變易理論自20世紀90年代被瑞典著名學者馬飛龍教授提出之後，被廣泛應用於香港課堂學習研究，作為教學設計和課堂分析的策略。本文介紹變易理論的精髄思想，並結合香港英語科課堂學習研究的經驗，探討該理論對中國中小學英語教學的啟示。

課堂學習研究是一種校本行動研究，主要由同科同級的教師針對學生的學習難點，以變易理論為指導設計教學方案，並由不同教師輪流施教、檢討教學成效並提出改善方案。課堂學習研究不但有助於教師的專業發展和提升，而且還利於推動校本課程的開發，包括加深教師對學生學習情況的了解，對現有教學內容和教材進行客觀驗證和有效調整以及激勵教師開發和嘗試新的教學方法和策略。

香港教育學院兒童研究與創新中心在2013年獲優質教育基金資助，推行為期20個月之《建立學校網絡支援幼兒「問題-探索-經驗」建構學習模式的校本發展》計劃﹝下簡稱問題-探索-經驗」計劃﹞，期望蒐集幼兒學校推行建構學習之資料，經過分析及綜合，總結出實踐知識，以惠及幼教界及學術界。是次計劃得蒙20所幼兒學校不同程度的參與，分別在教師專業發展，學習社群文化建立，建構學習課程及教學發展方面提供寶貴資料及數據，對優化幼兒教育及深化教育研究極具意義。 本書集結部分是次計劃蒐集到的課程與教學實踐資料，以課題資料及焦點問題探究案例展示，提供建構學習的實例，並提出是次計劃資料的初步分析，分享實踐成果，作為推行「問題-探索-經驗」建構學習的教學指引。

本文介紹了香港特區2005年至2008年在中小學開展的「優化課堂學習計劃」的背景、內容、實施情況、實施成效等。該計劃以 “課堂學習研究” 為平台，致力於改善課堂教與學、促進教師的專業發展，取得了豐富理論和改進實踐兩個方面的豐碩成果，對教師專業發展產生了深遠影響。

本文以英語一個有關代詞的課堂學習為研究個案闡述香港小學英語教學的情況，借此探討如何利用課堂學習研究這種校本研修新模式以擴展英語教師對英語教學的觀念，並分析這種模式對英語教師專業發展的影響。

The present study investigated the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and word reading in both Chinese (L1) and English (L2), with children's cognitive/linguistic skills considered as mediators and/or moderators. One hundred ninety-nine Chinese kindergarteners in Hong Kong with diverse SES backgrounds participated in this study. SES explained unique variance in English word reading even after age, phonological processing, vocabulary and working memory were controlled. However, the effect of SES on Chinese word reading became nonsignificant when these control variables were included. Moreover, phonological awareness showed a full mediating effect on the relationship between SES and Chinese word reading. Both phonological awareness and vocabulary were found to partially mediate the association between SES and English word reading. These findings complement our understanding of the relation between SES and reading development in Chinese societies and may have policy or intervention development implications.
[Copyright © 2015 UKLA.]

In this paper, I review the four articles in this special issue, elucidate the main challenges faced by bilingual teachers when helping their Cantonese-dominant students learn both the content and target language (English) through content and language integrated learning-compatible pedagogies, and give a critical appraisal of their respective contributions to good practices and theory-building in research on translanguaging or classroom code-switching.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis.]

Hong Kong is linguistically complex and diverse with three principal languages: Cantonese, English and Putonghua. A substantial debate on the language policies governing the three principal languages has continued for more than two decades among policy-makers and educators. The political transition in 1997 has greatly affected Hong Kong society, including language education. Since then, the HKSAR government has made a series of language policy reforms trying to create a reasonable balance among the three languages in Hong Kong. The policies of ‘biliteracy and trilingualism’ and ‘mother-tongue teaching’ are two of the most significant in terms of controversy and impact. They are now guiding the curriculum design in Hong Kong language education. The goal of the former policy is to train Hong Kong people to be truly biliterate (written English and Chinese) and trilingual (spoken English, Cantonese and Putonghua). However, Hong Kong primary schools presently do not have an agreed method for the implementation of trilingual education. After a comprehensive historical review of the development of language education in Hong Kong schools, this study aims to find out how the ‘biliterate’ and ‘trilingual’ language policy is currently implemented in Hong Kong primary schools. 155 Hong Kong primary schools participated in a questionnaire survey on how trilingual education is implemented in the schools. The findings suggest that the implementation of trilingual education varied significantly from school to school, and the effectiveness of the trilingual education models varied as well. It is hoped that the findings will help us to gain a better understanding of trilingual education in Hong Kong, and the study could lead to some insightful and theoretical contributions to multilingual education in general.
[Copyright © 2015 Wang and Kirkpatrick; licensee Springer.]

The present study explored the home literacy environment for Chinese ESL kindergarteners and examined the relationships between home literacy practices and language and literacy skills. Ninety Hong Kong Chinese ESL kindergarteners were assessed for English vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and word reading. Their parents completed a questionnaire about home literacy practices. Results showed that these practices can be classified into three aspects: shared reading, exposure to English materials and home teaching. Shared reading uniquely predicted receptive and expressive vocabulary, syllable awareness and word reading in English. Exposure to English materials predicted expressive vocabulary and home teaching predicted letter knowledge.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.]

The article describes a comparative case study on children's agentive orientations in two Hong Kong preschools, one is play-based and the other is academically focused. Agentive orientations were measured using Reunamo's interview tool, which focuses on children's uses of accommodative and agentive orientations in everyday situations. The findings show that children in the academically oriented preschool had more uncertain and less participative orientations than those in the play-based preschool. Boys in the academically oriented setting were found to be more vulnerable than both girls and their counterparts in the play-based preschool when confronted with a conflict setting. The results indicate that the play-based environment stimulated children's capacities for agentive and participative social engagement, suggesting that play provides children with the opportunity to develop more versatile social tools and strategies. These competences are of vital importance for successful engagement in collective settings such as classrooms and schools.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis.]