This study investigated the extent to which preschool teachers and children (ages 4–6) used literal and inferential language within the context of whole-group instruction in four kindergarten classrooms in Hong Kong. A total of 20 sessions of videotaped classroom observations of linguistic interactions between teachers and children were transcribed and then analyzed using a coding scheme to determine the cognitive complexity of teacher questions and child responses with reference to four levels of abstraction, representing a literal-to-inferential continuum. The results indicated that the teachers' questions were predominantly literal in nature (83 %), and similarly the majority of the children's responses (77 %) were also literal. Furthermore, it was revealed that in an average instructional session: (a) teachers produced significantly more utterances than children; (b) the difference in the quantity of teachers' questions between literal and inferential levels was statistically significant; (c) similarly, the difference in the quantity of children's responses between literal and inferential levels was also statistically significant; and (d) children produced a significantly larger quantity of shorter than longer utterances. As there is distinct value in whole-group instruction as a salient context for teacher–child interactive, linguistic engagement in kindergarten classrooms in Hong Kong, it is particularly vital that early childhood educators understand what types of linguistic interactions are occurring there and how to target professional development for teachers to better support language learning in young children.
[Copyright of Early Childhood Education Journal is the property of Springer Netherlands.]

Research conducted in the late twentieth century pointed to a gulf in Hong Kong's universities between institutional medium-of-instruction policy, which stipulated the use of English, and lecturers' classroom practices, which often involved the use of Cantonese to present and explain the content of English-language textbooks and teaching materials. This article examines the findings of a study which sought to determine whether the policy-practice divide had widened or narrowed in the past two decades under the pressure of two potentially competing forces: globalisation and decolonisation. The evidence suggests that the policy-practice disjunction may have narrowed significantly in recent years, with most of the participants' teachers evidently making a determined effort to instruct and interact with their students in English in lectures and seminars.
[Copyright of World Englishes is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd..]

This paper reports on a narrative inquiry of a Hong Kong female undergraduate student's second language (L2) learning experiences in an English-medium university in Hong Kong, with a focus on her participation in classroom oral activities and identity negotiation. Using ideas from situated learning theory and Norton's (2000) notions of identity and investment, the paper analyzes how the student negotiated her classroom participation and identities over the course of her studies in the university. Findings suggest that the student's classroom participation in the English-medium university appeared to be a complex and dynamic process which involved ongoing negotiations of identities, competence and membership in the classroom in response to the challenges she faced. It was found that the student's participation and identity (re)construction in the classroom were mediated by the contextual complexities in specific classroom communities and were contingent upon the agentive choices made by the student in investing in different classroom activities. Findings also indicate that the student's participation evolved over time alongside a changing sense of competence and showed signs of gradual yet non-linear progression from peripheral to full participation in the classroom.
[Copyright of Applied Linguistics Review is the property of Walter de Gruyter GmbH]

「用普通話教中文」（普教中）是香港近年基礎教育的中國語文教學新趨勢，課堂的教學媒介語由粵方言（香港人的母語）轉為普通話，同時尚有獨立的普通話科教學，且並不視為母語教學，給判別為第二語言或介於第一二語言間的語言教學。 「普教中」既構成了多方面的困境，也出現了教與學發展的契機。學生、教師由早期對「普教中」的抗拒、不適應，至近年的接受並在教與學方面的素質不斷提升，實超出教育當局、語文教育工作者的預期。多年來，先導者在「普教中」園地裏的開墾和建設，不同層次和角色的語文教育工作者所開展的各類教學和研究的探索，皆以期提升「普教中」這新語境中的語文教學效能。各方先導者積極開發的元素，由實證行動而來的經驗總結，可提供予開始了或仍未開始「普教中」的學校和教師參照和啟示。 「促進評估的學習」是20世紀80年代以後基礎教育改革的世界性取向，在教學實踐中，課堂上的提問、回饋是重要且有效促進學生學習的評估策略。本研究通過觀察及分析一位教師同時任教同一級「用普通話教中文」及「用廣州話教中文」兩班學生的課堂實踐，比較分析教師在「普教中」和「廣教中」不同教學媒介語的影響下，語文課堂的提問和回饋策略的異同，以檢視及提煉「普教中」的有效提問和回饋策略。
[Copyright © 2017 中華書局(香港)有限公司.]

隨著97回歸，普通話科成為香港中小學核心科目。世紀之交，語文課程重組，中、普兩科同被納入「中國語文教育學習領域」，「普通話教中文」更訂為語文課程的長遠發展目標。在「普教中」情境下，中、普兩科內容的重合更形突顯。除了聽、說範疇的教學目標和重點相若，兩科的朗讀訓練及拼音學習也難以明確分工和配合。本文從語文課程發展和規劃的層面出發，探討普通話科在這過渡期間，可以如何回應教學形勢的需要，在新階段的語文課程中有效蛻變和重生。
[Copyright © 2017 中華書局(香港)有限公司.]

Educational issues in relation to ethnicity and language education policies have been underexplored in Asian contexts. In particular, issues related to ethnic and linguistic minority students have not received much attention in the post-colonial context of Hong Kong. This paper highlights challenges and tensions faced by Nepali ethnic minority students in two Hong Kong schools arising from language policies adopted by the post-colonial government. Based on data arising from interviews with 28 secondary school Nepali students in 2013 and 2014, and an observation of two schools with a sizeable population of Nepali ethnic minority students over a period of more than two years, this paper investigates how students face the pressures of learning through the medium of either English or spoken Cantonese and written Chinese. Analysis of the data reveals that these students face inequities in schools due to neglect of attention to their overall educational development, discrimination in the institutional settings, and lack of opportunities to maintain their own heritage language and identity. Based on the findings, this paper proposes a multilingual education model for ethnic minority students, drawing on the models set out in Adamson and Feng (2014. "Models for Trilingual Education in the People's Republic of China." In Minority Languages and Multilingual Education, edited by D. Gorter, V. Zenotz, and J. Cenoz, 29–44. Dordrecht: Springer), which has potential to redress the balance.
[Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.]

There is about 17,000 kindergarteners (i.e. young kids aged 3 to 6 years old) learning Chinese as a second language (CSL) in Hong Kong (HK). Previous research shows that these children’s Chinese language (CL) ability is at least 3 years behind their native Chinese counterparts while encountering difficulties in learning. It is also a challenge for the teachers to cater for such huge learning diversity, as HK kindergartens (for 3- to 6-year-olds) mainly use the theme-based approach without deliberate consideration of CL curriculum (HKEDB, 2006). Without professional training in CSL teaching, teachers have little knowledge of how to provide these students with adequate support. The present study aims to examine the possibility and effectiveness of implementing a CSL curriculum for CSL students, and how well it works with the existing theme-based curriculum. “Dynamic Enrichment Learning Mode” (DELM) was developed and implemented in six kindergartens with 131 CSL learners. This CSL-focused DELM was designed based on the Second Language Acquisition (Krashen, 1982) and CL orthographic (Leong et al., 2011) theories and comprises the following: (1) tailor-made individual (one 30-minute session every fortnight) and group (two 30-minute sessions every week) enrichment learning activities; (2) using both CSL and mainstream theme-based curricula; (3) authentic learning materials (e.g., picture books and specially written children’s songs based on the learning objectives of each unit); (4) diversified learning activities (e.g., interactive language games, matching games, free writing games etc.). CSL students learn together during the enrichment activities, and then return to their ordinary classes to learn with their native Chinese classmates to benefit from both the CSL and theme-based curricula. This enables them to immerse in a safe, comfortable environment with rich target language input while not having to separate from their Chinese counterparts. Quasi-experiments,

Request is a prominent daily life speech act which a speaker manipulates appropriate linguistic forms to make a hearer perform an action to fulfill the speaker’s needs. Variations in the use of request forms will normally reflect a speaker’s pragmatic competence; i.e. language and culture. Research findings by Rose (2000 & 2009), Achiba (2003), Dewart and Summers (1995) and Ellis (1992) have pointed out that request forms used by young children provide a lot of important information about the pragmatic development of young children in their L1 and/or L2 learning. Previous research on pragmatics has concentrated on the learning of English or other European languages as a second language by adult learners. Not much has been known about pragmatic development among young children learning a second language. As a result of internationalization and global mobility of people, it is getting common that some children start learning a second language in early years for schooling adaptation in the host country. In recent years in Hong Kong, the lack of research evidence in inter-language pragmatics, with special regard to child language (i.e. Cantonese as L2) development, has made it difficult for policy-makers and educators to make decision on the Chinese language (as L2) education instruction and intervention for education equity of ethnic minority children studying in mainstream schools. This paper aims at examining (i) the relationship between L2 Cantonese pragmatic knowledge (language proficiency and cultural knowledge) and Pakistani preschoolers’ expression of Cantonese request strategies; (ii) the relationship between Pakistani parents’ Cantonese proficiency and their children’s Cantonese request strategies; (iii) the difference in the ability of using Cantonese request strategies by Pakistani preschoolers at different grade levels in kindergarten; i.e. K1, K2 and K3. All discussions in the paper are based on findings from an on-going research project which is

在漢語教學的國際熱潮中，香港的情況比較特殊。除了通過普通話教學外，更多香港非華語人士需要學習本地通用的廣州話（粵語），從而認識中文，解決生活的需要。粵語是現代漢語中較強勢的方言，有自成體系的語音系統、方言詞彙和語法特色。非華語人士如要通過粵語學習中文，面對粵語口語和現代漢語書面語之間的差距，往往會較諸通過普通話學習中文更遠。 以粵語作為中文教學媒介語在香港由來已久，無論是中文母語或二語教學，如何能指導學生兼顧口語與書面語表達之間的差異──能以粵語口語有效表達，同時又能避免 讓粵語方言干擾現代漢語書面語，素來都是中文教師的重大考驗。為此，本文將以一次支援「多元文化教學助理先修課程」的中文教學實踐為例，報告如何活用粵語拼音，裝備非華語中學業生掌握基本的中文幼兒教學用語，並認識與本地幼兒教師溝通所需的粵語。 上述教學試驗為特定對象而設，含前測與學業評估（口語及書面語）共 30 教時。本文擬檢視學生的前測與學業評估表現，對照教學實驗重點、學習內容及學生反饋意見等資料，評鑑粵語拼音在教授香港非華語學生中文的意義，為同類課程的未來發展提供實證的參考資源。