This paper explores issues arising from large-scale, relatively short-term (4-16 week) overseas language immersion and study abroad programmes for Hong Kong's pre-and in-service teachers. It argues that shortterm study abroad is an under-researched and under-valued field that both benefits and suffers from intuitive, often ill-informed judgements of worth. An overview is provided of: typical issues encountered by staff and students in the course of delivering and taking part in such programmes; possible solutions to problems observed; and the type, range and scale of gains that might reasonably be expected of participants. Reference is made to various contexts - under- and post-graduate programmes; culturally diverse locations ranging over three continents and to changing global circumstances - which may impinge on such programmes. Discussion takes account of the literature on generic study abroad and addresses the specific learning environments required of successful commissioned programmes of this type. In particular, issues of classroom vs communitybased learning, combined focuses of learning within a single multiply-oriented context, implicit learning and reflection vs pedagogical cultural imperialism, intercultural communication and constructive engagement are explored. Finally, recommendations for optimisation and research-based development are offered, based on hard and soft data acquired during extensive formal and informal evaluation and ongoing development of shortterm English language immersion programmes. The paper is of interest to academics seeking a framework from which to approach learning-focused links between tertiary education, language and culture and to current or potential study abroad providers and commissioners.

Substantial funding is currently provided to HK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) who are required to provide more and better language proficiency outcomes reports to a range of funding stakeholders. They also recruit unprecedented numbers of non-local students in an effort to develop Hong Kong as an 'education hub' in Asia. Added to these external contextual factors, the Centre for Language in Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education has recently embarked on a curriculum renewal process for its undergraduate English language programmes that entail providing tailored proficiency pathways for the students. These major contextual changes have resulted in a need for the CLE to have an institutional 'end-to-end' English language assessment solution to provide: (1) Language screening and placement; (2) Language formative and summative assessment processes and tasks for the new curriculum; and (3) Language reporting at year end. Such an 'end-to-end' solution will provide a systematic approach to screening and placement assessment, formative and summative assessment and language assessment reporting for all English enhancement programmes. Hitherto, CLE (and other HEI language centres) has relied on ad hoc language assessment solutions to these institutional requirements and/or an over reliance on international certification that is expensive and limited as an end-to-end solution. The Tertiary English Language Test (TELT) being developed at HKIEd, has received seeding funding from the Institute, to develop assessment processes fort he range of purposes outlined above. This paper reports on the work achieved so far with particular reference to the screening and placement test. It will outline the TELT test specifications, stages of piloting, process of item analysis using Rasch Measurement Analysis, scales and descriptors for speaking and writing and calibration issues in speaking and writing. The paper will also report on senior managements' response to the new tool

This paper describes how a team of teachers and researchers in Hong Kong worked together to develop a research lesson on electro-chemical series in a Learning Study at Secondary 4 level in the subject of Chemistry. Learning study is premised on a conceptual framework that builds on three types of variation: variation in students' understanding of a specific object of learning (V1); variation in teachers' understanding and ways of handling the object (V2); and the use of patterns of variation based on the Theory of Variation (V3). The study reported in this paper illustrates how the conceptual framework, in particular, the use of patterns of variation, helps to enhance student learning. In this study, the same teacher taught the research lesson in two cycles to two Secondary 4 Chemistry classes in the same school. The two cycles of research lesson were videotaped, analyzed and triangulated with the student learning outcomes in a diagnostic test administered before and after the lesson, and a post-lesson group interview with a sample of students. Whereas the theoretical framework of variation was employed to analyze what patterns of variation were created and hence what was made possible to learn in the lessons, the results of the pre- and post- test were compared to trace the students' progress in categories of questions that measured for their understanding. In the research lesson, patterns of variation which served the functions of ìseparation and ìgeneralization were used to help the students to understand how the electro-chemical series is derived, and to discern that the order of the metals in the series and the potential difference between any two given metals are constant and independent of the reference metal used. The student learning outcomes showed that there was substantial growth in the students' understanding of these concepts.

This article first describes the lesson study practices in Hong Kong, with reference to three General Studies lessons taught in three local primary schools. Data on children's understanding of the concept taught was collected through pra-j and post-interviews and questionnaires, part of the action research cycle. Data on teachers' understanding, choice of teaching strategies and the change in their conception of teaching was collected by interviews, teachers' reflection, both before and after the lesson. The data collected are drawn on to highlight challenges to lesson study and to discuss if this kind of practice is a powerful way for teachers to improve themselves.

The Bachelor of Education (Languages) Programme (BEdL) of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) was first implemented in 2001-02. As an integral part of the programme, the design of the Field Experience curriculum has its own characteristics. In addition to the traditional practice on classroom teaching, ranging from collaborative to independent teaching from Year Two onwards, the programme provides student teachers with opportunities for school visit and attachments through which they can better understand the requirements of language teaching in school contexts. Among all school attachments, the one-day-per-week attachment to a local secondary school in the second semester of Year One has received controversial feedback from various stakeholders. Such feedback reflects diversified considerations from schoolteachers involved about whether they will continue to support similar activities. Based on the feedback received in the past two years, this paper will first synthesize voices of current Supporting Teachers and student teachers of the BEd(L). Then the authors will discuss the effectiveness of such a mode of school attachment in preparing student teachers for classroom teaching. Taking the voices of Supporting Teachers and student teachers into consideration, we hope that this paper could help reveal a comprehensive evaluation of the design, and more important, enhance the quality of Field Experience with a view to forging a closer professional partnership between the Institute and schools.