This paper explores the influence of friendship in mainland Chinese (MC) students’ adaptation to studying in Hong Kong. The number of MC students in Hong Kong has amounted to 18,887 in 2016, which makes it necessary for universities to cater for these students’ adaptation. Research has identified social-cultural differences between MC students and their local peers despite shared traditional Chinese cultural root. Existing studies have shown that international students can adapt to the new culture better and be more confident by making cross-cultural friends. Previous research has mainly focused on MC students’ difficulties in their adaptation, but how friendship influences their adaptation is still under-researched. This paper addresses the research questions: (1) What strategies do mainland students adopt to establish friendships during their study in Hong Kong? (2) What are the facilitating and hindering factors for mainland students to establish friendship? (3) How can friendship help mainland students adapt to their study and life in Hong Kong? A total of 24 MC university students studying in Hong Kong were interviewed. Thematic analysis was employed for data analysis. The findings show that friendship plays an important role in MC students’ adaptation to studying in Hong Kong, especially regarding daily life routines, such as how to deal with visa issues and navigate the university’s course selection system. MC students build friendships mainly through taking part in social and academic learning activities. Nonetheless, political-social conflicts between Hong Kong and Mainland China have, to a certain extent, hindered friendship establishment between MC and local students. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.

It is agreed that many children with disabilities benefit from instruction in social skills. This literature review looks at various approaches to the teaching of social skills to students with disabilities that significantly impact behavior, discusses the rationale behind social skills training, and questions the wisdom of limiting particular approaches to students with specific disabilities. The authors urges special educators to consider the overall efficacy of social skills training in general, the effectiveness of particular approaches, and the wisdom of sharing procedures and techniques across categories of disabilities. 很多人相信殘障的兒童都能夠在社交技能訓練中獲益。本文探討最為影响殘障兒童行為的不同社交技能訓練方法及社交技能訓練的背後理念。文章並質疑將某類社交技能訓練方法局限於處理某種殘障類別的理據。作者目的是鼓勵特殊教育工作者持開放態度，考慮社交技能訓練的整體效益並從不同社交技能訓練方法中針對性地找出最適合處理不同殘障類別的方法。
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https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

THE main purpose of this study was to explore a teacher's and her students' perspectives on practices designed to enhance the self-esteem of students in an aided secondary school in Hong Kong. Interviews were conducted with a local teacher of English and her female students. The findings from the interview with the teacher support a view that teachers do play a vital and planned role in developing teenagers' academic self-esteem. The teacher used a wide variety of methods inside the classroom, such as offering extrinsic rewards and facilitating the process of attaining goals. The students considered that among the teacher's different practices, the facilitation of achieving social goals was the most effective for building their academic self-esteem in the long term. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for teachers to enhance students' academic self-esteem inside the classroom. 是次研究的主要目的是從一位於香港津貼中學任職的教師及其學生的角度，探討其教學方法對提高學生自尊的成效。此研究是透過面談，訪問了一位教授英語的本地中學教師及其十名女學生。從老師的面談結果中，顯示教師於發展青少年的學業自尊過程裡，扮演著一個不可或缺的角色。該受訪教師在課堂中使用多種不同的教學方法，如對學生提供外在的獎勵、協助學生達成目標等。而學生們則認為，最有效建立長期學業自尊的方法，則是老師協助自己實現社會目標。根據調查結果，是次研究會為教師提供建議，以提高學生的學業自尊。
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The social communication needs of young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are complex and yet this area has not been well researched. The present study investigated the social inclusion of young adults with ASD in colleges. A total of 80 young adults studying full- time in colleges completed the self-developed on-line questionnaires on the social perceptions of their peers on the spectrum. The findings indicated that about half of the respondents would engage peers on the spectrum in their social groups. However, the respondents showed the least willingness of having someone with ASD to join their collaborative project groups. About half of the respondents mentioned the communication challenges in socialising with peers on the spectrum. Our findings re-affirmed that the importance of peer support to include young adults with ASD to different social and academic contexts in post-secondary education settings. The strength-based approach to support young adults on the spectrum to increase social connectedness and self-confidence is discussed. 自閉症譜系障礙(自閉症)年青人的社交環境是複雜、多層次的,但現時,這方面的科研卻十分缺少。本研究的目標是探討自閉症年青人的社交融合情況。80位全日制專上學院或大學生填寫了關於他們與自閉症同輩交往的網上問卷。數據顯示,大約一半的填卷者願意與自閉症同輩交往,但是他們卻最不願意與自閉症同輩做小組研習活動。大約一半的填卷者表示社交溝通困難是主要的挑戰。研究結果肯定了同輩互動對自閉症年青人融入社群及學習環境的重要性。總括而言,本文建議利用「優勢模式」來擴闊自閉症年青人的社交圈子及提升自信。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Journal of Special Education is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
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Previous studies have suggested that placing students in ability groups for teaching purposes can have negative consequences on the self-esteem and motivation of the students placed in the lowest groups. The study reported here explored this phenomenon in relation to students in a Band 4-5 secondary school in Hong Kong. A self-report questionnaire, with items covering classroom motivation and attitude, was used to elicit responses from 212 students in the first and second year. The students were from three different ability groups, ranging from high ability (relative to a Band 4-5 school) to low ability. Results indicated significant differences between the mean scores for students in the highest and lowest ability groups in seven out of twenty items in the questioonaire. In general the findings indicate a less optimistic attitude and a reduced level of motivation in students from the lowest group. Research evidence has also suggested that ability grouping can have a negative impact on teachers' motivation and expectancy in relation to the lowest-ability groups. This study explored the expectancies, beliefs and attitudes of 25 teachers who work with the students identified above. It was found that the teachers typically held more negative views of low-ability classes. The article includes discussion of the implications of these findings in terms of modifying teachers' attitudes and improving the learning opportunities for low-ability secondary students.
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A SCERTS model-based intervention with different durations (5-month vs. 10-month) was provided to 122 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (age = 53.43 ± 9.05 months) in Hong Kong. Before and after the intervention, the children were assessed with the Chinese Psychoeducational Profile-Third Edition (CPEP-3) and the Developmental Assessment Chart (DAC). Educators and parents expressed their views toward the intervention in focus groups. Results showed that participating children improved significantly in their social communication and emotional behavior after the intervention, as measured by DAC and CPEP-3. Likewise, educators and parents had positive views toward the intervention and noted the children’s improvement. The results suggest that a SCERTS model-based intervention can improve social communication, emotional regulation, and other skills in children with ASD.
[Copyright of Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders is the property of Springer New York LLC. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3649-z]

Passion and perseverance for long-term goals or grit has been linked to various indices of educational success such as academic achievement, engagement, and motivation. Despite the nascent evidence regarding the beneficial impact of grit, previous investigations adopted a variable-centered approach which could not explore how individuals with different profiles of grit may differ in terms of academic outcomes. The current research aimed to build on the existing grit literature through examining the linkage of grit to test emotions using a person-centered approach among 1,051 Hong Kong Chinese primary school students. Results of cluster analyses showed that there were three naturally-occurring profiles of grit (Cluster 1 = High Perseverance and High Consistency; Cluster 2 = High Perseverance and Low Consistency; Cluster 3 = Low Perseverance and High Consistency) in the present study. Results of the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) demonstrated that students who belonged to Cluster 2 had the highest scores on hope and lowest scores on anxiety and shame. The results imply that espousing high perseverance of effort and low consistency of interest is associated with higher levels of positive activating emotions and reduced levels of negative activating emotional states when taking academic tests. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s).

This study investigated the conceptualization of children's socioemotional competence among parents and teachers of preschool children in Hong Kong, China. Focus groups were conducted with 16 parents and 18 teachers from three preschools. Thematic content analysis revealed that, reflecting the cultural as well as contextual characteristics of Hong Kong, parents and teachers expected socioemotionally competent children to master skills in emotion understanding, emotion expressivity, emotion regulation, relationship building, conflict management, and inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. There was diversity within parents' and teachers' interpretations of the characteristics of emotionally regulated and socially skilled children. Findings highlighted the ecosystemic nature of societal ideas about children's developmental competence, demonstrated the utility of qualitative research in exploring these ideas in culturally sensitive manners, and called for the mobilization of parents and teachers as research-informed scaffolders of holistic development of children. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Although the contribution of family support and peer support to university adjustment has been examined separately, few attempts have been made to explore the mechanism underlying this relation. This is the first study in the Asian context to test the role of self-esteem in mediating the effect of social support on first-year university adjustment outcomes. Self-esteem is a measure of one's positive or negative attitudes toward oneself (Rosenberg, 1965). Higher self-esteem is vital to a variety of developmental outcomes in early adulthood, such as the transition to university, whereas lower self-esteem has been related to poorer adjustment (Hickman, Bartholomae, & McKenry, 2000). Perceived self-esteem stems from social attachments to others that reflect positively on oneself and provide interpersonal support (Friedlander, Reid, Shupak, & Cribbie, 2007). High self esteem developed as a result of social support from family and peers may increase individuals' belief in their ability to solve problems, leading to better university adjustment. The authors hypothesized that self-esteem mediates the impact of family support and peer support on university adjustment. The participants in this study were 418 first year university students (mean age 19.94 years; 65% female) at an education university in Hong Kong, China, offering mainly education related subjects. As expected, findings showed that first-year university students receiving greater family and peer support reported better adjustment outcomes overall, which provides additional evidence of the universally beneficial effects of multiple support figures on university adjustment. Such findings corroborate the previous argument that parental support plays an important role throughout adolescence and early adulthood, even as reliance on support from peers increases.
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繼介紹了香港教育的均衡教育後,本文主要介紹並討論香港教育中的最重要一環,即價值觀教育。以前,香港教育對此重視得不多,現在隨著教育的現代化與國際化,價值觀教育己被公認為是教育的一個核心部分,尤為重要。