This study investigated how children's social and emotional learning (SEL) might reflect their teachers' social and emotional teaching (SET) by means of social learning. To this end, the research team conducted 20 videotaped observation sessions of four teachers' SET and 71 children's SEL during whole-group instruction in four kindergarten classrooms in Hong Kong. The research team coded SET and SEL based on teacher and child utterances for evidence of the CASEL's five key social and emotional competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making). Additionally, we coded a one-on-one correspondence between each competency and one of the four strategies identified (Telling/Commanding/Directing, Explaining, Asking Questions, and Affirming/Confirming). Both the teachers and children evidenced Responsible Decision-Making the most. Except for Social Awareness, the teachers' SET and children's SEL in the other four competencies were correlated significantly and strongly. Furthermore, among the five strategies, teachers primarily utilized the Asking Questions strategy, while children predominantly corresponded with the Telling strategy. Significant correlations were observed among the strategies: between teachers' Asking Questions and children's Telling, between teachers' Asking Questions and children's Explaining, between teachers' Explaining and children's Explaining, Asking Questions, and Affirming/Confirming, and between teachers' Affirming/Confirming and children's Telling. These findings suggest that social learning was at work to guide children's SEL in the context of their teachers' SET. Copyright © 2024 Springer.

The pedagogical approach-Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)-has been widely adopted around the globe with its dual aims of developing students' second language (L2) proficiency and mastering content knowledge simultaneously. However, its effectiveness remains inconsistent. This inconsistency has led researchers to call for an investigation into the perspectives of CLIL students to understand the factors behind the success and failure of CLIL implementation. To address this gap, this study explores CLIL students' perspectives through the lens of self-regulation and examines the relationships between CLIL students' self-regulation levels, linguistic challenges, and learning outcomes. Involving 167 junior secondary students from three schools in Hong Kong that adopted different CLIL models in Hong Kong, the study revealed moderate self-regulation levels and varying linguistic challenges among CLIL students, with listening being identified as the most difficult skill. A significant, moderately positive correlation was found between self-regulation levels and perceived linguistic challenges. Multiple regression analysis also found that motivation was a key predictor of both L2 proficiency and content subject achievement, while other self-regulation constructs (self-preparation, self-monitoring, and self-reflection) showed non-significant predictive values. Pedagogical implications are provided to develop students' self-regulation skills and address perceived linguistic challenges, ultimately enhancing the learning experience and outcomes for CLIL students of diverse abilities. Copyright © 2025 Taylor and Francis Ltd.

Informed by self-determination theory, this study investigates the motivations behind students' voluntary pursuit of a master's thesis and the crucial role of supervisory support in their academic journey. The study also explores the impact of writing a master's thesis on their growth and well-being. Data were collected through interviews with 20 students from diverse disciplines in government-funded universities in Hong Kong. The interviews centred on critical themes such as students' motivations, expectations, feedback practices, supervisor-student relationships, challenges, and engagement levels. Thematic analysis revealed that the students were primarily driven by well-internalised and autonomous extrinsic motivations to write a master's thesis, with the aim of laying the foundation for a future PhD and achieving personal and professional development goals. The interaction between these motivations and the supervisory support, particularly in meeting students' needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, significantly contributed to their academic, professional, and personal growth and well-being. The implications of these findings for supporting students' engagement and development are discussed. Copyright © 2024 Routledge.

Introduction This study examined the ways in which different influences on student motivation and the development of independent learning (IL) skills might be constituted across students learning within different educational cultures. Previous studies on student motivation and IL have suggested the potential for differing conceptualizations of IL and its strategies (ILS), prompting questions as to the sources of these distinctions. One theory is that they might be influenced by differing cultural constructions of these concepts or may be linked to different motivations with respect to the purposes and outcomes of education.Methods This study addressed a research gap with respect to these differences in the British and Chinese contexts by examining the responses of students sampled from a university in Scotland and a university in Hong Kong. Through mixed-methods research comprising quantitative analysis of questionnaires and thematic analysis of interview data, this research project compared conceptualizations of IL and ILS across both these contexts and highlighted the role that student motivation might play in either context.Results The analytical results showed differences in the conception of IL and the implementation of ILS potentially due to differing cultural contexts.Discussion Further cross-cultural comparative research is needed with a study design that excludes the influence of institutional and demographic factors to better isolate the influence of culture on perception of IL and use of ILS. Copyright © 2024 Frontiers Media SA.

Research Findings: This study investigated the effectiveness of a home-based intervention in increasing the intrinsic reading motivation and Chinese oral vocabulary of minority South Asian children in Hong Kong. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 78 children (Mage = 51.54 months; control: 37 children, intervention: 41 children) and their parents. Intrinsic reading motivation was measured by parent report and oral vocabulary was measured by child direct assessment. The intervention group received picture books, prerecorded stories, and guidance on carrying out home activities over four weeks. The control group received two wordless picture books. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, Multivariate Analysis of Covariance revealed a significant Group X Time interaction. Follow-up tests revealed that children in the intervention group scored higher in posttest intrinsic reading motivation and oral vocabulary than children in the control group. Practice or Policy: These findings support the development of evidence-based interventions to cater for Chinese language learning of South Asian children in Hong Kong and have the potential to inform the design of future intervention programs that aim to enhance the Chinese language proficiency of minority children in Hong Kong and other settings where Chinese is used as a second language. Copyright © 2025 Routledge.

Educators and researchers are becoming interested in cultivating computational thinking (CT). However, in the Hong Kong context, CT-related studies regarding young children are rarely found. The present study aimed to use an unplugged digital arts activity to examine the CT concepts that children performed and document their CT developmental trajectories. Constructionism theory highlights the importance of children engaging in hands-on activities and developing independent thinking skills. Meanwhile, social constructivism theory emphasizes the role of teachers as scaffolders, supporting children in their learning processes. A sample of children (N = 27, aged 3-6) was recruited from a nursery school in Hong Kong to participate in an animation art workshop. A total of 540 min of video data was recorded and collected for content analysis. The teaching team (N = 4) for this workshop were invited to write up their reflective journals, capturing their observations of the scaffolding strategies employed and their perspectives on how children at various levels demonstrated their understanding of CT concepts throughout the entire process. Within an analytical framework based on powerful ideas, the findings from the observations and field notes revealed that the children's CT concepts and practices could be linked with the CT conceptual framework. In this study, older children showed a sophisticated competency and a more complicated mind structure in terms of the CT concept. Our findings highlight the importance of designing an age-appropriate curriculum for nurturing the computational thinking of young children through animation art. Copyright © 2024 Springer.

Introduction This study explores the motivators to use learning management systems (LMS) adopted and used in eLearning by Hong Kong universities among Mainland Chinese postgraduate students amid COVID-19 pandemic.Methods An adapted and extended UTUAT2 model was first proposed and tested using the structural equation modeling approach. Through self-report online questionnaire, data were collected in 2022 from 352 Mainland Chinese postgraduate students of nine universities in Hong Kong. The reliability and validity of the data were tested using the confirmatory factor analysis, followed by path analysis to test the hypotheses in the proposed model.Results The study revealed nine motivators which explained 50% of the variance in LMS use intention. Trust (0.204), instructor characteristics (0.202), performance expectancy (0.181), and facilitating conditions (0.181) were identified as strong motivators of behavioral intention. Other factors such as effort expectancy (0.148), learning value (0.118) and social influence (0.115) also had significant positive effects on LMS use intention. Habit (0.014) and hedonic motivation (-0.016) had no significant direct effect on it.Discussion These findings provide inspirations for educational stakeholders to promote the acceptance of LMS platforms among distance and online learners who adopt the cyberspace as the only means of learning. They also offer insights about instructor recruitment and evaluation methods. Copyright © 2024 Frontiers Media SA.

This study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of using a flipped classroom (FC) approach to combine self-regulated learning (SRL) instruction and out-of-class eLearning activities in a two-year reading intervention program to facilitate students' learning of classical Chinese reading. A total of 352 junior secondary students from three Hong Kong secondary schools participated in the study voluntarily. Using a quasi-experimental design, students from each school were assigned to one of the following conditions: SRL instruction plus out-of-class eLearning (EG-I+E), SRL instruction only (EG-I), and control (CG). Both quantitative methods, including reading tests and student questionnaires, and qualitative methods, including teacher and student interviews, were adopted to collect data for the program evaluation. Findings indicate that after implementing the intervention program, EG students perceived significant changes in their classical Chinese lessons to be more SRL-oriented. While all treatment groups significantly improved their performance in the reading post-tests, only EG students significantly improved their strategy use, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation. Although both EG groups had similar improvements in all outcome measures, teachers and students of EG-I+E opined that the eLearning component of FC facilitated teachers' implementation of the intervention and students' strategy learning and motivation. Findings are discussed to shed light on applying SRL instruction and FC in a school subject long dominated by teacher-centered instruction. Copyright © 2024 Springer .

With more and more non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students learning in Hong Kong mainstream classrooms, differentiated instruction has been called for application in Chinese language education to consider the diverse learning needs of all students. However, factors influencing Chinese language teachers' use of differentiated instruction remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the influence of teacher-student relationships and teachers' work motivation on differentiated instruction, as well as the mediating role of work motivation in the relationships between teacher-student relationships and differentiated instruction. Two hundred and ninety Chinese language teachers from Hong Kong primary schools participated in the survey. The results showed that after controlling for demographic factors (i.e., gender, length of service, years of teaching NCS students, and in-service training), both dimensions of the teacher-student relationships (i.e., closeness and conflict) positively predicted differentiated instruction. Autonomous motivation positively predicted differentiated instruction, while controlled motivation did not significantly predict differentiated instruction. Furthermore, autonomous motivation partially mediated the positive effect of closeness on differentiated instruction. Contributions, implications, and limitations are discussed. Copyright © 2024 Springer.

Introduction This research project examines student perspectives on independent learning in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Independent learning describes learning undertaken by students outside of standard institutional learning environments. Prior research has suggested that motivations to undertake independent learning and the strategies involved may differ across cultural contexts, institutions, and individual learners.Methods This research employs primary qualitative research consisting of interviews with 16 students in Business Studies (eight British and eight Chinese). The study takes a social constructionist approach to better establish the ways in which culture may serve as a mediator for motivation to learn independently and the strategies pursued to this end.Results The study's findings note key differences in the motivations to complete independent learning across either cohort, as well as distinct conceptualizations of what strategies and practices facilitate effective independent learning.Discussion This research highlights significant cultural differences in the motivations, strategies, and skills related to independent learning between students in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. It also notes the potential for socioeconomic factors, institutional structures, and assessment methods, alongside culture, to contribute to these differences. Copyright © 2024 Frontiers Media SA.