This study investigates students' perceptions about their teachers' adoption of a new way to use feedback in writing classrooms in two elementary schools in Hong Kong. The innovation comprises three feedback stages (i.e., pre-feedback, during-feedback and post-feedback) over the course of a teaching-learning cycle to maximize the potential of feedback to the learning effectiveness of the students. Data included student questionnaires, interviews with students and teachers, lesson observations as well as documentary analysis of teaching material. Results indicate that the students considered feedback delivery in the three stages as beneficial to their interest, confidence, motivation and self-perceived performance in writing. The article highlights the need to offer feedback in all three feedback phases to maximize its effectiveness and to offer a more positive learning experience to students.
[Copyright of International Journal of Applied Linguistics is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]

This study investigated the associations among reading strategy instruction, student motivational factors (i.e., attitudes toward reading, reading self-concept, and motivation to read), gender, and reading achievement. The analyses were conducted using the Hong Kong sample (students at Level 1, n=3,875 and teachers at Level 2, n=133) from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011 through multilevel structural equation modeling. The results showed that, first, the relation between the frequency of reading strategy instruction and student reading achievement was mediated by student attitudes toward reading. Second, the frequency of reading strategy instruction was significantly related to student attitudes toward reading and motivation to read and student attitudes toward reading was significantly associated with reading achievement. Finally, girls had more positive attitudes toward reading, more positive reading self-concept, higher motivation to read, and higher reading achievement than boys. These findings may shed light on how teachers should arrange their reading strategy instruction to interplay with student attitudes toward reading and motivation to read and to help improve reading achievement.
[Copyright of Psychology in the Schools is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]

Based on the data of Program for International Student Assessment 2009, this paper examines how various aspects of home literacy environment, school climate and students' reading engagement related to their reading performance. A profile of Hong Kong students' three indices of reading engagement - namely, reading enjoyment, reading diversity and online reading - relative to other East Asian societies is first presented. The relative contributions of different family-level and classroom-level factors on Hong Kong students' reading engagement are then examined by using hierarchical linear modelling. Assessment of the relative impact of the three engagement indices on reading performance shows that reading enjoyment is the strongest predictor. That home-school cooperation in cultivating a positive reading climate, nurturing a good reading habit for all students and enhancing the classroom and teaching climate appear to be promising avenues for improving students' reading engagement and performance may be of importance for shaping future policy and practice.
[Copyright of Journal of Research in Reading is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]

Reading is the basis of most learning but is regarded by students as a boring activity in Hong Kong. Therefore, schools in Hong Kong have launched different reading programs to promote reading. One of the successful examples is Reading Battle which gamifies the reading comprehension assessments with points, levels, e-badges and leaderboard on an interactive learning platform. This study looked into how gamification affected the flow experience of students and discussed to what extent the nine flow dimensions were experienced by them, especially the heavy users of the gamified learning platform. This case study chose nine students from four different elementary schools in Hong Kong and adopted a mixed method such as questionnaires and interviews. While many students first did it for external motivation such as getting more points and ranking high on the leaderboard, the study found that the heavy users of Reading Battle became committed to reading and many enjoyed the flow experiences where they seemed to forget about time and discomfort and truly enjoyed the reading process.
[Copyright of Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]

The present study re-examines the reading experiences of eight primary school students in Hong Kong. Framed around theories of gamification and self-determination, the study looks at how these students developed as readers on an online gamified reader known as RB. An electronic extension to a reading database that contains more than 15,000 comprehension questions made from around 500 popular children's books, RB is found to enable the students feel competent, autonomous and connected with their family and friends during their game play. These feelings can be explained away by the three psychological needs of self -determination literature. For instance, after a period of time playing on RB, the students displayed competence in that they did well on their academics, increased their reading speed, expanded their vocabulary, and further developed their learning and problem-solving skills in school. They also showed autonomy in their learning, manifested in the expansion of the scope of their reading choices, a diversity of their reading methods, an increase in their reading frequency, and a boost to their drive in picking up a book for leisure read. Finally, they felt more connected now with their family and friends than before they used RB, for the bondage they formed over RB lasted well beyond their game play. Based on a re-evaluation of their success stories from gamification and self-determination perspectives, the study concludes that RB is an effective early English learners' tool in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]

中小學校體育課程不但能夠提升學生身體健康狀況,同時也能夠鍛煉堅忍不撥的意志,使他們在未來生活裡有足夠的心理承受力去面對困境,並培育終身運動意識。本文通過實地觀察,了解香港體育課程的教學內容和培養方法,並從校內場地、學校周邊環境、學生個性、教師培訓方式等多個方面,探討其優缺點。

學校數學課程需要隨時代發展而持續變革。香港課程發展議會在深入總結、反思已有課程改革成果基礎上,根據時代發展需要,於2017年頒佈了《數學教育學習領域課程指引(小一至中六)》,提出了STEM教育、電子學習、跨課程語文學習、培養共通能力和價值觀及態度等四個數學課程持續更新的方向。基於對上述四個方面的評介,提出立足數學課程把握課程改革熱點、立足整體視野處理課程改革議題等深化數學課程改革的啟示。

香港回歸22年以來,為促進與內地的溝通合作,地區政府重視"兩文三語"的平衡發展,出臺了一系列政策對普通話進行推廣,提高市民普通話能力,並在普通話教學方面取得了顯著的成績。本文重點分析了香港地區普通話推廣情況、教學特點、教學存在的問題並提出有利於普通話教學的有效路徑。

課程評價是課程改革的一個重要方面,也是課程理念能否真正落地的保障.通過對香港小學數學課程相關的文件進行分析發現,其評價以學與教改善為目標,通過多種方式對數學課程教與學的內容進行全方位評估.在此基礎上對內地小學數學課程評價的改革提出了啟示和建議.

本文在梳理香港普通話教材編寫研究的基礎上,從語言知識結構、交際用語、中國文化三個角度,對比分析了香港目前通行的五套小學普通話教材,並對香港小學選擇普通話教材編寫提出建議,以期為今後香港小學普通話教材編寫提供一定的依據。