Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority students in two Hong Kong schools arising from language policies adopted by the post-colonial government. Based on data arising from interviews with 28 secondary school Nepali students in 2013 and 2014, and an observation of two schools with a sizeable population of Nepali ethnic minority students over a period of more than two years, this paper investigates how students face the pressures of learning through the medium of either English or spoken Cantonese and written Chinese. Analysis of the data reveals that these students face inequities in schools due to neglect of attention to their overall educational development, discrimination in the institutional settings, and lack of opportunities to maintain their own heritage language and identity. Based on the findings, this paper proposes a multilingual education model for ethnic minority students, drawing on the models set out in Adamson and Feng (2014. "Models for Trilingual Education in the People's Republic of China." In Minority Languages and Multilingual Education, edited by D. Gorter, V. Zenotz, and J. Cenoz, 29–44. Dordrecht: Springer), which has potential to redress the balance.
[Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

There is about 17,000 kindergarteners (i.e. young kids aged 3 to 6 years old) learning Chinese as a second language (CSL) in Hong Kong (HK). Previous research shows that these children’s Chinese language (CL) ability is at least 3 years behind their native Chinese counterparts while encountering difficulties in learning. It is also a challenge for the teachers to cater for such huge learning diversity, as HK kindergartens (for 3- to 6-year-olds) mainly use the theme-based approach without deliberate consideration of CL curriculum (HKEDB, 2006). Without professional training in CSL teaching, teachers have little knowledge of how to provide these students with adequate support. The present study aims to examine the possibility and effectiveness of implementing a CSL curriculum for CSL students, and how well it works with the existing theme-based curriculum. “Dynamic Enrichment Learning Mode” (DELM) was developed and implemented in six kindergartens with 131 CSL learners. This CSL-focused DELM was designed based on the Second Language Acquisition (Krashen, 1982) and CL orthographic (Leong et al., 2011) theories and comprises the following: (1) tailor-made individual (one 30-minute session every fortnight) and group (two 30-minute sessions every week) enrichment learning activities; (2) using both CSL and mainstream theme-based curricula; (3) authentic learning materials (e.g., picture books and specially written children’s songs based on the learning objectives of each unit); (4) diversified learning activities (e.g., interactive language games, matching games, free writing games etc.). CSL students learn together during the enrichment activities, and then return to their ordinary classes to learn with their native Chinese classmates to benefit from both the CSL and theme-based curricula. This enables them to immerse in a safe, comfortable environment with rich target language input while not having to separate from their Chinese counterparts. Quasi-experiments,

Request is a prominent daily life speech act which a speaker manipulates appropriate linguistic forms to make a hearer perform an action to fulfill the speaker’s needs. Variations in the use of request forms will normally reflect a speaker’s pragmatic competence; i.e. language and culture. Research findings by Rose (2000 & 2009), Achiba (2003), Dewart and Summers (1995) and Ellis (1992) have pointed out that request forms used by young children provide a lot of important information about the pragmatic development of young children in their L1 and/or L2 learning. Previous research on pragmatics has concentrated on the learning of English or other European languages as a second language by adult learners. Not much has been known about pragmatic development among young children learning a second language. As a result of internationalization and global mobility of people, it is getting common that some children start learning a second language in early years for schooling adaptation in the host country. In recent years in Hong Kong, the lack of research evidence in inter-language pragmatics, with special regard to child language (i.e. Cantonese as L2) development, has made it difficult for policy-makers and educators to make decision on the Chinese language (as L2) education instruction and intervention for education equity of ethnic minority children studying in mainstream schools. This paper aims at examining (i) the relationship between L2 Cantonese pragmatic knowledge (language proficiency and cultural knowledge) and Pakistani preschoolers’ expression of Cantonese request strategies; (ii) the relationship between Pakistani parents’ Cantonese proficiency and their children’s Cantonese request strategies; (iii) the difference in the ability of using Cantonese request strategies by Pakistani preschoolers at different grade levels in kindergarten; i.e. K1, K2 and K3. All discussions in the paper are based on findings from an on-going research project which is

在漢語教學的國際熱潮中，香港的情況比較特殊。除了通過普通話教學外，更多香港非華語人士需要學習本地通用的廣州話（粵語），從而認識中文，解決生活的需要。粵語是現代漢語中較強勢的方言，有自成體系的語音系統、方言詞彙和語法特色。非華語人士如要通過粵語學習中文，面對粵語口語和現代漢語書面語之間的差距，往往會較諸通過普通話學習中文更遠。 以粵語作為中文教學媒介語在香港由來已久，無論是中文母語或二語教學，如何能指導學生兼顧口語與書面語表達之間的差異──能以粵語口語有效表達，同時又能避免 讓粵語方言干擾現代漢語書面語，素來都是中文教師的重大考驗。為此，本文將以一次支援「多元文化教學助理先修課程」的中文教學實踐為例，報告如何活用粵語拼音，裝備非華語中學業生掌握基本的中文幼兒教學用語，並認識與本地幼兒教師溝通所需的粵語。 上述教學試驗為特定對象而設，含前測與學業評估（口語及書面語）共 30 教時。本文擬檢視學生的前測與學業評估表現，對照教學實驗重點、學習內容及學生反饋意見等資料，評鑑粵語拼音在教授香港非華語學生中文的意義，為同類課程的未來發展提供實證的參考資源。

外籍人士表示，學漢語最大的困難莫過於漢字（趙金銘，2006）。學漢字必須一個一個地學，一個一個地記。周健、尉萬傳（2004）提出漢字學習三種現象：1. 漢字學習與漢語學習的正相關顯著，漢字學得好的學生往往也是漢語成績好的；2.儘管反復書寫練習是留學生普遍認同的策略，但優秀學生更多地採用音義符歸納策略或整字策略。3.女生成績優於男生，日韓等漢字學習圈學生優於非漢字圈國家學生。本研究試從教學語言方面探討。研究員曾在香港兩所幼兒園，分別以英語及粵語為主要的教學語言進行識字教學的研究。本文將探討這兩所幼兒園的非華語學童識字能力的表現。

Mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum is core to school education in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Through mother tongue language learning, students are expected to enhance their understanding of the nation's culture and foster the sense of cultural and ethnic identity. However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. This study examines Hong Kong Chinese language teachers' perceptions of MTL education, and the implication on MTL curriculum development. The questionnaire was administrated to 97 teachers, and interviews were carried out on 17 teachers. Usually, MTL is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture. In Hong Kong, 95% of the population is of Chinese descent. Traditionally, education in China was a mixture of philosophy, history, politics and literacy. Chinese as an MTL subject in pre-colonial Hong Kong has always been assigned the mission of developing students' cultural identity in addition to the development of linguistic proficiency. During the colonial period, the Chinese Language curriculum shifted to be more language skills based with less emphasis on Chinese culture and moral education. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, although a new curriculum was implemented in 2002, teaching and learning in school as well as public examinations seem to be remaining language skills oriented instead of culturally based. This deviation from the trend of both Chinese traditional education and global mother tongue language education makes some Chinese language teachers feel confused. In addition, there is comment that in general Hong Kong students' Chinese language proficiency is becoming weaker and weaker in recent years. Thus, effectiveness of the skills oriented language curriculum has come under question. How a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language

This article presents an overview of language policy in Hong Kong education during the colonial and post-colonial periods. The article is divided into three main sections. The first section outlines the sociolinguistic background of Hong Kong, including the demographic trends that have been crucial in determining the course of educational development in the city in the past 170 years. The second section offers an overview of language policies and practices during the colonial era (1842-1997). This section is divided into the two distinct phases which characterised education under the British; namely, (1) the period between the 1840s and the 1960s, during which English-medium secondary education was the preserve of the elite in society, and (2) the years between the 1970s and 1997, during which the majority of students in each age cohort attended schools in which English was the official medium of instruction. The third section examines developments in language policy since the handover, focusing on the promotion and subsequent fine-tuning of a controversial policy to promote Chinese-medium instruction at secondary level.
[Copyright Liverpool University Press 2017]

Social diversity is now commonplace in many communities in today's globalised world. This diversity can be seen in any classroom of learners, and international studies have shown the complex ways in which disabilities, race, ethnicity, gender and social class can determine a child's opportunity to succeed or fail in the education system. In Hong Kong, like in many educational contexts around the world, teachers are grappling with increasing diversity amongst their students, including teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) and non-Chinese speaking students (NCS) living in Hong Kong. This paper examines how three primary TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers are constructing identities as inclusive practitioners as they grapple with enacting the inclusive education policy recently introduced into Hong Kong schools. The data are drawn from a small-scale collaborative reflective inquiry for teacher professional development. Drawing upon a sociocultural and critical framing of identity theory, we trace the three teachers' identity construction as EFL teachers and inclusive education practitioners. We view the role of discourse, self-positioning and social context as key processes in teacher identity formation. Implications for furthering the development of inclusive education in EFL classrooms are offered.

Human development is a cultural process, and language serves as a cultural tool is closely related to virtually all the cognitive changes. The author addresses issues of language in education, and suggests that changing the medium of instruction should not be understood as purely a pedagogical decision. The connection between culture and language is examined for understanding why Hong Kong Chinese learners are stereotyped as passive learners. Through exploring personal experience with a student teacher, the author exemplifies how narrative inquiry is found to be a pragmatic approach to support teachers to become reflective thinkers. This study argues that narrative methods can serve as pedagogical strategies in teacher education since narrative can help both teachers and learners reflect on, question, and learn from their storied experiences.
[Copyright © 2017 Edith Cowan University.]

2000年起，香港的課程改革倡議用普通話教中文，根捧統計，至今已有半數以上中小學校正在推行。論者認為，“普教中”不但是教學語言的轉換，也是課程、教材、教法以至評估的更新。這項變革牽動中小學語文課程的校本設置，在教學層面上，也對教師的課堂語言及教學策略的運用，提出因應調整的要求。 識字教學是低年級語文教學的重要任務，香港的小學過去大多採取隨文識字的教學模式，通過課文學習，讓學生認識字詞的形音義，進而理解文本，訓練閱讀的能力。由於此前的語文課以粵語授課，識字教學可以充分利用學生的心理詞彙，以他們日常生活中習得字詞的語音或語義為基礎，連繫要學的字形，能較容易掌握生字和新詞。中文科改以普通話為教學語言，因為切斷晰語音層面的勾連，低年級學生便無法利用心理詞彙貫通字形、字音和字義的優勢識字；加上學生生活中缺乏普通話語感，學習字形與字義的同時，還得記憶陌生的語音，既形成新的難點，也加重了學習負擔。 這些年來“普教中”的先導學校參考內地、臺灣等地區的教學經驗，以漢語拼音作為輔助學生識字的工具。不少學校為此設置校本拼音教程，讓學生集中能在較短時間內把拼音通學一遍。語文教師在課上也不斷嘗試摸索，運用拼音教學字詞。觀課所見，教師在實踐中已就拼音識字發展出相應的教學策略，包括讓學生粗通拼音，邊學邊用；語文課上調動運用，從課前預習讀音，到課上自行拼讀字詞﹝個人或小組合作﹞；利用拼音記音、自我正音；定期和系統復習拼音等。不過，也有部分教師對語文課上運用拼音識字似乎還不夠重視，對相應的教學策略也未適當掌握，識字教學的效能可再提升。 “普教中”推行已十多年，因教學語言改變，識字教學的重點與難點有所轉移，但有關的教學對策的探討不多。本文主要從檢視目前學校的實踐經驗及成效切入，通過借鑒不同地區的中文識字教學方法和研究成果，建議引進音節教學的直讀法、漢字標音、以獨立或隨文兩種方式拼讀字音等方法，藉此探尋一套適用於香港普教中情境，能有效突破語音難關，並能促進識字效能的教學策略，供學界參考。