Integrated group discussion (IGD) tasks represent a new type of integrated speaking task that requires students to communicate with their peers after comprehending and using provided source materials. With its potential to enhance effective communication and information literacy, IGD stands at the core of language education. Although the IGD task type has become increasingly popular, its construct is still unexplored. In this study, 124 Hong Kong undergraduate students completed an IGD task and a group discussion (GD) task (i.e., without source materials) in Putonghua. Four factors, speech and expression, content with source use, interaction, and language usage, were extracted to represent IGD performance. Two indicators of GD performance (linguistic expression and engagement in interaction) significantly predicted IGD performance, explaining 21.9 % of its total variance. The large proportion of unexplained IGD performance variance suggests that IGD tasks may be worth implementing. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in details. Copyright © 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools have been argued to have transformative potential in education; yet existing literature suggests that language teachers generally lack the abilities to leverage these tools effectively and critically. Conducted in an initial language teacher education programme at a Hong Kong university, this mixed-method intervention study aims to explore the effects of explicit training for using GenAI tools for language teaching in rising pre-service language teachers’ professional GenAI competence (P-GenAI-C). 54 M.Ed students took part in an 11-week course intervention aiming to enhance the five aspects in the P-GenAI-C framework. Analysis of pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, which encompassed a mix of open and closed items to gather participants’ knowledge and perceptions of utilising GenAI tools, as well as the follow-up interviews, revealed that the intervention was effective in stretching all aspects of pre-service teachers’ P-GenAI-C. While there was greater evidence of improvement in participants’ pedagogical competence and critical awareness of GenAI tools deployment, there was less evidence of development in other aspects, such as teachers’ capacity to guide their students to use GenAI tools effectively and responsibly. This discrepancy might be attributed to the lack of such content in the course intervention. Implications for incorporating elements of P-GenAI-C into teacher preparation courses and programmes are discussed. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

Negotiation of meaning (NoM) has played a facilitative role in second language acquisition. However, the existing studies have primarily focused on adult English language learners. This study investigated the impact of task type and task complexity on NoM strategies among young learners of Chinese as a second language, an underexplored group. The participants were 110 students in Hong Kong aged 10-12, mainly from Pakistan, India, Philippines, and Nepal. They were asked to perform four tasks with different task types and levels of task complexity in Cantonese (the primary Chinese dialect spoken in Hong Kong). In terms of task type, the study found that required information exchange tasks (i.e., information gap tasks) produced significantly more clarification requests, confirmation checks, self-repetitions, and other repetitions in terms of total numbers and numbers per 100 Chinese characters than the optional exchange tasks (i.e., decision-making tasks). Complex tasks, on the other hand, elicited significantly more confirmation checks than simple tasks. These findings provide useful insights for designing tasks that can promote greater use of NoM strategies in classroom practice. Copyright © 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are underutilized in universities despite them being standard components of higher education. Given this, there is a need to gather the perspectives of students and teachers to examine how these key end-users engage with LMS and utilize its various features and functions. Such an endeavor could aid in addressing the barriers and in promoting the use of LMSs in online teaching and learning. As studies about LMS use with both teacher and student samples are limited, we simultaneously gathered both students’ and teachers’ perceptions of Moodle from all academic faculties at a public university in Hong Kong. Structured qualitative interviews were conducted with eighty-two participants (41 teachers, 41 students) via Zoom. Results suggest that Moodle, while previously viewed as merely a repository of course materials, transitioned from being a supplementary tool to a key information dissemination tool during the pandemic. Despite the availability of collaboration tools, majority of interactions still occur in alternative communication channels. Findings point to students’ and teachers’ need for familiarity, training, and a visually and functionally improved interface to enhance their experience in the LMS. We also found how content and pedagogy influenced how LMS was integrated into teaching, with frequency and manner of LMS use varying between faculties and departments. Given this, tailor-made information and support for each department are needed to maximize LMS use in classes. We suggest the conduct of dialogues involving multiple stakeholders (i.e., teachers, students, administrators, and technical support staff) so that higher education institutions can share best practices on how to improve LMS utilization to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in universities. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

This study aims to develop a self-report inventory to measure University students’ perception of their creative thinking skills. Creative thinking is a critical learning outcome in higher education and one of the essential 21st Century Competency. The data were collected from 253 students of a university in Hong Kong. A structural equation model was applied to confirm the construct validity of the instrument. The result shows that the key characteristics of creative thinking skills are empirically constructed by creative character, originality, sensitivity, synthesizing and resistance to premature closure. The five characteristics of creative thinking can be considered as learning processes or outcomes to inform the design of instructional events and learning activities to nurture students’ creative thinking skills. Copyright © 2023 by the authors.

隨著信息技術的不斷發展，通過自媒體上的教學視頻進行語言學習已經成為一種新的學習方式。本文以國際中文教育為例，對新時期信息技術環境下的自媒體二語教學視頻進行研究。研究問題共有四個： 自媒體二語教學視頻有怎樣的特點？ 自媒體二語教學視頻的優點和不足是什麼？自媒體二語教學視頻如何輔助傳統形式的課堂教學？ 自媒體二語教學視頻如何在內容與製作上更有規範、更有系統化的發展？在研究方法上， 以定性研究為主，定量研究為輔，具體採用問卷調查、訪談法和非參與式課堂觀察法來收集數據。根據數據的分析和討論，得出了最終的結論，回應了研究問題，並進一步提出了自媒體二語教學視頻的教學框架、模型和概念。本文的研究意義是希望幫助自媒體二語教學視頻更好的發展與傳播，成為數字化信息技術時代下主要的網路學習方式和途徑； 幫助拓展網路教與學的空間； 幫助學校的教師更好的使用自媒體二語教學視頻來輔助課堂教學，提高教學效率和教學質量；幫助國際中文教育事業等第二語言教育事業方面的發展和推廣； 幫助發展個性化學習和終身學習，並進一步做到知識共享。All rights reserved.

During the coronavirus outbreaks, a policy of suspending school was implemented in Hong Kong, so that education occurred remotely, and precipitated the greater use of technology in home-based contexts. This mixed methods research project was guided by a model of teacher and student uses of technology named the passive-interactive-creative/replace-amplify-transform (PICRAT; Kimmons et al., 2020). We worked with 46 kindergarten teachers to design and implement STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) home learning inquiries during the period that school was suspended. Content analysis showed that these teachers used digital technologies to replace traditional learning scenarios, amplify the learning content, and create innovative content that had the potential to transform learning. However, many teachers still maintained a more passive orientated approach to teaching (eg, watch a video). In addition, few teachers adopted live streaming of schooling at this time, in part because of technological difficulties.Teachers also highlighted the challenges in learning with new technologies, including frequent technological difficulties, and being able to address children’s specific technological needs, as well as other factors in the home context. To address these challenges, the teachers highlighted the need for more technological support (eg, from their schools) to learn how to use the necessary technology more effectively to be able to support the creative design of learning activities. They also emphasized the importance of open communication between teachers, children, and parents in order to understand children’s needs more effectively and to facilitate exploration, creativity, and to engage in problem posing and solving. Copyright © 2024 by Information Age Publishing.

In Hong Kong, the Education Bureau stipulates in the curriculum document that schools should enrich English language learning and teaching through incorporating moral and civic education, and use of information technology for interactive learning. To prepare preservice teachers to meet these pressing demands, an experiential learning project was conducted to engage student teachers outside the formal curriculum to produce a series of digital stories that stress values education for primary school children. A total of 11 bachelor of education students and MATESOL students joined the project, in which they collaboratively developed 12 digital stories using online tools, such as Book Creator and Canva. Interactive learning activities were designed to accompany the digital stories to facilitate school learners to develop positive values and good character, including respect, responsibility, confidence building, problem solving, sportsmanship, friendship, caring, helpfulness, compassion, civic sense and service to others. Various evaluation methods were used to gauge the usefulness of the experiential learning project. These encompass school trials, post-lesson evaluation, student teachers’ self-reflections and interviews. The findings indicate that the experiential learning process not only enabled the participating student teachers to enrich their pedagogical knowledge and skills but also provided opportunities to enhance various generic skills, such as creativity and critical thinking. Evidence shows that experiential learning plays a valuable role in equipping student teachers with the necessary skills for the challenges in their future teaching careers. Copyright © 2023 ECLL.

Technostress is a phenomenon in which rapid technological advancement affects teachers’ psychological well-being. It is an emerging concern in English language education, which may be exacerbated by the advent of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT. This study explores the factors that influence technostress among English language teachers using GenAI tools and strategies that can alleviate it. Based on the analysis of qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 16 instructors at higher education institutions in Hong Kong, the study identifies the rapid advancement of AI technology, inadequate training and lack of experience as contributors to technostress. It also names mitigating strategies including targeted professional development, online engagement and gradual integration. These techniques can foster Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and reduce the challenges of incorporating GenAI into English teaching. The findings align with existing literature on the impact of technostress and the role of TPACK. The practical implications include the need for comprehensive training, supportive communities and a balanced approach to AI integration. This investigation also expands the theoretical understanding of technostress in English language teaching and the use of GenAI tools, providing empirical support for existing frameworks. It also suggests directions for future research, which could investigate teacher well-being, effective AI integration and the impact of TPACK. Copyright © 2024 Educational Technology & Society.