English-medium lectures can be the source of much frustration for students at universities where most learners and lecturers use English as an additional language. Developing listening strategy awareness can help students traverse the difficulties they encounter in lectures. This study reports on the most challenging listening strategies for first-year undergraduates at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. Student reflections, an Academic Listening Strategy Inventory, and interviews were used as data gathering tools. Within a framework of perceptive, cognitive, metacognitive and socio-affective strategies, the most challenging items were technical vocabulary, inferencing and focus. In addition, some less commonly reported challenges were identified which highlight the complexities of academic listening in non-Anglophone English-medium contexts. Copyright © 2020 Asian ESP Journal. All rights reserved.

Comprehending native English connected speech is a daunting task for most non-native speakers (NNS) of English, who often misinterpret such input and result in poor listening comprehension in authentic situations. These misinterpretations of native English speech are critical to understanding the mechanisms underlying connected speech perception and the recovery strategies employed by NNS. In this study, we tested the perceptual errors of native English connected speech by 60 undergraduate learners of English as a second language (ESL) in Hong Kong and systematically classified their dictation responses. A total of 640 errors were identified and subsequently categorized into 9 main types and 20 subtypes of errors. The absolute number and relative frequency for each types and subtypes were reported. Our findings should inform teaching practices of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) educators and subsequently enhance the English connected speech listening comprehension skills of NNS. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd.

This study examined the use of first language in English reading lessons and the perceptions of teachers and students towards it in three Hong Kong Chinese-medium secondary schools. The data comprised three teachers and sixty-three Form 2 students' participation and responses in (i) 3 classroom observations about how L1 was used in actual teaching and learning settings, (ii) survey forms gathering the frequency of participants using L1 teaching and learning strategies (based on the three teachers and nineteen selected students from the pool), and (iii) subsequent in-depth interviews concerning their perceptions about using L1 in English reading lessons. The findings revealed that (i) the use of L1 bottom-up language focused teaching strategies and condition-oriented teaching and learning strategies were effective for teaching and learning in English reading lessons and (ii) there was a negative relationship between students' proficiency in English and the use of L1. The study concluded that the use of first language in English reading lessons brought positive effects on the second language learning in English reading, especially when students' English proficiency and teaching contexts were taken into consideration. Copyright ©International Journal of Instruction.

In this article, we report on an action case study on the use of mobile-assisted peer feedback to improve second language (L2) speakers' English performance. Drawing on the learning-oriented assessment (LOA) framework (Carless, 2007), the study made in-class use of a newly developed mobile app with the provision of peer feedback. The study was conducted with 25 Business School students in an English for Specific Purposes course at a Hong Kong university. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, including a questionnaire survey, a focus group discussion after the class and a teacher journal. In addition to the participants' general attitudes, two broad themes were found in relation to the participants' learning experience, namely the use of peer feedback and the affordances and constraints of technology. Results showed that students generally agreed on the positive effects of mobile-assisted peer feedback (e.g. real-time and anonymous feedback), while they recognized some limitations such as the small screen size of their phones and the limited number of given rubrics. Finally, we discuss the implications from different perspectives based on the reported themes. Copyright © Sage Publications Ltd.

Members of four teams comprising local and international exchange (IE) students, who had undertaken service-learning (SL) projects in Hong Kong, were interviewed about factors influencing cohesiveness within their teams. They indicated that a major barrier was language-related and could result in the withdrawal or exclusion of IE students. Students also identified three factors that fostered cohesiveness. These were: (1) local students’ willingness to conduct meetings in English; (2) local students’ readiness to provide interpretation and translation at external meetings; and (3) the willingness of IE and local students to establish reciprocal and empathetic relationships. Students reported that the benefits were improved English language skills, greater flexibility and broadened horizons. We offer suggestions about to prepare local and IE students to work together on SL projects. Copyright © 2019 The 3rd International Conference on Service-Learning (ICSL).

Academic presentation (AP) is the most common type of oral tasks for academic studies. It is not only a means for speakers to exchange their ideas with (and gain feedback from) members in the academic communities but also provides speakers with an opportunity to develop higher-order thinking skills, through the process of which construction of new knowledge takes place. Regarding its unique roles, speech functions, linguistic and discourse features, recent scholarly discussion and research findings on academic presentation suggest that AP should be taught as a genre, and yet there is still a scarcity of research-based pedagogical instruction or instructional materials designed for EAP contexts. To be able to deliver quality presentations, ESL/EFL learners, as new comers of the academic communities, not only have to face the linguistic and cognitive demands, but also develop new identities and roles that are often very different from their L1 cultures. This chapter discusses the needs of ESL/EFL learners and their challenges in developing academic presentation competence in EFL contexts, such as Hong Kong. Following on a review of the knowledge, skills and strategies pertaining to the development of academic presentation competence and a discussion about current EAP practices, a pedagogical framework for EAP settings, comprised of designated tasks and evaluation measures, is proposed. Copyright © 2018 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

This study aimed to develop a corpus-aided pronunciation teacher-training programme and examine the effectiveness of a corpus-aided pronunciation teaching approach in English classrooms in Hong Kong. A workshop was conducted for 86 participants to introduce several English learner corpora. After the workshop, eight volunteer participants, pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, were paired off, entered into a seven-stage corpus-aided pronunciation teacher programme and attended interviews. One pair was selected to give a trial lesson, and 13 primary school students were invited to evaluate this lesson. The results revealed that the training provided sufficient knowledge about corpus-aided pronunciation teaching and task design. The pre-service teachers expressed a strong willingness to use corpus data as examples to raise students' awareness of commonly mispronounced sounds. They agreed that the flipped instruction component was effective. Of the 13 primary school students, 83.33% agreed that they learned how to pronounce the target sounds correctly, and 75% were able to identify their mispronounced sounds via the corpus-aided teaching method. The findings will not only provide pre-service teachers with examples of corpus-aided pronunciation lesson plans and materials but also contribute to integrating the flipped classroom approach into teacher education programmes. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Phonology in second/foreign (L2/FL) listening has not received much attention from scholars and teachers. This article reports on a mixed-methods study which set out to fill this gap by exploring the effectiveness of explicit instruction in phonology and the use of songs to enhance English-as-a-L2 (ESL) learners' listening abilities in Hong Kong. ESL learners (n = 92) aged 17-20 participated in a three-month experiment. Data from pre-, post-listening tests and semi-structured interviews were collated. The findings demonstrated the efficacy of L2 phonology instruction in improving learners' L2 listening. More remarkably, the positive effect was augmented when the instruction was coupled with phonological analyses of song lyrics. However, using songs alone for gap-filling exercises (as is commonplace in L2 classrooms) was not found to be effective.
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This paper investigates the representation of social values and their ontogenetic development in English as a foreign language textbooks in Hong Kong. Adopting a social semiotic approach, it considers social values in textbooks as semantic categories which are constructed by complex semiotic discursive resources, and develops an explicit framework to model what values are selected and how the values are constructed. Analysis of 19 textbooks from Primary 1 to Secondary 4–6 shows that the social values change from the personal domain (e.g. good hygiene and healthy lifestyle), through the interpersonal domain (e.g. politeness and respect), to the altruistic concern for all mankind. The result also suggests that the textbooks are more concerned with the didactic education of good citizens than with cultivating children's critical thinking. The analytical framework and the findings can be used for the explicit instruction and critical analysis of social values in English language teaching.
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English as a second/foreign language education (ESL/EFL) in the supplementary setting is under-researched despite its prevalence worldwide. This quantitative study investigated the effects of supplementary and mainstream ESL/EFL education on eleven facets from learners' secondary-level and tertiary-level perspectives. In addition, we examined learners' perception of the usefulness of supplementary and mainstream classes in equipping them for the use of English for different purposes in the tertiary setting. 203 participants studying at two tertiary institutions in Hong Kong completed a 72-item questionnaire. The MANOVAs conducted revealed significant main effects of education settings (i.e. supplementary/mainstream) and education levels (i.e. secondary-level/tertiary-level) as well as interaction effects of these variables on learners' perception. There were also significant differences in learners' views of the usefulness of the two education settings in preparing them for the use of English for specific purposes at tertiary level. This article culminates with a discussion of these findings and implications.
[Copyright of Studies in Educational Evaluation is the property of Elsevier Ltd.]