Primary school teachers rated the frequency of occurrence of 65 reading-related behavioural characteristics in a sample of 251 Grade 1 to Grade 6 Chinese school children in Hong Kong. These behavioural characteristics were in the areas of general performance, reading, dictation, writing, mathematics, language, memory, concentration, sequential ability, motor co-ordination, spatial orientation, and social/emotional adjustment. Of these 12 areas, 10 yielded scale scores that could distinguish children with dyslexia from those without dyslexia, identified on the basis of their performance in five domains of literacy and cognitive skills. Using a summary score derived from the 10 relevant scales, an optimal cut-off score was suggested to arrive at a balance between high sensitivity and an acceptable rate of false positives in screening for children with dyslexia. The need for cross-replication in screening children with dyslexia using the behaviour checklist with different samples of school students is emphasised.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144341042000271769]

Recent international studies have highlighted the success of students from Hong Kong in mathematics and problem-solving, and have begun to suggest some of the factors associated with this success. Other studies have suggested that Hong Kong students are averse to risk-taking, favouring memorisation and imitation in their solution strategies. Year 5 students in Hong Kong and Australia were given mathematics assessments of different types: orally presented mental computation problems, and a performance task that was undertaken in normal classroom conditions. Observations of the students' approaches to these tasks in the classroom and analyses of their responses revealed similarities and differences between the two countries. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the curriculum diversity and differences in metacognitive skills.
[Copyright of Evaluation & Research in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500790802485211 ]

This study focuses on primary students' self-learning strategies, using a sample of 1253 students from 20 Year 3 and 20 Year 5 classes from 10 primary schools in Hong Kong. Students were asked to name sources from which they could learn. They were then asked to rate 10 self-learning strategies on perceived usefulness and personal deployment. Students named an average of 2.5 learning sources, with print exposure (reading) being the most commonly nominated source. Multilevel analysis revealed substantial differences (27% of attributable variance) between classes on student ability to name learning sources. In general, the students indicated that all 10 suggested learning strategies were useful. The two most commonly deployed strategies were help-seeking and locating a quiet study environment. Gender differences were not found on naming learning resources, but girls indicated relatively higher levels of strategy awareness and deployment.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144341042000294930]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of narrative inquiry to contribute to an understanding of immigrant students' educational experience. Research on immigrant students' education is reviewed and the need for detailed examination of these students' experiences in schools, such as is done in a narrative inquiry, is demonstrated. Current trends in narrative inquiry that focus on multicultural and cross-cultural phenomena are examined. Key questions that narrative inquirers engaged in international and comparative education need to consider are discussed. One narrative inquiry on Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong is presented to demonstrate the particular qualities of this form of inquiry and its potential for understanding immigrant students' educational experience. Dilemmas and concerns associated with this form of inquiry are briefly addressed.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057920802066568]

This paper proposes an initial model for the care and support of primary school children coping with family situations and family changes. The model is built on existing counselling literature, incorporating the perceptions of teachers, children and parents on their needs for support and a small empirical study by the author on teachers' perceptions of the roles and functions of the personnel involved in supporting children in changing familial situations. In proposing the model for schools the author argues for the need for a multi-systemic approach which emphasises involving home-school cooperation and acknowledging the unique 'East meets West' hybrid context in Hong Kong. The use of the model in relation to teacher education, counselling practice and research is discussed. Implications of this model for other locales having similar hybrid contexts, particularly a mix with a Chinese cultural heritage, are also discussed.
[Copyright of Pastoral Care in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02643940802472221]

This study is part of a cross-cultural investigation that was initiated in Sweden followed by studies in Australia and Singapore. This paper shows how a phenomenographic approach may be used to reveal the qualitatively different ways in which 40 students in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools experience and understand the phenomenon of graphic representations of quantitative data. An outcome space depicting four variations of the children's understanding are revealed.
[Copyright of Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0031383990430102]