. The questionnaire survey was designed using the data gathered from the semi-structured interviews. The survey results show that practice frequency has a significant effect on students' perception of overall listening difficulty; the more often the practice, the less often listening problems are perceived. Slightly more than one third of respondents have almost no listening practice in English outside class. L2 proficiency impacts significantly on students' perceptions of processing problems such as those caused by unfamiliar topics and vocabulary, and failure in sound segmentation and word recognition. In their self-assessment of word recognition, low proficiency students' word recognition in an average lecture and TV program is less than 50% and 40% respectively, whereas that of proficient students is 80% and 65%. These

The notion that testing exerts influence on teaching and learning is accepted by many. In Hong Kong, some educationalists indeed see tests and examinations as one way of instilling positive changes in learners' learning. In 1993, amidst growing concern that Hong Kong students' standard of English was declining, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) proposed to the then University and Polytechnic Grants Committee that a Graduating Students' Language Proficiency Assessment (GSLPA)be devised and introduced to encourage university students to improve their English proficiency. In 1999, the GSLPA-English was mandated by the PolyU as a university exit English test for its graduates. There was no accompanying formal teaching/learning curriculum, as the test was intended to assess students' level of English proficiency rather than their achievement in some taught English courses. Whilst it was reasonable to expect that some students in this university would engage in some form of learning activities to help them learn/train for their exit English test, it was not clear exactly how these students - of their own accord, without a specified learning syllabus and receiving no input from teachers in the regular English classroom - would approach test preparation. Hitherto, there has been little research on how washback operates for learners rather than teachers. This study was principally motivated by a desire to better understand learners as participants in the washback cycle. It investigated how a sample of PolyU graduating students perceived the GSLPA-English as a university exit English test, and whether and how they prepared for it. Initially, the study found that this test was perceived by many respondents as lacking in status and stakes, and that not many took steps to prepare for it. The GSLPA-English was superseded by the lELTS-CEPAS in 2002, when the University Grants Committee, in a further attempt to raise students' awareness of the importance of English proficiency

In Hong Kong, extensive reading education among junior secondary students has always been overlooked. The significance of extensive reading had always been emphasized at different stages of Chinese Language Curriculum development. The revised Chinese Language Curriculum for secondary schools issued in 2001 further stipulates that the impact of extensive reading on Chinese Language acquisition with detailed elaborations on the setting of reading environment, the design of reading activities, and the criteria of selecting books for extensive reading. Despite the emphasis and effort put on extensive reading, the ranking of local junior secondary school students at the reading assessment of PISA has disappointingly descended from the 6th in 2001 to the 10th in 2003. To reverse the trend and enhance students' reading ability, not only should emphasis be placed on the teaching and learning of reading in the curriculum, but extensive reading must also be promoted to consolidate knowledge students learn so that junior secondary students can develop good attitude of extensive reading. Urgent as it is and to accomplish this task, teachers must further understand the way in which junior secondary students develop their attitude of extensive reading in order to better solve the difficulties encountered in the implementation of an extensive reading curriculum in Hong Kong.
This research is based on the theories and thoughts on extensive reading in western countries and pioneers in adopting 'engaged reading' concept in designing a school-based junior secondary extensive reading curriculum. A 3-year longitudinal action research on Form one students of an English medium secondary school aims at exploring the difficulties and effectiveness of implementing an extensive reading curriculum, the causes of difficulties that may be involved and the reasons why junior secondary students find it difficult in developing good attitude of extensive reading.
The research findings have

Teaching is divided on emphasis on teachers' creativity or students' creativity, on novelty or on appropriateness or usefulness. The emphasis shifts from teachers' creativity to students' creativity after training and their views on creative teaching were more comprehensive. Five categories of conceptions of creative teaching were revealed: daily creative teaching, creative adaptive teaching, creative innovative teaching, teaching for creativity and creative interactive teaching.
Data on student teachers' teaching performance indicated that most of the student teachers possess the attributes and attitudes necessary for implementing creative teaching. However, such creative teaching was obstructed by the influence of traditional methods of Chinese language teaching, textbooks and the school environment. Most of the student teachers could only exhibit "playfulness", a characteristic of creative teaching, in their teaching. Their performance improved in the second semester and more characteristics of creative teaching were found, especially on students' creativity.
Analysis of the overall performance of the best three student teachers found that all manifested a more comprehensive view of creative teaching. They were able to balance different aspects and different elements of creative teaching. Last but not least, they demonstrated "teaching flexibility" which enabled them to adapt or integrate existing teaching methods flexibly and thus to enhance creativity in both teacher and student.
The contribution of this study lies partly in the overview that it provides on creative teaching. It clarifies key concepts of creative teaching and shows directions for future development. In terms of implementation, the research identifies critical features of creative teaching and key elements that affect learning outcomes. It provides teachers with concrete principles to implement creative teaching. The result of the study have implications for the design of initial teacher

This study investigates mathematics teaching in Hong Kong and Shanghai by considering the ways of handling Pythagoras' Theorem at eighth grade from the perspective of variation. It has three aims. Firstly, it attempts to identify the characteristics of the ways of handling the same topic in the two cities. Secondly, it tries to identify patterns of handling the topic in Hong Kong and Shanghai through making a comparison between different ways of handling the same topic. Thirdly, it seeks to interpret the findings from a cultural perspective and contribute to solving the paradox of Chinese mathematics teaching.
The Hong Kong data includes the following: eight videotaped lessons with the same topic of Pythagoras' Theorem and supplementary documents such as teachers' questionnaires, samples of text pages, worksheets, and other materials used in the lessons. All of the Hong Kong data were taken from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study Repeat Video Study. The Shanghai data consists of eleven videotaped lessons from different schools in which Pythagoras' Theorem was taught, with supplementary documents, matching those used in Hong Kong. Mainly based on the videotaped lessons and supplementary documents, the inter-and intra-city comparisons were made from the perspective of variation in order to identify the characteristics of the different ways of handling the same topic.
The following similarities have been observed: (1) the focuses and structures of the lessons are quite similar; (2) The teachers tend to emphasize exploration of the theorem; (3) the teachers seein to emphasize exercises with variation; and (4) the teachers control the classrooin activities but they still encourage students to engage well in the process of learning. However, some differences have also been identified. Firstly, the approaches to encouraging discovery of the theorem vary in that, the Hong Kong teachers prefer to employ physical manipulation while their Shanghai counterparts