Based on Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden-and-build theory, this study investigates how Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE; consisting of teacher appreciation, personal enjoyment, and social enjoyment) mediates the relationship between Informal Digital Learning of English (IDLE) and EFL secondary students’ willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) inside and outside the classroom. We collected survey data from 308 EFL Hong Kong secondary students who lacked any international experience (ages 12–18). After controlling for demographic data, the results show that teacher appreciation, personal enjoyment, and social enjoyment all mediate the relationship between IDLE and L2 WTC inside the classroom, while personal and social enjoyment mediate the link outside the classroom. A closer look reveals that personal enjoyment, rather than social enjoyment or teacher appreciation, plays a larger role in mediating the relationship. Practically, these findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms by which IDLE and different aspects of FLE can potentially improve the L2 WTC of Asian EFL learners who primarily learn and practice English in the classroom. These findings have implications for future interventions aimed at enhancing L2 WTC by increasing L2 enjoyment in EFL learners. Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

參照 Cummins 的語言相互依存假說（The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis）和閾限假說（The Thresholds Hypothesis），本文以香港一所標榜中英雙語教育的國際學校為案例，旨在探索港式中英雙語教育成效。通過運用（1）多元線性迴歸分析法（Multiple Regression Analysis）全面檢驗 251 位小學一至六年級學生中英雙語語文能力與超學科認知能力表現之相關性，評鑑 Cummins 的假說對解說港式中英雙語教育成效的適用程度；（2）ANOVA 變異數分析法（Analysis of Variance）探析 30 位小學一至六年級學生的中英雙語能力表現與其對中英雙語的態度及家長對中英雙語教育的態度之相關性，推論影響接受中英雙語教育學童語文能力不平衡發展的因素；（3）內容分析法（Content Analysis ）分析案例學校 10 位中英班主任和 3 位校長訪談內容、校本中英雙語課程大綱等，探討校本中英雙語教學模式與學生雙語能力發展的關係。研究發現：（1）Cummins的假說某程度能解說港式中英雙語教育成效，跨語實踐（Translanguaging）學理進一步完善和補充其假說；（2）在相同的校本中英雙語教育條件下，學生學習中英雙語的動機和對外語學習的焦慮程度、家長對孩子的期望值和對孩子學習的投入度、家庭社經地位、家庭用語偏向、不同持分者對雙語教育信念一致性、差異化教學的實施、社會語言生態環境等因素影響學童中英語文能力發展；（3）校本中英雙語教學模式有利於學生發展多重、整合的雙語實踐能力，具獨特的參考價值和發展意義。Based on Cummins's Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis and Thresholds Hypothesis, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of Chinese-English bilingual education in a bilingual international school in Hong Kong by using :（1） Multiple Regression Analysis to examine the correlation between Chinese and English bilingual proficiency and transdisciplinary cognitive ability of 251 primary Year 1 to Year 6 students, in order to evaluate the applicability of Cummins’s hypothesizes for explaining the effectiveness of Chinese-English bilingual education in Hong Kong; （2） Analysis of Variance to analyze the correlation between Chinese and English bilingual proficiency of 30 primary Year 1 to Year 6 students, their attitudes towards Chinese-English bilingualism and their parents' attitudes towards Chinese-English bilingual education, in order to infer the factors that affected the unbalanced development of Chinese and English proficiency of children who are receiving Chinese-English bilingual education; （3） Content Analysis to analyze the interview scripts of 10 bilingual class teachers and 3 principals, the school-based bilingual curriculum, etc. to explore the relationship between the school-based Chinese-English bilingual education model and the development of student's bilingual

Online pronunciation teaching becomes particularly challenging because of the distance between teachers and students, and the lack of interactions, feedback and supervision (Dumford & Miller, 2018). The study aims to describe the process of designing an e-teaching package on English phonetics and pronunciation course for pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, and to evaluate the effectiveness of this online teaching package. Thirty-nine pre-service teachers divided into the control group (CG) and experimental group (EG) attended five training sessions on Zoom, an online conference platform. Participants in the CG received traditional Powerpoint lectures with pre-set Zoom functions for interaction, while participants in the EG received training with an e-package of Edpuzzle, Nearpod, Padlet, Mentimeter and Kahoot. Pretest–posttest designs and questionnaire were employed to evaluate students’ pronunciation improvement and their attitudes towards the e-package. Results showed that participants from both groups made fewer errors on English consonants and vowels after the training sessions. 80% of the participants in the EG agreed that the e-package was well-designed and could make the online instruction more interactive compared with the traditional online instruction. 75% of them reported that they received more feedback when the e-package was applied. 45% of the participants reported that their favorite e-tool was Edpuzzle. This tool not only helped them review and consolidate the content knowledge but provided more input for them to identify their pronunciation errors. As for two online quizzes, students showed more interest in Kahoot as it was more competitive compared with the individualized quiz using Nearpod. Copyright © 2021 International Conference on Learning and Teaching.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) in early childhood lays the foundation for children’s later adjustment (Bornstein et al., 2010). Among existing SEL programs, OpenMind (OM) is a mindfulness-based kindergarten curriculum that has demonstrated effectiveness in the United States and Korea (Jackman et al., 2019; Kim et al., 2020). To enhance children’s SEL in Hong Kong, this study adapted and implemented OM activities over a one-month period. Initial efficacy on children’s SEL was examined, alongside teachers’ attitudes toward OM. Fifty-two Chinese children in K1-2 (3-5-year-old; nintervention=27; nwaitlist control=24) and four trained kindergarten teachers participated in daily meditation practices. They also completed pretest, immediate posttest, and a four-week follow-up posttest. Results suggest that teachers find OM activities useful, particularly during disruptive incidents. Children also had greater improvements in emotional control and shifting than did children in the waitlist control group. Through these practices, we hope to build a stronger foundation for children’s social-emotional competence. Copyright © 2021 HKERA-APERA International Conference.

Hong Kong has faced the suspension of primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools due to COVID-19, which has put over one million students out of the classroom. Educators were abruptly forced to shift to online and virtual classes without sufficient time and resources to prepare for such an enormous transition. While shifting from traditional face-to-face format to modern e-learning ensures that students can be educated outside of the classroom, its impact on the quality of learning and teaching can be mixed because professionals cannot solely rely on conventional teaching approaches. This project aims to address the knowledge gap in the traditional teacher-training by developing an online programme called “T.E.A.C.H.” to enhance pre-service teachers’ psychological competence for conducting online L&T. This programme consists of five modules, with each focusing on a specific domain of psychological competence (i.e., creativity, curiosity, love of learning, judgment, and perspective) and applied to the ‘three foci’ for online L&T (i.e., attendance and participation, engagement, and assessment). The modules consist of lecture videos, readings, practical tips and suggestions, and e-learning resources. The learning experience is consolidated and enriched by a series of interactive activities, practice exercises, critical evaluations, reflections, and short quizzes. The effectiveness of the programme for enhancing pre-service teachers’ psychological competence and online L&T outcomes are assessed through questionnaire measures, objective behavioural tasks, and knowledge checks. Pre-service teachers are expected to show more positive attitudes toward online L&T, higher self-efficacy to teach online, greater motivation to use information and communication technologies, and increased online pedagogical competence. Copyright © 2021 ICLT.

Along with the global trend of developing students’ 21st-century skills, teacher education must enable preservice teachers (PSTs) to improve students’ learning outcomes with Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and school practicum plays an essential role in the process. This study investigated Hong Kong PSTs’ ICT competency with or without teaching practicum completed and explored factors contributing to ICT competency in and beyond the practicum. This mixed-methods study began with a questionnaire to give a broad picture of the ICT competence of Hong Kong PSTs of English (N = 127), who were found to perceive themselves as competent with educational technology and their competencies of understanding ICT related policy and using ICT for professional development was enhanced after school practicum. A purposeful subset of the sample (N = 10) was interviewed based on their ICT competency scores, exploring the factors shaping interviewees’ readiness and ICT use in their teaching practicum. It highlights that digital native students do not naturally transform into teachers with ICT competency to facilitate 21st-century learning, and the practicum could play a more critical role in enhancing their ICT competence to future-proof their skills. Promoting ICT-friendly school culture and designing better teaching practicum programmes are suggested. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Educational researchers, policymakers, and administrators agree that providing in-service teachers with high-quality professional development (PD) opportunities is essential to educational success. Despite the substantial sums invested in teacher PD by countries and jurisdictions, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious challenges to teacher learning around the world. As conventional face-to-face initiatives became impracticable (e.g., workshops, conferences, school-based PD) and the need to prioritize pandemic-specific topics intensified (e.g., emergency remote teaching), teacher PD was recast both formally (where and how teachers engaged in PD) and substantively (what teachers sought to learn from PD). Amidst the international upheavals caused by COVID-19, how have teacher PD infrastructures (policies, practices, theories) responded? For this Special Issue, we put this and other questions before a panel of PD scholars in six contexts: United States, Scotland (United Kingdom), Uruguay, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong (SAR China). In their respective contributions, authors discuss issues such as the limitations of PD systems based on compliance and external accountability mechanisms, the need to center teacher motivation in existing PD frameworks, matters of access and equity, the importance of developing technological infrastructures for online and hybrid learning, problems of online safety and wellbeing, and more. The Special Issue shows that the uncertainty of today’s times requires new, global perspectives on PD design, implementation, evaluation, theory, and scholarship. To nurture agentic, highly motivated, and effective teachers for the pandemic era and beyond, countries and jurisdictions should think more creatively about how to best support teacher learning. Copyright © 2022 International Journal for Research in Education.

The ability to formulate problems is an important part of computational thinking (CT) development for nurturing creative problem solvers. However, problem formulation is inadequately addressed in primary school education. This study aimed to investigate the problem formulation processes of primary school students. Students from eight winning teams in a primary school CT competition in Hong Kong participated in the study. Focus group interviews were conducted with the students and teachers separately. Data analysis revealed that the students’ problem formulation processes could be divided into three stages, namely, the Find, Investigate, and Define stages. The Investigate stage was an essential stage connecting the Find and Define stages. Interviews showed that support from teachers and parents was necessary for students to gain a positive experience of formulating problems in primary school context. Findings suggest that CT curriculum should be designed to allocate sufficient project time and learning space for students to develop their problem formulation ability. Problem formulation abilities are critical in the development of students’ creativity in computational thinking. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.