Language learners and teachers’ cognition in respect of learning and teaching plays a critical role in mediating their actual behaviour and decisions in the process. This study investigates the vocabulary learning and teaching beliefs held by pre-service and in-service teachers in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland so that teacher education programmes can better equip teachers with appropriate knowledge concerning the vital task of vocabulary teaching. A mixed approach was adopted in inquiring into the nature of vocabulary learning and teaching beliefs held by these participants. Statistical tests (factor analysis, multi-variate analysis, and Chi-square test) were employed in conjunction with qualitative analysis of the data collected. The analyses revealed variations in the beliefs held by the participants in the two contexts. The identified variations in the beliefs held by pre-service and in-service participants both in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland were less significant than those that emerged when comparing Hong Kong participants’ beliefs with those of their mainland Chinese counterparts. The findings are indicative of profound contextual mediation on the participants’ vocabulary teaching and learning beliefs. They also confirm the importance of raising and strengthening language teachers’ strategy and language awareness in teacher development programmes.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2011.579977]

This article documents the authors' reflections on a teacher professional development programme conducted in 38 Hong Kong primary schools on the teaching of English through Process Drama. The authors draw upon the views of school principals, subject panel head teachers, English teachers, students and parents in focus group interviews to examine the learning and teaching experiences at the heart of the Programme. These reflections focus on how Process Drama can enhance second language acquisition by accommodating more affective factors in learning, by stressing creativity and by shifting the didactic discourse in the classroom to one that is more authentic and less threatening and which encourages increased amounts of student talk. The authors describe how, based on the focus group interview data, a piece of Verbatim Theatre was created and used as a stimulus to elicit deeper reflective responses to the Programme. They also reflect upon the level of understanding of Process Drama's complex pedagogy and artistry demonstrated by those teachers new to it and consider what further research might help the long-term implementation of drama in Hong Kong classrooms.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2011.617099]

This paper investigates differences in approaches to learning and teaching English as a second language (ESL) as reported by 324 mixed-ability Grade 7 Hong Kong ESL students and 37 ESL secondary school teachers with different backgrounds. Information about participants' perceived approaches to learning/teaching English were collected through a student questionnaire and a teacher questionnaire. Analysis of the student data suggested significant differences among students of low, medium, and high academic abilities in their reported use of deep and achieving approaches to learning English. Analysis of the teacher data revealed that teachers with different qualifications and number of years of teaching experience performed significantly differently on the Information Transmission Approach and on collaborative approaches to teaching English. Implications for the learning and teaching of English in Hong Kong and limitations of the study are also discussed.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2010.534769]

Current computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research has identified various potentials of technology for language learning. To realize and maximize these potentials, engaging students in self-initiated use of technology for language learning is a must. This study investigated Hong Kong university students' use of technology outside the classroom to self-regulate their language learning. It showed that these students were actively engaged in the use of technology, but there were variations both among the students and in the aspects of language learning that they opted to support using technology. More importantly, this study unraveled the factors that influenced their selective use of technology in language learning.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2011.568417]

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]