As in many parts of Asia, the learning of English is highly valued by parents in Hong Kong as it is regarded as a path to upward social mobility. Children in Hong Kong who speak Chinese as a first language typically begin to learn English when they start kindergarten at age 3. This study investigated the teaching and learning of English in Hong Kong kindergartens through two interrelated studies. The objective of Study 1 was to examine the patterns of English language teaching in different kindergartens. On the basis of the findings of Study 1, three kindergarten teachers were selected for a multiple case study in Study 2 to gain a deeper understanding of their English teaching practices and their students' engagement in the learning of English. About 38 % (n=256) of the kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-nurseries in Hong Kong were surveyed in Study 1. The results from the survey indicated that (i) the teaching of English to 5-year-olds was widespread and there were many cases of teaching of English to 3-year-olds; (ii) the English instruction time was relatively limited; (iii) English as a specific subject was taught by "specialist" English teachers with varying academic and professional backgrounds; (iv) in schools that allocated relatively less time for English instruction, teachers did not usually have professional qualifications to teach preschool children and/or English; (v) there were varying degrees of collaboration between "specialist" English teachers and local non-English speaking teachers; (vi) a wide variety of teaching materials and pedagogies were deployed; (vii) written homework assignments to improve children's English were common; and (viii) teachers exerted efforts to create a bilingual (Chinese – English) environment at school. Study 2 was a multiple case study in which three teachers - one with a professional qualification in early childhood education, one with professional qualifications to teach English as a Second Language, and one untrained

In the recent years, students' engagement has been the focus of concern in the US Various studies have found that students' academic performances were directly affected by students' engagement In Hong Kong, research on this topic has not yet been found This research aimed to find out how the behaviors of three primary school English teachers' affect their students' engagements The teachers were observed on how they presented their lessons on one of the units of the textbooks Each teacher chose three students as samples of this research Ways of data collection included: lesson observation, video-taping of classroom teaching, in-class tape-recording of the sample students, and interviewing the teachers and sample students
The findings of this research perceived the following six behaviors that were of vital importance to students' engagement: (1) Providing learning opportunities for students, (2) Roles of teachers, (3) Student-teacher dialogue, (4) Teachers' demand on students' understanding of what they have been taught, (5) Teachers' self-reflection while teaching, and (6) Teachers' expectations on students
There are three aspects of engagements: affective engagement, behavioral engagement and cognitive engagement Students display different levels of engagements due to their teachers' behaviors while teaching This research found that students' behavioral engagement is associated with superficial affective engagement but does not necessarily correlate with cognitive engagement On the other hand, cognitive engagement is closely associated with profound affective engagement It was also found that students' engagement is influenced by the following psychological factors: (1) autonomy, competence and relatedness of the Self Determination Theory, (2) self-efficacy, and (3) students' learning goal orientation In order to elevate students' engagement, teachers have to provide learning opportunities at a suitable level of difficulties for the students and at the