This study investigated the impact of young Chinese second language learners' motivation on their Chinese literacy acquisition. Based on the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), 188 Grade 5 ethnic minority students in Hong Kong were assessed. They completed an L2MSS questionnaire, a Chinese oral vocabulary test, and Chinese literacy measures, which covered Chinese character reading, spelling, reading comprehension, and sentence writing. Structural equation modelling results showed that the L2MSS tripartite predictors-ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and learning experience-predicted the students' intended learning effort and literacy achievement, controlling for oral vocabulary. The ought-to self had the strongest total effect on effort and achievement, while the ideal self had a substantial effect on the learning experience and indirectly contributed to effort. This study argues that young learners' perceived social expectation significantly influenced their motivation to learn to read and write Chinese. Their identification as fluent Chinese readers and writers generated positive learning experiences that were conducive to literacy learning. Copyright © 2024 Routledge.

Listening is a largely neglected area in L2/FL research and teaching even though it is one of the two only channels to receive linguistic input for language learning. Drawing on expectancy-value theory, a theory of motivation, the study set out to examine, quantitatively, FL listening motivation in relation to within- and out-of-school FL exposure and learning. Qualitative data were also collated to explain the quantitative findings. Analysing the e-survey data from 275 Grade-10to-12 English-as-a-foreign-language learners in Hong Kong, we found that medium of instruction, spoken English exposure at school, and informal English exposure outside school were associated positively with expectancy. Out-of-school informal exposure was not only the strongest predictor of expectancy, but also the only variable positively related to interest (intrinsic value). Almost all the participants agreed with the importance of performing well on FL listening (attainment value). Open-ended responses elaborated on some of these relationships. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier.

Self-directed learning (SDL) is acknowledged as an effective language learning paradigm because learning a language is time-consuming. As language and literacy education is now embracing a more multimodal approach in writing instruction, teachers' multimodal technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) receives growing attention in language education. Based on a VR-supported L1 Chinese writing program, the present study collected and analyzed the VR courseware, lesson plans and student worksheets developed by a group of Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong. A coding scheme regarding multimodal TPACK for SDL was employed to assess the learning activities and to understand teachers' multimodal TPACK literacies in L1 Chinese writing instruction. The findings revealed that teachers were able to use VR to immerse students in an authentic environment to develop students' SDL ability and comprehension of nuanced socioemotional aspects of L1 Chinese writing. Nonetheless, there existed some limitations in the utilization VR for teaching L1 Chinese writing which might be compensated for by pedagogical design. Moreover, teachers' pedagogical conception revealed their teaching was driven by syllabus requirements and focused students' completion of writing, which might disregard the process of SDL in pedagogical implementation, and thus the process of collaborative knowledge building might be less developed. This study may contribute to the development of VR-based multimodal TPACK, which enhances multimodal lesson design for self-directed writing. Copyright © 2024 International Forum of Educational Technology and Society .

This study examined the longitudinal interplay of fathers' and mothers' literacy teaching and children's word reading skills and interest in literacy. A total of 194 second-year kindergarten (K2) children and their fathers and mothers in Hong Kong participated. At the three time points from K2 to K3 (i.e., the third year in kindergarten), fathers and mothers independently reported the frequency of their own literacy teaching activities. Mothers reported their children's interest in literacy-related activities. The children were individually assessed on Chinese word reading. The results from cross-lagged panel analysis showed that the children's prior literacy interest was associated with later frequency of parental literacy teaching, but not the other way around. No significant relations were observed between the children's word-reading skills and the literacy teaching provided by their mothers or by their fathers. Additionally, it was the children's earlier word reading skills that predicted their later development of literacy interest, but not vice versa. Thus, the parents seemed to adjust their home literacy teaching flexibly in response to their perceptions of their children's literacy interest. The findings also underscore the potential importance of word reading abilities in fostering children's literacy interest. Copyright © 2024 Springer.

Recent studies on ethnic minority students in Hong Kong have highlighted the difficulties they face when learning Chinese-as-an-Additional-Language (CAL). These linguistic challenges can cause anxiety and hinder their integration into Hong Kong society. Transpositioning is an emerging notion in the field of Applied Linguistics and involves individuals stepping out of their assigned roles and adopting different perspectives through translanguaging. It has been argued that engaging in transpositioning can potentially engage students' learning and participation in classroom interaction. However, there is limited research on how multilingual classroom teachers can suspend their social roles to alleviate students' anxiety while learning a second language in classrooms. This paper seeks to fill this research gap by examining how a Chinese teacher creates a safe translanguaging space for co-learning, which allows him to move beyond his predefined social roles and alleviate ethnic minority students' anxiety in learning CAL. The study uses Multimodal Conversation Analysis to analyse classroom interaction data. The fine-grained classroom analysis is triangulated with the video-stimulated-recall-interviews with the teacher and students which are analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The paper argues for a Transpositioning-Translanguaging-Co-Learning approach to reduce students' anxiety related to CAL learning. By positioning both the teacher and students as equal contributors to knowledge, this can foster student engagement and active participation in classroom interactions. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier.

Research Findings: This study investigated the effectiveness of a home-based intervention in increasing the intrinsic reading motivation and Chinese oral vocabulary of minority South Asian children in Hong Kong. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 78 children (Mage = 51.54 months; control: 37 children, intervention: 41 children) and their parents. Intrinsic reading motivation was measured by parent report and oral vocabulary was measured by child direct assessment. The intervention group received picture books, prerecorded stories, and guidance on carrying out home activities over four weeks. The control group received two wordless picture books. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, Multivariate Analysis of Covariance revealed a significant Group X Time interaction. Follow-up tests revealed that children in the intervention group scored higher in posttest intrinsic reading motivation and oral vocabulary than children in the control group. Practice or Policy: These findings support the development of evidence-based interventions to cater for Chinese language learning of South Asian children in Hong Kong and have the potential to inform the design of future intervention programs that aim to enhance the Chinese language proficiency of minority children in Hong Kong and other settings where Chinese is used as a second language. Copyright © 2025 Routledge.

This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of using a flipped classroom (FC) approach to combine self-regulated learning (SRL) instruction and out-of-class eLearning activities in a two-year reading intervention program to facilitate students' learning of classical Chinese reading. A total of 352 junior secondary students from three Hong Kong secondary schools participated in the study voluntarily. Using a quasi-experimental design, students from each school were assigned to one of the following conditions: SRL instruction plus out-of-class eLearning (EG-I+E), SRL instruction only (EG-I), and control (CG). Both quantitative methods, including reading tests and student questionnaires, and qualitative methods, including teacher and student interviews, were adopted to collect data for the program evaluation. Findings indicate that after implementing the intervention program, EG students perceived significant changes in their classical Chinese lessons to be more SRL-oriented. While all treatment groups significantly improved their performance in the reading post-tests, only EG students significantly improved their strategy use, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation. Although both EG groups had similar improvements in all outcome measures, teachers and students of EG-I+E opined that the eLearning component of FC facilitated teachers' implementation of the intervention and students' strategy learning and motivation. Findings are discussed to shed light on applying SRL instruction and FC in a school subject long dominated by teacher-centered instruction. Copyright © 2024 Springer .

Long COVID, where symptoms persist after recovering from COVID-19, can affect cognitive functions like language. However, little is known about its impact on children’s language skills, especially across different school levels. This study investigated the impact of long COVID on language proficiency among 1244 children (Asian; 53.5% boys) from kindergartens (N = 408, Mage = 4.42 ± 1.26 years), primary schools (N = 547, Mage = 9.69 ± 1.96 years), and secondary schools (N = 289, Mage = 14.97 ± 1.85 years) in Hong Kong. Language proficiency was assessed using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), which measured speaking, listening, reading, and writing in both Chinese and English. Participants were categorized into three groups: long COVID, recovered from COVID-19, and no history of COVID-19. One-way and two-way ANOVAs were used to analyze the differences in language proficiency across these groups and school levels. Children with long COVID symptoms exhibited significantly lower overall language proficiency, particularly in speaking and listening, compared to those in the recovered and no-COVID groups. The effect was more pronounced among primary and secondary students, with secondary school students showing the most substantial deficits. No significant differences were found between the recovered and no-COVID groups. The results suggest that long COVID might have detrimental effects on children’s linguistic proficiency. The language development of older students who suffered from long COVID could benefit from receiving targeted educational and therapeutic interventions. Copyright © 2025 by the authors.

To succeed in integrated writing tasks, source use is commonly regarded as an essential but demanding skill for students at different educational levels. Whereas substantial efforts have been devoted to English settings, it is less clear how students use sources in non-English contexts. This study investigated source use (i.e., source idea use and linguistic transformation) in a Chinese integrated commentary writing task undertaken by 223 secondary students in Hong Kong. Textual analysis showed that for source idea use, secondary students tended to borrow ideas from source texts more frequently than they did when generating original ideas. As for linguistic transformation, students showed a significantly higher frequency of copying information from sources than paraphrasing. Furthermore, we found a significant impact of source use on writing performance, accounting for approximately 10% of the variance in task performance. Additionally, the predictive effect of the total number of original ideas on writing performance became significant after the total number of ideas from both source texts entered the model. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of secondary students’ source use in a Chinese integrated commentary writing task, with implications for integrated writing instruction and assessment. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Although motivational variables have been extensively examined in the context of English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL), they have received little attention when learning Chinese as a second language (CSL), especially among elementary school students in lower grades. Considering the significant impact of psychological variables on language learning and the dilemma of Chinese reading for non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students from Hong Kong, this study examined the structural relationship between the ideal L2 self and intrinsic motivation, as well as their impacts on the learning engagement and reading performance of 475 Hong Kong first-grade NCS students. Two findings were noteworthy: (1) under the simultaneous consideration of the above-mentioned variables, intrinsic motivation affects learning engagement and Chinese reading performance more than the ideal self; (2) the indirect effects of intrinsic motivation on reading performance through learning engagement are more significant than its direct effect on reading performance. The implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright ©2024 De Gruyter.