Theoretically, abundant conversation experiences are necessary for young children to develop their preliteracy skills – the foundation for reading comprehension. But very few studies have provided empirical evidence on it. This study investigated whether K1 children experiencing a higher quality of teacher-child conversations would perform significantly better in preliteracy skills (phonological awareness, morphological awareness and oral language) and word reading and whether the quality of teacher-child conversations could moderate the contribution of preliteracy skills to word reading. Results supported the theoretical importance of good teacher-child dialogues in developing young children’s preliteracy skills and suggested that the effectiveness of preliteracy skills training might depend on the verbal environment children experience at preschools. Copyright © 2023 AERA.

This study takes a rarely employed learner's angle in examining how students are learning in the English Medium Instruction (EMI) classroom. Particularly, the study tapped into students' listening strategy use when comprehending the teacher input, a context that is underexplored for strategy research and yet highly important because teacher input predominates in the EMI classroom. An EMI class of Grade 11 Biology in Hong Kong was recruited. Through lesson observations and stimulated recall interviews with a purposively selected sample of eight students, a taxonomy of listening strategies in EMI was constructed. The taxonomy reveals the uniqueness of listening to the teacher in EMI context due to the non-existence of planning and prediction strategies, the identification of novel strategies, and the classification of content-mediated and language-mediated cognitive strategies. Factoring in students' linguistic knowledge and Biology achievement, the findings indicated the usefulness for students to deploy a range of language-mediated, content-mediated and metacognitive strategies in combination. This paper ends with implications for future research and pedagogy in order to make EMI learning and teaching more successful. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A positive relation between English phoneme deletion skill, a measure of the theoretical construct phonological awareness (PHNA), and pronunciation accuracy (PRNA), the ability to read aloud correctly familiar English words, was found in 2 groups of Hong Kong high school students who learned English as a 2nd language. 81 7th graders and 72 10th graders were tested. The study identified 7 variables: CA, nonverbal intelligence, sight vocabulary, digit span, word span, phoneme deletion, and PRNA. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the interactions among the variables in predicting PRNA. Findings suggest that PHNA was predictive of PRNA for the 10th graders. The findings are discussed in light of the well-documented relation between PHNA and reading accuracy. Their implications for 2nd language education are also discussed. Copyright © 2016 APA, all rights reserved.

The study examined the relationships between self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies used by 2,894 bilingual primary school students and their Chinese and English reading test performance. Exploratory factor analysis of the self-reported SRL strategy use questionnaire yielded two factors of strategies (planning and monitoring) used in both Chinese and English reading. The analysis of the structural equation model indicated that the planning and monitoring strategies used in Chinese reading positively affected their corresponding strategies used in English reading. The Chinese planning and monitoring strategies directly and positively affected both Chinese and English reading test performance. The English planning had a positive effect on English reading test performance while the English monitoring strategy did not affect English reading test performance. The results contribute to the knowledge of SRL in second language and bilingual education in the Chinese context. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

The present study investigated 69 local Hong Kong English language education students' cross-cultural learning as a result of an Internationalization at Home (IaH) initiative that made use of international students' knowledge of English language education in contexts outside of Hong Kong. An analysis of written responses to open-ended questionnaire items revealed that most students reported acquiring superficial cultural facts related to teaching methods, testing methods, and public versus private education in international contexts; however, some students reflected more deeply on perceived cultural differences by challenging their own prior assumptions about English language education and, as a result, demonstrated cultural humility and enhanced empathy towards teachers in contexts outside of Hong Kong. This research suggests that teacher education programs should consider implementing IaH initiatives that capitalise on international student populations to satisfy program-level cross-cultural learning objectives. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

This study examines the range of cognitive processes assessed in the English language reading literacy test as part of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE), the secondary school exit test in Hong Kong. Prior studies have suggested that higher order cognitive processes are often undermined in high-stakes tests and classrooms, due to what is called the “washback effect.” This prompts the following hypothesis: despite its top-performing education system, Hong Kong has failed to provide a versatile collection of test items that involve complex reasoning. To investigate the cognitive demands of the test, as well as their relationship with student performance, this study maps the test items with reference to the cognitive levels assessed using in-depth document analysis. ANOVA is used to statistically determine differences in accuracy rates to supplement the analysis throughout. Results indicate that the test has placed an overwhelming emphasis on lower order cognitive processes over the past decade (2012–2019) and that items assessing higher order cognitive skills are, as expected, met with statistically significantly poorer performance in the test. Implications for future revision of the test and curriculum policy are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

The present study reports on the effects of a self-regulated (SRL) writing strategy-based intervention supported with e-learning tools on SRL strategy use in English writing with 468 Hong Kong primary school students. The changes to the students’ motivation in English writing, and their e-learning acceptance were also measured. The study adopted a pretest and posttest design and the data was collected through a questionnaire, which consisted of three measures, i.e. SRL writing strategy use, motivation in English writing, and e-learning acceptance. The SRL writing strategy use measure included four types of strategies, i.e. planning, text-generating, monitoring, and revising. The motivation measure had two scales, i.e. interest and self-efficacy, and the e-learning acceptance measure included four scales, i.e. perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude and continuance intention. The intervention saw significant improvements on the students’ use of all four types of SRL writing strategies. Positive changes also took place to one scale of motivation, i.e. interest, and three scales of e-learning acceptance, i.e. perceived usefulness, attitude and continuance intention. There was no significant improvement to self-efficacy and perceived ease of use. Additionally, the correlations between all the scales became stronger after the intervention. Important implications for teaching ESL/EFL writing through e-learning are drawn. Copyright © 2022 Taylor & Francis.

This paper provides a taxonomy of errors in the use of English articles by Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners. A study was conducted with 387 Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learners, including 65 students from three local universities and 322 students from five local secondary schools. They did two free writing tasks of about 200–300 words. Over 600 pieces of free writing were obtained. The use of English articles was analyzed and errors were identified. Irrespective of learners' proficiency levels, similar types of article errors have been observed. While over-extension errors and under-extension errors are both quite common, co-occurrence errors are nearly non-existent. Intended generic reference triggers most problems, although this reference has been least attempted. The function of the noun phrase in which an article error occurs may play a part in error severity, with Object creating most problems for learners, yet the precise effects of noun functions are yet to be determined. It is suggested that more emphasis be put on the teaching of English articles to learners at different proficiency levels. Advanced learners, such as university students, should be engaged in metalinguistic analyses uncovering the subtle differences between the use of different articles in the same linguistic context. Copyright © 2022 De Gruyter.

Adopting a sociocultural perspective, this paper reports on a case study that examined how a dialogic approach contributed to Hong Kong English teachers' professional development in methods of vocabulary instruction. Data were drawn from interviews, lesson observations, professional dialogues, and reflective writing to present two in-depth contrasting cases. While one teacher reported marked change in her beliefs and practice, the other adapted her practice minimally despite reporting belief changes. The findings revealed the role of dialogic reflection in facilitating professional learning and noted the potential impact of Chinese culture on teachers' dialogic reflection. Further, they showed that changes in practice are mediated by internalising new ideas, linking teacher beliefs with clear goals and contextual factors including institutional policies, time constraints, and learner feedback. Teachers' verbal participation in professional dialogues, for example, showing agreement with the suggestions of others, was insufficient for generating changes in practices. Implications, including the important roles of reflexivity and sociocultural contexts in teacher professional development programmes, along with directions for future research, are considered. • Social interaction and idea internalisation contribute to teacher development. • Exploring beliefs based on multiple lenses fosters professional development. • Change in practice is affected by beliefs, reflexivity, and contextual factors. • Only overt verbal participation in professional dialogues does not assure change. • Culture plays a significant role in teachers' dialogic exchanges of views. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier.

This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an L2. A total of 167 Grade 3 and 4 primary school students (Mage = 8.99 years) in Hong Kong were tested on English morphological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1, and they were also tested on English decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2, one year later. Our regression models showed that word knowledge tested at Time 1 was a significant predictor of decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2; and word knowledge explained more variance in decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension in children who had higher levels of word knowledge. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that vocabulary contributed to reading comprehension fully through decoding and listening comprehension. Morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension partially through vocabulary and decoding, and it also had a unique direct contribution to reading comprehension. The findings from this study suggested the importance of emphasizing word knowledge in developing children’s reading comprehension in an L2 at an early stage of learning to read. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.