This paper argues that, despite government support in financial and contractual matters, ongoing problems of retention of Native-speaking English Teachers (NETs) in Hong Kong stem, in part, from problems of cross-cultural adjustment. The paper reports a small-scale qualitative investigation into the experiences of NETS in Hong Kong and finds problems of cross-cultural adjustment of the NETs themselves, the host schools and the government's induction practices. The paper reports a diversity of problems in cross-cultural adjustment and a variety of ways in which NETs handled them. The argument is made for increased and differentiated attention to be given to the cross-cultural adjustment of NETs, for greater social networking and for reducing the isolation and cross-cultural stresses that they experience. It is suggested that this might attenuate the problem of high NET turnover in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2010.539667]

This paper examines the links between linguistic capital, cultural capital, linguistic imperialism and the use of English as the medium of instruction (MOI) in Hong Kong. It suggests that the notion of linguistic imperialism in Hong Kong, whilst useful for analysing practices in the early days of the colonial period, is superseded by the notion of linguistic capital, though neither presents a complete analysis of the MOI issue in Hong Kong. The paper suggests that a new version of linguistic imperialism in Hong Kong may be evidenced in examining the rise of Chinese-medium education and the spread of Putonghua in Hong Kong schools.
[Copyright of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01434630008666418]

Hong Kong is embarking on curricular and pedagogic reforms which replace modernist, Tylerian approaches to the curriculum with recommendations that echo many features of complexity theory. The nature of complexity theory-based curricula are outlined, and these are used to interrogate three seminal curriculum reform documents in Hong Kong. The article suggests that they embody a paradigm shift in curriculum thinking. However, given that complexity theory is not without its problems for curricula, a case is made for an eclectic approach to curriculum planning, and it is this that is taking place in Hong Kong's reformist agenda.
[Copyright of Pedagogy, Culture & Society is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681360300200174]