Language textbooks are written to help students develop language proficiency as well as have a better understanding of the culture of the target group. English instructional materials are usually arranged in the form of linguistic structures and communicative functions, with culture being presented through how native people eat, play, work, dress and live. According to Pfister and Borzilleri (1977), five major cultural themes can be distinguished in foreign language textbooks: the social sphere, family unit and the personal sphere, religion and the arts, political systems and institutions, and the environment sphere. On the other hand, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) suggested another three categories to evaluate English language textbooks: the source culture (the learner’s native culture), the target culture (British or American culture), and the international target culture (other English and non-English speaking cultures). In the present study, a series of popular English language textbooks for primary students, recommended by the Education Bureau in Hong Kong, was compared with the authorized English language textbooks used in mainland China. The aim was to examine how culture is presented in the two regions so as to heighten students’ awareness of being Chinese citizens in a global community and foster international understanding. The research findings could also raise the consciousness of textbook writers and publishers on the need to remove biases in textbooks, and to promote a multicultural environment in the classroom. Copyright © 2018 ACLL.

The Education policy "Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers of English" had been controversial since its establishment in 2000, in the sense that various stakeholders including parents, students, school administrators, teachers and the general public. This essay critically analyses this education policy in the HK context by scrutinizing the prerequisite. Subsequently, how LPATE was built on policy texts and how it was construed as a solution of gradual decline of English as well as the reciprocal politics interacting with the policy were analyzed. Additionally, the institutions and actors involved in the policy process are discussed followed by the revelation of the outcomes of LPATE in both the expected and the unanticipated dimensions. Copyright © 2014 the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal.

This book provides a detailed account of the origin, development, administration, revision and subsequent research findings on the benchmarking initiative from 1996-2016. It presents an overall assessment of the initiative’s impact on major stakeholders, predictions regarding the way forward, and implications for other countries, especially in South East Asia. In addition, the book discusses what the larger global community can learn from Hong Kong’s two-decade experience of conceptualizing and implementing minimum standard language requirements for teachers. Copyright © 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

This presentation discusses the infusion of IELTS exemplars and standards descriptors into instructional materials to promote assessment for learning. The discussion is based on teachers’ experiences of a Year 2 English course offered in a university in Hong Kong which requires students to attain a specified IELTS standard before graduation. To help students to attain the required IELTS exit requirement, IELTS exemplars and standards descriptors are incorporated into the training materials. Drawing upon students’ responses, this presentation will suggest practical ideas for developing instructional materials by (a) effectively helping students approach and overcome difficulties in comprehending standards descriptors with specific reference to their own language problems, and (b) achieving the above through interactive in-class activities to help teachers use proficiency standards to develop meaningful curricular materials and assessment practices. It is hoped that the outcomes of this project can counterbalance ‘instrumentalism’ (in achieving standards) and ‘learning’ in academic settings where testing is a policy concern. Copyright © 2017 Asia TEFL.

The study reported in this paper adopted both direct (a large-scale questionnaire survey) and indirect (a verbal-guise test) measures to investigate gender differences in second language (L2) learners’ attitudes towards different English varieties in secondary schools in Hong Kong. The investigation considered various factors affecting students’ attitudes to language including their affective feelings, cultural identity, awareness of language variations, experience of language use, perceived intelligibility of English accents and, more importantly, situational language choices. Consistent with previous studies, the findings suggest that the female learners were more positively oriented towards native speaker (NS) pronunciation and tended to adopt it as their teaching model and learning target; they also had greater confidence than males in their ability to understand British English pronunciation. However, their greater sensitivity to NS standards was found to be limited to high-stakes English-speaking contexts. In contrast, male learners had greater tolerance or acceptance of local pronunciation. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of L2 learners’ gender differences in attitudes for English language education and the design of English language teaching materials and assessments.
[Copyright of System is the property of Pergamon Press. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.04.010]