This study used item response modelling to develop measures of the development of proficiency in speaking, reading and writing English among Hong Kong primary students. Home and family background factors were identified that could be linked to higher than average levels of development in proficiency across two school years, from Primary One to Primary Two or from Primary Two to Primary Three. Participants were 2133 Hong Kong students and their parents, sampled from 140 primary schools that had employed a native-speaking teacher of English to work with the students. Higher than average improvement in English proficiency was associated with the students' attitudes to learning, their opportunities to use English in everyday life, access to books in any language at home and school, parents' level of education and parents' support of their child's English studies. The year level and gender of the student also interacted with home background factors in predicting development of second language acquisition.
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Higher education systems are in a constant state of change nearly everywhere. In particular, the changes in the socio-economic context caused by the impact of globalisation have inevitably led to changes to the university sector. Since capitalism has generated new global infrastructures that information technology has played an increasingly important role in the global economy, the popularity and prominence of information technology has unquestionably changed the nature of knowledge, and is currently restructuring higher education, research and learning. It is in such a wider policy context that an increasing number of institutions of higher learning are being established with new missions and innovative configurations of training, serving populations that previously had little access to higher education. Apart from accommodating a larger number of students, higher education institutions are required to improve their administrative efficiency and accountability in response to the demands of different stakeholders like government, business, industry, and labour organisations, students and parents as well. The present paper reflects upon the impacts of globalisation on national policy, with particular reference to examine how the higher education sector in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China has been transformed under the increasingly popular / global tide of marketisation and decentralisation. There are a lot of changes in common between the higher education sector in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China and that of elsewhere, which suggests that higher education developments in these societies have been affected by the similar trends of globalisation. But before we jump to this conclusion, maybe we should also bear in mind an alternative hypothesis that local factors are crucial and determining factors for changes. More specifically, this paper sets out in this wider policy context to compare and contrast the similarities and differences in terms of the copying strategies

This paper presents a case study of how four teachers in one school adopted Learning Study in teaching Visual Arts in Hong Kong. The teachers found that the students at the primary level had difficulties expressing feelings through shapes. In 2003, they used the Learning Study approach to analyse teaching of this difficult topic. Each teacher taught the lesson and observed the lesson of the other three. A discussion, using student feedback, was held immediately after each lesson, aimed at improving the next one. A post-test was conducted to discover what students had learned. The result was good yet there were still many problems. In 2004, the same teachers taught the same topic with revision based on the outcomes of their previous lessons. There was more focus on using artists' artworks and students' expression of human figures. This paper will analyse materials and interviews from the Learning Studies to look at how to improve teachers' teaching of drawing. As drawing is central in children's art and the findings of this paper could be useful for other teachers in teaching visual arts.
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To facilitate lifelong learning, recent education reforms have emphasized the development of generic capabilities. However, despite various lists found in previous studies, generic skills and capabilities have neither been well defined nor statistically validated. The present study attempted to (a) conceptualize generic capabilities in terms of 3 dimensions--cognitive, academic, and self, and (b) test the construct validity of generic capabilities using confirmatory factor analysis. Students who attended a continuing education program that was designed to provide an alternative pathway for students who failed in the Hong Kong secondary school system to pursue continuing education (N=2,806) responded to 13 survey items about their generic capabilities before the program (Time 1) and 13 parallel items after it (Time 2). Results supported a multidimensional structure of generic capabilities with the three dimensions at each time point. The conceptualization of a multidimensional structure provides a useful framework for the study of generic capabilities. It also calls for attention to the importance of generic capabilities in curriculum design.
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This paper reports the interim findings of a longitudinal study which aims at exploring the effectiveness of a 3-year English Enrichment Programme, on top of the regular English curriculum, in exposing secondary students to more subject-specific English while they learn their content subjects in the mother tongue. The study was carried out in response to the Hong Kong government's decision to firmly promote mother tongue teaching in her post-colonial era after 1997. To evaluate the effectiveness of this programme on students' learning of English, in-depth study with selected schools was done and different research tools including questionnaires, lesson observations, interviews and language proficiency tests were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. It is found that the increased exposure to English may have had a positive effect upon students' perception of learning English, if not on actual performance. A closer look at the cases, however sheds light upon the intricate interplay between factors leading to the different degrees of perception about the effectiveness of the programme. These factors include: the willingness of the school to pool resources and efforts in making the most of the programme, the language competence of students, and the teaching focus and methods in class. Recommendations on the way forward will be discussed.
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This study explores the views of mentoring held by mentors, mentees and university teachers in a distance education programme for in-service teacher education offered by the Open University of Hong Kong. Ten pairs of mentors and mentees and three university teachers participated in in-depth individual interviews designed to explore their views of mentoring with respect to five aspects: mentor roles and responsibilities; mentor-mentee relationships; mentoring programmes; mentor preparation; and school-university relationships. The findings show that mentors, mentees and university teachers held different views of mentoring and that the impact of mentoring on the mentees was different from what the University had expected. This study is significant in the following ways. First, it will contribute to a better understanding of mentoring in the context of in-service teacher education. Second, it will provide important information on how different views of mentoring will influence how mentoring is realized. Third, with the proposed teacher registration requirements in Hong Kong that place a heavy emphasis on the role of mentoring during internship, there is a critical need for information on views of mentoring held by different stakeholders to facilitate dialogue with teachers and schools and to build a common vision of mentoring.
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This study examined the interrelationship among achievement goals, study strategies and achievement of 473 students in a Hong Kong tertiary institution by means of questionnaire survey. Correlational analyses showed that performance goal was significantly and positively related to both surface and deep strategies while learning goal was significantly and positively related to deep strategy but negatively related to surface strategy. However there was no significant relation between achievement and goals or achievement and study strategies held by the sample. The results validated the applicability of an adapted instrument developed in western countries to measure achievement goal orientations in the Hong Kong context. It also gave support to the western findings that students who hold learning goals usually adopt a deep approach of study while students who are performance goal orientated tend to be shallow in study approach. Nevertheless, it was interesting to find that achievement was not significantly related to either the goals or study strategies held by students in the sample. The results were in contrast to the usual assumption that students who are performance goal oriented and adopt shallow approach in study would score low in academic achievement. Further investigation would be necessary to verify the effects of these variables on achievement of students.
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A questionnaire survey was conducted with 106 in-service teacher education students of a university in Hong Kong to study their motives and commitment in teaching. Three motive factors were identified in their choice of teaching as a career, the most influential one is "intrinsic/altruistic motive", the next one is "extrinsic motive/job condition" and lastly "influence from others". Within the intrinsic/altruistic motive, around 80% to 95% teachers considered teaching is meaningful, they desired to teach the subjects they liked, they wished to help others and to work with children/teenagers. Four factors representing the areas or aspects of teaching which influenced the teachers' dedication and commitment were found, viz., "students' learning and school development", "demands on teaching and school practices", "teaching as a career choice", "teacher-pupils interaction and attitudes". Correlational analyses showed that intrinsic/altruistic motive was significantly related to the four commitment factors, suggesting that the motives held by the teachers in joining the teaching profession (in particular, intrinsic/altruistic motive) is influential upon teachers' commitment in teaching. Further analysis of the item responses highlights the elements affecting teachers' commitment in teaching involve school head, colleagues, students, parents and educational changes, which deserve the attention of the education authority to address with appropriate measures.
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Teachers play a key role in curriculum development and reform. One of the major targets of the present curriculum reform in Hong Kong schools is to strengthen and empower local primary school teachers to become change agents. To facilitate the local teachers to become curriculum change agents and action researchers, the Education and Manpower Bureau of Hong Kong has been recruiting experienced teachers for the position of Primary School Master/Mistress (Curriculum Development) (PSMCD) as curriculum leaders for initiating curriculum reforms and to develop local teachers to participate in action research in the local schools. To better equip the PSM(CD)s, a course specifically designed to train them was conducted. This is a study with 200 PSM(CD)s of their expectations and understanding of competence and knowledge needed to perform their duties of curriculum leadership. How much of their expectations have been met in their training? What problems have these curriculum leaders encountered? The results are enlightening for the course provider as well as teacher educators and school curriculum reformers. With a better understanding about the problems they encountered in schools, the education authorities concerned can then provide necessary and appropriate support for these curriculum leaders. Significant implications for school curriculum reforms are drawn.
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This paper reports on, and presents the findings from, an investigation into feedback as a means of formative assessment. Feedback is important to learning because it gives us information about the results or consequences of what teachers do and what learners have achieved or have not achieved. It is as crucial in teaching and learning as in any other activity, forming part of the cycle of teaching and learning. However, general feedback such as 'Good work!' 'Effort shown!', or drawing a smiling face, though holding the acknowledgement effect, is not informative enough to help students advance their learning. This poses a question "What sort of feedback has functional significance in learning?"
The investigation collected data from school teachers through three different phases, namely, questionnaire survey, teacher interviews, and lesson observation. The first phase asked approximately one thousand school teachers to give their views on feedback in a questionnaire survey. Data analysis showed that four particular aspects about feedback were regarded as more significant than others. The second phase and the third phases, which involved a further 94 teachers and 27 teachers respectively, revealed that feedback could take many forms and the quality of feedback could vary tremendously.
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