Recent mega changes in the social, political and educational context of Hong Kong and the subsequent impacts on language teachers have put great demands on English teachers' effectiveness. Some of these irresistible changes are, for example, the implementation of TOC in primary schools, the proposed benchmark qualification assessment recommended in the Education Commission Report 6, the fast changing diversity in students' needs and ability due to the influx of immigrant children from the mainland, and most important of all, the insistent demands on quality teaching and learning of English despite a declining status of the language due to the change of sovereignty. Working in this changing environment, English teachers very often encounter unexpected challenges and great demands of effectiveness as professional language teachers. Responding to this, the present paper offers an emerging perspective to the perplexing question of how English teachers can function effectively in an age of megatrends. It suggests that to enable these ELF/ESL teachers to be responsive and adaptive to the megatrends in schools, the answer lies in a shift in the paradigm of teacher learning and development. The authors propose that English teachers should embark on self-learning while self-managing their work in schools so as to be able to face new challenges in the ever changing internal and external environment of the school. This paper attempts to apply the self-learning framework developed by Cheung & Cheng (1995 & 1996) to illustrate the concrete stages of how English teachers could engage themselves in an iterative process of self-learning. Cheung & Cheng's (1996) self-learning framework comprises two self-learning cycles: the Major Cycle and the Support Cycle. The Major Cycle consists of five sequential stages: namely, Environmental Analysis, Planning & Affiliating, Developing & Directing, Implementing, and Evaluating & Monitoring. The Major Cycle provides an overall mechanism for practicing

In educational settings, action research can be used in a variety of areas such as (1) teaching methods; (2) learning strategies; (3) evaluative procedures; (4) attitudes and values; (5) continuing professional development of teachers and; (6) administration (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000). Due to various reasons, there are few action research in schools and in higher education in Hong Kong (Li, Yu, Lam & Fok, 1999; Kember & Gow, 1992). Even in other place of the world, action research with empirical data is not much in teacher education (Ross & Bondy, 1996). This study is an investigation in using the KWL method to support teacher educators in conducting action research for enhancing learning of student-teachers as well as in continuing professional development of teacher educators in improving teaching skills, increasing powers of analysis, and heightening self-awareness of one's teaching. Participants comprised 32 student-teachers who were currently enrolled in a three year teacher certificate teacher education programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The KWL method can record "what they know (K) and what they want (W) before lesson" as well as "what they learn (L) after lesson". Records of their prior knowledge (K), their expectation (W), their learning (L) can be analyzed to explore the structure of their learning and its changes. All these information together with the data collected in the action research cycle (plan, act, observe and reflect) will give much hints and insights to the teacher educators to reflect on their own teaching.

Group work, which is also known as collaborative or cooperative learning, is one of the best researched of all teaching strategies. Research results have shown that students who have opportunities to work collaboratively learn faster and more efficiently, have greater retention, and feel more positive about the learning experience (Johnson, Johnson & Smith, 1991). Although these teaching/learning strategies have undergone nearly fifty years of research and scores of studies, the extent of their recognition and application varies tremendously in various parts of the world. During a 3-week International On-line Collaboration Discussion Seminar, (an event arranged by the Schools Around the World program held by the Council for Basic Education, Washington), teachers and national/regional facilitators from six participating nations/ regions shared their ideas and knowledge based on their experiences in implementing group work, particularly in the subject of science. Three major topics were explored within the seminar: defining group work, assessment of group work, and professional development for supporting implementation of group work. This paper provides insights for group work in science education by drawing references from the shared ideas in the international seminar, in order to provide its implication in the future direction for science teaching in Hong Kong consistent with the current reform. As stated in the Hong Kong Government curriculum development document, a design for a student-focused curriculum is called upon for meeting the best interest of students and developing their different intelligence (Curriculum Development Council, 2000). Group work consists of various teaching and learning strategies with a sound record of research history and experimental results worldwide; therefore, it can provide resources for meeting these objectives. This on-line seminar provides a global educational community for teachers in Hong Kong (General Studies teachers at primary

This paper introduces the distinctive features of Learning Study, a branch of lesson study, conducting Hong Kong. It uses a case to illustrate how Learning Study, based on a framework derived from the Theory of Variation, can become a powerful tool to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. This paper argues that a conceptual framework that has cornsensus from the research team will form a strong underpinning and help facilitate professionl dialogue between researchers and teachers, therefore extending the potential of lesson study as a tool for improving instruction.
[Copyright © 2007 Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University.]

This paper reports on the design and implementation of a project for developing self-directed learning in student teachers. The study involved 20 student teachers currently enrolled at The Hong Kong Institute of Education. The study contextualized self-directed learning in the Education Projects module. Each student teacher designed and implemented a small educational research project. The Know Want Learn (KWL) method, concept map and a reflection question were used to collect data on the change in the self-directed learning capacity of student teachers. Data analysis revealed that student teachers had differential growth in selfdirected learning competence. Further, both quantitative and qualitative changes were observed in student teachers’ conceptualizations of educational research. Nevertheless, capacity remained for further improvement in their capacity for self-directed learning.
[Copyright © 2005 International Self-Directed Learning Symposium Group.]

Many ESL and EFL learners find wh-question formation difficult to master despite the fact that wh-interrogatives are a commonly used structure. Through using a Learning Study approach, this study aims to identify Hong Kong ESL learners' difficulties with wh-question formation, to explore effective strategies to enhance the instruction, and to investigate the learning outcomes as a result. Quantitative data were collected from three Hong Kong Secondary 3 classes through a written test and an oral test, and qualitative data from discussion at teachers' meetings, research lesson observation, student interviews, and post-lesson conferences. It was found that Hong Kong learners' L1 transfer problems are an important inhibiting factor in their learning of English wh-interrogatives. The most serious learning problems found include Chinese interference with word order and failure to use correct verb phrase structures. The research team, through the Learning Study research cycle, succeeded in designing appropriate contexts and using variation patterns for presenting and practicing interrogative structures. Successful outcomes were evident in the gradual improvement of the design of the three research lessons and significant progress by students in their learning of wh-interrogatives.
[Copyright © 2012 The Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.]