Social diversity is now commonplace in many communities in today's globalised world. This diversity can be seen in any classroom of learners, and international studies have shown the complex ways in which disabilities, race, ethnicity, gender and social class can determine a child's opportunity to succeed or fail in the education system. In Hong Kong, like in many educational contexts around the world, teachers are grappling with increasing diversity amongst their students, including teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) and non-Chinese speaking students (NCS) living in Hong Kong. This paper examines how three primary TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers are constructing identities as inclusive practitioners as they grapple with enacting the inclusive education policy recently introduced into Hong Kong schools. The data are drawn from a small-scale collaborative reflective inquiry for teacher professional development. Drawing upon a sociocultural and critical framing of identity theory, we trace the three teachers' identity construction as EFL teachers and inclusive education practitioners. We view the role of discourse, self-positioning and social context as key processes in teacher identity formation. Implications for furthering the development of inclusive education in EFL classrooms are offered.

One of the key aims of formative assessment in higher education is to enable students to become self-regulated learners (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). Based on Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick's (2006) framework, this exploratory study investigates which formative assessment practices proposed by them were used by one college EFL writing teacher to facilitate learner self-regulation in a Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) setting (i.e. Hong Kong) and student perceptions of these practices in relation to self-regulation. Five formative assessment practices were found to be implemented by the teacher to support learner self-regulation. The students seemed to be more positive about teacher-and-student-directed practices than student-directed ones. Suggestions have been provided to maximize the potential of these practices in facilitating learner self-regulation.

This study investigates how genre can be used as an organisational principle to interweave teaching and assessment in the L2 school context. Relying on data from interviews and lesson observations gathered from two Secondary 1 (that is, Grade 7) Hong Kong classrooms, the study sought to discover how teachers implemented genre-based teaching and assessment in traditional product- and exam-oriented writing classrooms, students' and teachers' evaluation of the approach, as well as the factors that might facilitate or restrain the genre innovation. The findings show that teachers worked collaboratively and shared a common vision in implementing genre-based teaching and assessment, making sure that they integrated teaching and assessment through a focus on genre. Although the limitations of the genre approach were noted, the innovation was generally well received by students and teachers, who felt that the innovation had enabled students to improve their writing and helped teachers enhance their practice. A few facilitative and inhibitory factors are discussed. The findings suggest that the implementation of genre-based teaching and assessment has to be considered within the ecology of teachers' work.
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Background: There has been a lack of research on exploring how beliefs about language learning (BALLs) and out-of-class language-learning activities are related. BALLs and out-of-class language-learning activities play an important role in influencing the learning behaviours of learners and learning outcomes. Findings of this study provide useful pedagogical implications for English teaching in Hong Kong.
Aim: The aim of the study is to gather information on the BALLs and out-of-class language-learning activities of young adult ESL learners in Hong Kong.
Sample: Convenience sampling is adopted in this study of 324 ESL (English as a Second Language) learners undertaking vocational education in Hong Kong.
Methods: Surveys on BALLs and out-of-class language-learning activities. Results: Findings indicate that learners held mostly positive beliefs. Watching films and television, reading, listening to English songs, music and radio channels, formal learning and practising speaking with others were the out-of-class language-learning activities reported by subjects that they carried out most frequently. There is an association between BALLs and the implementation of activities. Learners who regarded out-of-class language-learning activities as useful were found to possess more positive beliefs regarding their English learning in terms of BALLI (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory) items. Learners who implemented out-of-class language-learning activities were found to have more positive beliefs in terms of two factors, "Perceived value and nature of learning spoken English" and "Self-efficacy and expectation about learning English."
Conclusion: The contextual influences of English being a prestigious language in Hong Kong and being attached with tangible rewards and power are suggested to contribute to the prevalence of instrumental motivation among ESL learners in Hong Kong. These influences, together with notion of modesty and the fear of losing face