This paper describes a study comparing paper-based marking (PBM) and onscreen marking (OSM) in Hong Kong utilising English language essay scripts drawn from the live 2007 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) Year 11 English Language Writing Paper. In the study, 30 raters from the 2007 HKCEE Writing Paper marked on paper 100 scripts that they had marked on screen 9 months previously. Subsequent to the rating, they completed a questionnaire, from which it was concluded that, technologically, raters had no problems with OSM. Statistical results indicated no bias favouring either form of rating. Attitudinal differences surfaced, however, between new raters who had solely rated on screen as against veteran raters, whose previous rating experiences had only been with paper-based rating. The paper concludes with the prediction that as OSM becomes more prevalent, it will be accepted as the norm, with prejudice about fairness or convenience gradually fading.
[Copyright of Educational Research & Evaluation is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13803610902972940]

Commencing study through a foreign language in senior secondary school brings huge challenges because of the cognitive-linguistic demands of academic subjects. This paper argues for the need to blend sociocultural and systemic functional linguistic (SFL) perspectives to address this enormous task. Firstly, readers' attention is drawn to the less than successful history, globally, of helping students overcome the challenges. Secondly, the paper sets out the author's intention to respond to the call by Coyle for bilingual educators working in a predominantly sociocultural paradigm to 'connect' with other paradigms. Next, aiming to respond to two exploratory questions regarding the power of SFL to inform planning of language-aware teaching, which is richer and more productive than is evident in sociocultural scholarship, the paper proceeds towards descriptive and comparative analyses of a student's written outcome in science, using the SFL framework based on 'text architecture'. The SFL analyses exemplify what might be taught, with brief mention of how SFL practitioners do so, in order to raise awareness of academic genre creation. Finally, drawing on the paper's analyses and evidence from elsewhere, arguments for the paradigmatic blending are synthesised.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658410903431721]

Background: In most primary schools in Hong Kong, a product-oriented approach is used in teaching writing. The process approach to writing has been seen as an improvement over the traditional methods of writing instruction in recent years. However, the effectiveness of using the process approach to teach writing is still inconclusive. It is necessary to confirm its effectiveness through further research studies.
Aims: This study investigates how effective process writing is in helping about 200 students in the upper primary school level and the lower primary school level improve their writing skills and their attitude towards writing.
Sample and method: Six primary school teachers, 3 in the lower primary school level and 3 in the upper primary school level, each implemented an innovative two-month process writing programme in her school. The effectiveness of the programme was investigated through post-interviews and the comparison of a pre- and post-questionnaire, a pre-test and a post-test, and pre- and post- observations of the strategies used by the students in doing their pre-tests and post-tests.
Results: It is found that the programme brought about positive results across all classes and in both the upper and lower level in general though the results in each classroom slightly differed.
Conclusions/Recommendations: The process approach seems to be an effective approach even at as low a level as P.3 in the primary school. Process writing seems to be a feasible solution to heightening the writing abilities and confidence of students, especially those who have higher English proficiency and those at the upper primary level.
背景：香港大多數小學都採用成果取向的方法去教導寫作，近年視採用歷程取向的方法去教導寫作是傳統教導寫作的改良，但是否有效卻未有定論，需要作進一步的研究。
目的：這研究探討歷程取向的寫作方法對改進二百位小學生的改進技巧及態度是否有效。
取樣及方法：六位小學教師，三位任教初小、三位任教高小，在其學校試教一個為期兩個月有關歷程取向寫作方法的新課程，研究者採用測試後面談、比較試前和試後問卷調查、測驗成績、及觀察學生在測試前後的學習策略等多元方法，去尋找歷程取向寫作方法的有效性。
結果：發現各測驗觀察都稍微偏向支援歷程取向寫作方法。
討論和建議：歷程取向寫作方法似乎是一個較有效的教學法去提昇學生的寫作能力及信心