An interview with David W. Chan, founding director of Program for the Gifted and Talented at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is presented. Chan states that he started at the field of gifted education when he proposed for a summer gifted program at the school. He says that the topic perfectionism was his favorite topics of all his research because the trait is the fundamental characteristic of giftedness. He adds that young scholars must think on the importance of curiosity.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2011.580495]

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle-class families in each city. The 24 teachers were interviewed about their teaching methods and views on pedagogical continuity in individual sessions. Further, their teaching activities were videotaped over a period of a week. Their students (n = 758) completed a Chinese literacy attainment test at the beginning and at the end of the same academic year. Analyses indicated that Hong Kong students outperformed their Shenzhen counterparts in Chinese literacy attainment, at both preschool and primary levels, concurrently and longitudinally. This suggests that the holistic approach followed in Hong Kong might have a more positive impact on childrens literacy development than the approach followed in Shenzhen. Implications of the findings for early childhood curriculum reform are discussed.
[Copyright of Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2010.515944 ]

This study uses discourse theory to explore the teaching identities of a group of mainland Chinese pre-service teachers of English in a teacher education institute in Hong Kong. Exploring how the teaching identities are discursively constructed, the study reaches two conclusions. First, that the pre-service teachers negotiate their own positions within multiple positionings from peers, students on the teaching practicum and the broader enterprise of professional language teaching in Hong Kong

Informed by linguistic ecological theory and the notion of identity, this study investigates language uses and identity construction in interactions among students with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in a multilingual university. Individual and focus-group interviews were conducted with two groups of students: Hong Kong (HK) and mainland Chinese students. The findings indicate that, while different languages position their speakers in different symbolic spaces, language users employ a variety of languages for different identification purposes, and exercise symbolic power in various ways in order to be heard and respected. It is also found that language often plays a substantial role in achieving a sense of intimacy among group members and that the huge inherent differences, despite the umbrella of 'unity' between HK and mainland China, lead to a mutual non-identification between HK and mainland students. The study extends understandings of the interconnected relations of languages and context.
[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/10.1080/01434632.2010.532876]

A motivational orientation framework for higher education has previously been derived from interviews with 36 undergraduate students in an elite university system. The framework consists of six interacting facets of motivation represented by continua labelled: compliance, individual goal setting, sense of belonging, interest, career and university lifestyle. The aim of this study was to see whether the framework also applied to entrants to a community and vocational college sector, the emergence of which has boosted participation to mass higher education status. Individual interviews were conducted with 25 students in five colleges in Hong Kong. Analysis identified main themes and referenced these against those of the previous study. The data were consistent with the facets of the original framework. A fuller understanding was reached of the less motivated ends of the continua, as these were more commonly displayed than by the undergraduate sample in the previous study. There was evidence of avoidance goals, in the form of fear of failure. Sense of belonging was, in some cases, manifest in a form in which students socialised at the expense of academic work. There was evidence of interest being stifled because of curriculum design problems, as the awards were often not suited as terminal vocational awards, nor led to places in undergraduate degrees. The conclusion was that the motivational orientation framework also applies to the type of students entering mass higher education systems.
[Copyright of Studies in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075070903514062]

Liberal studies is a new subject in the new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong. This study attempted to identify factors that shape liberal studies student teachers' decisions in lesson planning. Based on interview data and lesson plans developed by the student teachers, this article maintains that four factors interacted with the subject features of liberal studies to shape the student teachers' planning decisions, namely, teacher knowledge, curriculum requirements, materials and resources, and interaction with equal and more capable partners. This paper further looks into how teacher knowledge expresses itself at different stages of lesson planning. The findings suggest that to facilitate enquiry learning in students, liberal studies teachers need to adopt an enquiry stance in lesson planning. This paper argues that the limitations of liberal studies student teachers' content knowledge need to be addressed in teacher preparation programmes and suggests teacher networking as one way to strengthen novice liberal studies teachers' content preparation. The implications for teacher education are discussed.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Teaching is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2011.558287]