The notion of 'balanced' bilingual development has often been used to refer to two languages which are spoken with equal proficiency during bilingual language acquisition. However, it is still not known how 'equal' the proficiencies of the two languages should be in order to achieve 'balanced' bilingualism. This case study aims to capture this notion of 'balanced' by using the following quantitative measures with respect to grammatical development: mean length of utterance (MLU), upper bound (UB) and lexical diversity (D). Direct comparison between two sets of absolute values does not reliably predict a bilingual child's language dominance due to potential typological differences two languages. The obtained values of these measures are shown to be comparable with those of monolingual children acquiring each language, and thus it is argued that bilingual children who attain such competence in each language are considered as having 'balanced' bilingual development.
This study concerns particularly two aspects of bilingual children: a) grammatical development and b) language use in terms of mixing. With regard to a), given that cross-linguistic influence is attested across studies of bilingual language development, this case study investigates the domains of null objects and wh-interrogatives to see if any cross-linguistic influence takes place. The qualitative similarities found in all Cantonese-English bilingual subjects suggest that the nature of the cross-linguistic influence is similar, whereas the quantitative differences imply that language dominance has determining effect on the phenomenon.
Concerning b), since language proficiency is often taken as one of the crucial factors predicting language mixing pattern, this present study examines the relationship of the mixing pattern in the Cantonese-English balanced bilingual child and her language proficiency. The results show that mixing occurs more frequently in Cantonese context than in English context.

The study examined knowledge building and scientific understanding in the context of high school students working collaboratively on Knowledge Forum in a chemistry classroom in Hong Kong. Three specific questions were explored: 1) How can knowledge building be assessed and characterized? 2) What are the roles of knowledge building in scientific understanding? and 3) How does the community develop and how do teacher and contextual factors influence its growth and evolution? Participants included 34 Secondary Four students (Grade 10) who worked on knowledge building pedagogy mediated by a computer supported platform called Knowledge Forum for eight months. Various data including Analytic Toolkit statistics (ATK), depth of inquiry, learning portfolios and examination results were examined. Students' Knowledge Forum discourse was also analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings show that 1) a three-pronged approach using ATK, depth of inquiry, and discourse analysis was a suitable tool for tracing both individual and communal growths in knowledge work, 2) knowledge building learning portfolio and the ATK index "linked notes" predicted students' conceptual understanding, and significant differences in students' school examination, a measure of their scientific understanding, were obtained favoring Knowledge Forum students over comparison counterparts, and 3) three distinctive phases were identified suggesting students' growth in epistemic agency; as well as showing how the growth of the community was mediated by contextual and teacher factors. Discourse analysis suggests how knowledge building might be a useful means of promoting scientific understanding at both individual and communal levels interweaving progress in conceptual understanding with growth in views and ways of doing science, thus helping students to move towards both "science learning" and "learning about science". Theoretical and pedagogical significances of the findings and the limitations of this

Due to their logographic nature, Chinese characters are traditionally learned with a whole-word approach. Starting from kindergarten, students in Hong Kong learn Chinese and English words and attain bilingual literacy in this way. However, this type of learning results in low levels of both Cantonese (L1) and English (L2) phonological awareness (PA). Phonological awareness is not only significant for emergent literacy in an alphabetic language but also for decoding unfamiliar words. For this reason, Hong Kong students have difficulty learning to read English (especially sounding out and spelling unfamiliar words). Meanwhile, Chinese readers in mainland China and other places who learn to read Chinese with a phonetic script are found to have higher phonological awareness of Chinese (Bertelson, Chen & de Gelder, 1997; H. Cheung et al., 2001; Holm & Dodd, 1996; Huang & Hanley, 1995; Read et al., 1986).
In light of the advantage brought about by a native phonetic script, the present research aims to investigate the effect of Cantonese phonological awareness on English learning by comparing the performances of an Experimental Group with phonological awareness training and a Control Group without training, both before and after training.
Two experiments were conducted from 2003 to 2004. In the pilot experiment, the Experimental Group (n = 8) which had received 10 hours of Cantonese Romanisation instruction had no immediate advantage over the control group (n = 9) concerning their post-training English phonological awareness test. However, after the two groups had received 10 hours of English phonics instruction, the Experimental Group a made significantly bigger mean progress than the Control Group (p = 0.035) in their post-training English phonological awareness test. In the main experiment, the Experimental Group (n = 19) which had received 20 hours of Cantonese Romanisation instruction made a bigger mean progress than Control Group 1 (n = 20) and Control Group

This study attempts to understand how students construct their knowledge in a new learning environment guided by constructivist learning principles as well as to find out whether such environment can produce a deeper learning outcome than one that is based on existing mode of classroom teaching.
A constructivist learning environment includes such crucial elements as intentional learning, active, authentic and cooperative learning. This involves using information technology to build up learning community as well as encourage learners to obtain information for knowledge construction.
A quasi-experimental design was employed. The experimental group comprised of 16 students taking a Social Policy Issues course via an online learning environment while the comparison group comprised of 18 students attending the same course in the existing classroom teaching. All students came from the same class studying in the final year of the BSW program of the University of Hong Kong. Background information indicated that the two groi.lps of students were largely, homogeneous.
The outcome indicates that students had a positive evaluation of the online learning environment. However, the learning outcome analyzed by the SOLO Taxonomy does not show any significant difference. The students with better performance are more active in logging on the online course and post more messages on the bulletin board.
Patterns of students' participation in the bulletin board discussion were analyzed Students were enthusiastic in the beginning and the more active students tended to remain so throughout the course. Quality of postings improved with time on each discussion topic. Quite a few students reported that they preferred reading others' postings than giving their opinions. Teachers' roles were investigated. Giving encouragement, asking short and thought provoking questions and summarizing students' discussion were considered important for students' learning.
The study suggests

This research evaluated an innovative and uniquely structured nursing student exchange programme which was designed with the aim of contributing to the accomplishment of Strategic Objective One of a University in Hong Kong. The six week programme was conducted between the School of Nursing of a University in Hong Kong and the School of Nursing of a University in Shanghai. Students from both Schools constituted two classes, one of which was held in Hong Kong and the other in Shanghai. Each class contained a mix of students from both Hong Kong and Shanghai, i.e. exchange and non-exchange students. The learning experiences arranged in the programme included theory taught in classroom lectures and in tutorials, clinical visits and social activities. The lectures were given by teachers from both Schools. The teacher from the School of Nursing in Hong Kong gave the lectures on 'Health Counselling', using English as the teaching language medium. Two teachers from the School of Nursing in Shanghai gave the lectures on 'Interpretation of Clinical Data', using Putonghua as the teaching language medium. With the use of videoconferencing, students in the classes in both sites received the lectures simultaneously. The tutorials were conducted in each of the Schools separately without the use of videoconferencing. Following initial access negotiations by the teachers, the non-exchange students organised the clinical visits to different health care settings which they attended together with their exchange student classmates. They also organised and, together with their exchange student classmates, shared in various social and cultural activities. The objectives of the research were firstly to determine whether the objectives of the student exchange programme had been met. These programme objectives addressed the enhancement of participating students' all-round development in seven elements which were stated in the Strategic Objective One of the University in Hong Kong. The second objective

The past decade has seen immense change within the radiography profession internationally, as technical advancements and education and training initiatives have evolved to keep pace with the demands of the clinical environment. In Hong Kong (HK), it is necessary to establish a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) model for radiographers, to objectively monitor and assess the performance of individual radiographers throughout their working lives. Consequently, the current thesis aims: To investigate the need to implement a CPD scheme for Diagnostic Radiographers in HK, which will guide clinical performance and act as a means of monitoring the career progression of individuals within the profession. Information gained in this study will be used to identify the potential for improvement in radiography services and education via the creation of a CPD driven performance model. Objectives The objectives of this study are to: i) investigate and evaluate the current means of assessing clinical performance of Diagnostic Radiographers within the public hospitals in HK; ii) ascertain the views and opinions of relevant stakeholders on specialisation, CPD and role extension of Diagnostic Radiographers in HK; iii) suggest a CPD model for monitoring clinical performance of diagnostic radiographers at all levels of progress within the profession, based on the competencies identified and the consensus views of relevant stakeholders; iv) consult and seek professional views on the CPD model within the clinical environment in HK; v) establish a CPD model, following consultation feedback, for assessing clinical performance of Diagnostic Radiographers in HK that supports professional development. Methods The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data, by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The target population included all radiographers and radiologists employed within the HA, all radiography academics, and an Executive Manager (Allied Health

This dissertation consists of three studies which addressed the issue of describing creativity and enhancing creativity in Chinese writing among primary school students in Hong Kong. Although creativity is valued in the Curriculum Reform of Hong Kong, the degree to which creativity is incorporated into teaching by Chinese Language teachers was unknown. Study One addressed this issue by a survey using a tailor-designed 14-item questionnaire conducted among 449 Chinese Language teachers in primary schools to tap the respondents' perceptions of creativity, perceived ways of developing students' creativity, and their day-to-day practice of writing in classrooms. The results show that most of the teacher respondents conformed to the traditional method of teaching writing. Results suggested a detailed study to enhance teacher's skills in teaching creativity in Chinese which formed the foundation for Study Three. With Study One as the foundation, distinctions between Eastern and Western perspectives of creativity may be explored in future. Study Two was the development and validation of the Chinese Creative Writing Scale (CCWS) that was later applied as an outcome measure for creative writing in Chinese language in Study Three. The development of CCWS contributes to the measurement of creative writing in Chinese. With its good internal consistency, inter-rater reliability and construct validity, it can be used as an outcome measure for assessing the effectiveness of enhancing creativity in Chinese writing. With minor modifications, the scale can be applied in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Chinese societies elsewhere in the world. In Study Three, we first developed four learning studies using the phenomenographic approach and the Theory of Variation. To test the effect of the learning study approach, a quasi-experimental trial was then conducted in a primary school in Hong Kong. Four teachers joined the learning study for one academic year. Some 277 students were randomly allocated