The research reported here investigated pre-service English language teachers' perceptions of newly arrived immigrant children from Mainland China in Hong Kong. Seventeen participants, who had at least 10 weeks of experience working with these immigrant children during teaching practicum, participated in focus group discussions and shared their perceptions. The data analysis revealed that the participants widely perceived these children as deficit and consider them a serious professional challenge. Further examination of the data helped reveal media, life and teaching practicum experiences with immigrant children as crucial sources that contributed to the formation of these perceptions. The findings call for teacher education programmes to involve pre-service teachers in critical engagement with the mass media and their own experiences so that they can address the deficit model applied by teachers to immigrant children.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Teaching is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2013.869966]

This study represents an initial effort to understand the advocacy journey of Chinese parents of children with dyslexia in Hong Kong. Qualitative methods involving individual and group interviews were used to solicit detailed recount and perceptions of the experiences of 25 parents. Findings revealed a largely sequenced three-stage journey of parental advocacy: (1) parents' emotional adjustment which involved self-blame and sorrow; (2) parents moving on to advocacy which comprised home-life adjustments, acquisition of knowledge about dyslexia, and seeking support through parent networks; and (3) parents advancing from advocacy to activism with increased knowledge about dyslexia and their conscious integration of Confucian and disability rights paradigms as strategies to interact and negotiate with authorities. This unique approach offers a conceptual framework for examining the interplay of dual or multiple cultural values affecting parent advocates' actions. Their growth as advocates and activists affirmed the conceptualisation of the advocacy-activism continuum.
[Copyright of Cambridge Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2013.860084]