This mixed methods study explores EFL students’ experiences and perceptions as they learn to write a composition with ChatGPT’s support in a classroom instructional context. Students’ perceptions are explored in terms of their motivation to learn about ChatGPT, cognitive load and satisfaction with the learning process. In a workshop format, twenty-one Hong Kong secondary school students were introduced to ChatGPT, learned prompt engineering skills, and attempted a 500-word English language writing task with ChatGPT’s support. Data collected included a pre-workshop motivation questionnaire, think-aloud protocols during the writing task, and a post-workshop questionnaire on motivation, cognitive load, and satisfaction. Results revealed no significant difference in students’ motivation before and after the workshop, but mean motivation scores increased slightly. Students reported high cognitive load during the writing task, especially during prompt engineering. However, students expressed high satisfaction with the workshop overall. Findings indicate ChatGPT’s potential to engage EFL students in the writing classroom, but its use can impose heavy cognitive demands. To ensure that ChatGPT use supports EFL writing without overwhelming students, educators should consider an iterative design process for activities and instructional materials and carefully scaffolding instruction, especially for prompt engineering. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Under the current trend of curriculum reform in higher education worldwide, many institutions have taken the initiative to develop English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) courses to cater for students' diverse needs for disciplinary learning and future professional practices. This paper illustrates the pedagogical innovations in an ESAP course to facilitate undergraduates’ disciplinary learning at an international university in Hong Kong. Based on the data collected from students and discipline teachers, we, as the course developers, reflected upon the opportunities and challenges in implementing the revamped ESAP course. Our reflections reveal the importance of promoting flipped learning and peer feedback practices in the ESAP classroom and interdisciplinary collaboration between ESAP course developers and discipline teachers. This paper will be of interest not only to ESAP teachers but also to discipline teachers who intend to promote best practices for effective disciplinary studies through English teaching and learning in higher education. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

Using an in-depth case study approach, this study explored the mathematics educational values held by two in-service teachers at the primary and secondary levels in Hong Kong through lesson observations and deep structured interviews. The findings revealed that the primary teacher emphasized fun, flexibility, critical thinking, and coherence, while the secondary teacher prioritized achievement, control, higher-order thinking, and progression. Using Seah and Bishop's five complementary pairs framework, the primary teacher aligned with an activist, relational, relevance, and accessibility perspective, contrasting sharply with the secondary teacher. This reflected a shift in values in response to students’ educational stages, revealing the challenges of balancing social expectations and nurturing future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics talent. We discussed the implications for local education reforms, including modernizing assessment methods and curricula, reshaping the social climate, and updating professional development to address these tensions. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

Entrepreneurial STEM, an interdisciplinary approach blending STEM and entrepreneurship education, has become a new trend for cross-subject collaboration that aims to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in students, enabling them to apply their STEM knowledge across various contexts. In this study, we investigate the challenges and corresponding strategies of head science teachers who initiated an entrepreneurial STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) curriculum in their schools. Grounded in social exchange theory, we explore how head science teachers with entrepreneurial attributes navigated asymmetrical power distribution presented by principals and other subject heads. This collective case study focuses on three schools in Hong Kong that successfully implemented a renowned entrepreneurial STEM curriculum. The findings reveal a common trajectory among head science teachers: initial enthusiastic promotion of the curriculum while meeting resistance; a downscaling and team reform struggles; and a handover and scale-up. This study illuminates the intricate process of balancing power dynamics and stakeholder perceptions through reciprocal negotiation, which were in turn shaped by societal norms. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

In Hong Kong, quality assessors from the Education Bureau (EDB) visit kindergartens to conduct Quality Review (QR) assessments. Their written reports, therefore, reflect the official local perspective of quality kindergarten education. We conducted a content analysis of 323 QR reports focusing on the positive and negative feedback and recommendations for improvement regarding music education. Two coding schemes were developed using an inductive approach. High inter-reliability was obtained. The most frequently mentioned positive feedback codes were related to sufficient exposure to music and enjoyable musical learning experiences. In contrast, there were negative feedback codes pointing out that children’s musical exposure was insufficient at Kindergarten 3 (children aged 5–6 years), and some musical activities were poorly prepared and/or designed. Children’s music learning outcomes were rarely mentioned in the reports. The analyses indicate that the local understanding of kindergarten music education strongly emphasizes exposing children to enjoyable musical activities, with a lower focus on the nature and quality of musical learning. We conclude that the QR reports reflect a teacher-centric view of music education. Findings may inform curriculum designers and teacher educators about EDB’s expectations in the area of music education. Future research should explore the perspectives of other kindergarten stakeholders such as teachers, principals, and teacher educators. Copyright © 2024 by the authors.

古人讀書歷來文史哲不分家。通曉文學、歷史、哲學，有人為求功名利祿，也有人藉此修養身心。文史哲知識的融合，能表現個人的學養、文采、思想和立場。現代社會分工精細，中學教育已經文史分科，語文、文學、歷史均各自成科，儼如互不相干。分科的優點固然能令各個科目的教學更加聚焦，但分立的如果是選修科，而學校選擇不開辦的話，學生就難免錯過學習專科的機會，香港的中學中國歷史科正是一個典型例子。學生無緣學習中國歷史，也會減少對中華文化的認識，連帶削弱語文素養。 為促進香港學生對國情和中華文化的認識，教育局在2018/19學年落實中國歷史成為初中的獨立必修科，並於2020年9月從中一級開始逐級推行。雖然如此，中國歷史時代久遠，課程涵蓋面廣，而學校教時有限，教學無疑極具挑戰。如何能把握教學機遇，引起學生學習歷史的興趣，同時提升學生的語文及文化素養，值得教育同行深思。 在新課程的指引下，當局強調通過多元化的策略推動中國歷史教學，鼓勵教師按「政治演變」、「文化特色」及「香港發展」等主題，調適教學內容，以照顧學習差異。同時，新編的中國歷史教材陸續推出，可以反映新課程的精神能否體現。 從文史不分家的角度出發，本文將以新編的中國歷史教材為例，剖析新修訂的歷史科學習內容在字詞、文句及通篇層面的專科語文運用特色，並評價學習歷史對提升語文素養的現實意義。 Copyright © 2022 香港教育大學中國語言學系.

學習古文經典的語文教育意義毋庸置疑，在小學階段奠定古文根基，也能促進中小學的語文學習順利銜接。然而文言作品時代久遠，確實不易理解，因此容易喪失對現代讀者的吸引力，尤其是小學生。 學習動機是學習的原動力，不能引起學生興趣，教學將事倍功半。要提高文言文的閱讀教學效能，教師必須創設適合學生與文本的情景，發掘作品中的情味，才有望激發學習文言作品的動機，消除學生的畏難情緒。為此，本文將嘗試從小學生的學習心理著眼，按生活情趣、好奇貪新、浮想聯翩三條主要線索，探索香港小學常見的文言教材中，切合小學生心智成長的情味旨趣，並設想維持相關篇章學習動機的可行路徑。 Copyright © 2022 香港教育大學中國語言學系.

In English Medium Instruction (EMI) programmes, students learn content subjects through English, their second language (L2). While it has been argued that students can develop their L2 alongside their content knowledge, the L2 goal is not always clearly defined. For example, we do not know enough about the amount of vocabulary required for success in EMI, and the subject-specific language demanded by different content subjects. Some attempts have been made to identify the language demand in EMI concerning the vocabulary used in learning materials and classroom discourse, representing the ‘process’ dimension of research; however, in order to clearly define the language goal, it is crucial to also delve into the ‘product dimension’, pointing to the need for research on EMI assessment. To address the research gap, our study examined 16 sets of papers containing two subjects, namely Biology and Geography, spanning eight years from a high-stakes examination in Hong Kong. The examination is conducted at the end of Secondary Six (Grade 12) to determine university admission and can thus be regarded as what learners are expected to achieve in secondary education. Our investigation into the vocabulary profiles of the examination papers indicates that students needed to learn beyond the K1−K3 (the most frequency 3000 words in English) and master the mid-frequency words (K4−K8) as well as academic words. It also reveals that the less frequent vocabulary items were not often shared by the subjects. Further, the analysis of academic words suggests how some words were commonly used in the examination papers of the two subjects, and others more subject-specific. Pedagogical implications are discussed to highlight the need for teachers and students to attend to the target language goal in EMI and to consider the subject-specific nature of the vocabulary items in EMI. Copyright © 2022 ICELEAL.

Globalization has influenced preschool education in Hong Kong, where the official curriculum framework has integrated the Western notion of creativity with the arts. However, little is known about how local stakeholders perceive this notion and its viability in practice. We interviewed 50 stakeholders to understand their perspectives on the Arts and Creativity learning area. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were conducted. Findings showed that stakeholders: (1) perceived most Western pedagogical characteristics as important but not viable; (2) expressed that preschools fostered children’s arts creativity to a moderate and low/null extent; (3) suggested strategies to maximize children’s arts creativity focusing on parental education and curricular amendments. This study reveals the need to better define the notion of creativity in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2023 AERA.