This thesis explores the relationship between preschools and children's gender socialization in Hong Kong and Japan, focusing on three major enquiries: Firstly, I examine to what extent preschools influence the gender behavior of children; secondly, I am intrigued by how children's gender roles and behaviors are modeled by preschool organization, interaction between teachers and children as well as play among children themselves; my discussion is mainly based on Delamont's (1990) and Thome's (1993) two different approaches to the important role of school in gender socialization; lastly, I have investigated whether there are any similarities and differences in the gender socialization process in Hong Kong and Japan. The data come from ethnographic observations in four kindergartens (two in Hong Kong and two in Japan) and in-depth interviews conducted with 55 parents (24 from Hong Kong and 31 from Japan) and 28 teachers (12 in Hong Kong and 16 in Japan).
My argument is that kindergarten is a significant amplifier of gender socialization. Gender construction in the kindergartens observed was an ongoing, active and creative process that took place chiefly through interaction in group life, whereby children communicate and interact, challenge each other, and create new gender interpretations every day. Regarding the study of children's gender socialization in kindergartens, I found that Delamont neglected to note that teachers not only created gender separation but also were able to reduce children's gender differences, and I also partially agreed with her argument about the huge influence of school organization and of teachers' strategies and interaction on children's gender behavior. While my findings supported Thome's emphasis on the active creation of gender by children, I also want to highlight the fact that socialization is a mutual and interactive relationship. My data substantiated my argument that gender is also highly related to other factors such as age, friendship

Girls out-performed boys in reading at the age of 15 in all 43 countries included in a credible study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO. Male underachievement generally alarms educators. In Hong Kong, proficiency in English language more or less assures a better future, higher academic path and job security. Is there any sex difference in English language achievement in secondary three? If so, what are the factors and causes in the learning process responsible for this difference?
The present study aims at exploring the sex differences in English learning achievement, and in the learning process parameters in secondary 3. Gardner's socio-educational model serves as the theoretical model for multi-causal path analysis. The English learning achievement is related to motivation and then to learning orientations. According to local researches about English learning, Instrumental Orientation is added to Gardner's model for multi-group comparison.
Female students are found to have much higher English achievement and most of the learning process parameters, including Formal Motivation Intensity, opinion on MOI (medium of instruction) in English lessons, attitude of interest, attitude of essential, attitude towards bilingualism, motivation for learning English, Instrumental Orientation and Communicative Orientation.
In the causal relations between English achievement and learning process parameters, female and male students show significant differences. The causal path from Motivation to S3 English Achievement is 0.43 (t-value = 34.52) in females and 0.37 (t-value = 28.65) in males. It means when controlling Motivation, females can have higher achievement in S3 English. The causal path from Instrumental Orientation to Motivation is 0.67 (t-value=31.80) in females and 0.79 (t-value=29.33) in males. The causal path from Communicative Orientation to Motivation is 0.40 (t-value=20.32) in females and 0.27 (t-value=10.72)

This research attempts to explore the antecedents of teacher behavior in communicating with parents, and to develop and test a model of teacher-parent communication in the context of Hong Kong primary schools.
The investigation comprised four parts. The first part was the evolving of a conceptual framework in predicting teacher behavior in communicating with parents. The proposed framework made important reference to concepts in the theory of planned behavior, but adopted neither the majority of its constructs nor the second-order structure of attitude- belief. It was hypothesized that teacher behavior was mainly determined by teacher intention, and teacher intention was subsequently determined by four components of teacher beliefs: namely role beliefs, normative beliefs, efficacy beliefs and context beliefs. Relevant teacher beliefs were identified and incorporated into the four components.
The second part of the study (Study One) explored the feasibility of the proposed framework with a small sample. Instruments for measuring various teacher variables were developed. The proposed model was basically supported by path analysis. This initial study was encouraging and justified the use of a more powerful tool of structural equation modeling, which could test simultaneously the whole system of variables.
The third part of the study (Study Two - Part One) was the first section of the main study involving 1918 teachers from primary schools. It comprised the developing of a total of thirteen measurement models of teacher beliefs and intention to be used in the modified framework of study. Satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices were obtained for all resulting instruments.
The last part of the study (Study Two - Part Two) involved the developing and testing of the structural model for predicting teacher communication behavior. A model generation approach was adopted. Altogether, three paths and six correlations were added to the hypothesized initial model.

Academic stress is widely recognized as a prominent source of stress for children in Hong Kong. What can be done to enhance children's resilience to this type of stress? The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between academic stress, children's anxiety, and academic attainment in senior primary school children in Hong Kong. Specifically, the objective is to investigate the moderating and mediating mechanisms through which parental support and children's resourcefulness might modify stress outcomes. To better determine the relationship patterns of these variables, a cross-sectional quantitative research design was used. Proportional stratified sampling, cluster sampling and random sampling methods were employed in various phases to locate suitable informants. Nine primary schools and a total of 1,644 senior primary school students participated in the study.
Three academic stress domains were generated from the Academic Hassles Scale.These were "academic inefficacy and fear of failure", "expectations and demands from significant others" and "academic demands and overload". Domain analysis proved to be more sensitive to gender difference when compared with the global academic hassles measure. Girls were more disturbed by "academic inefficacy and fear of failure" and boys were more affected by "expectations and demands from significant others" and "academic demands and overload". Correlation of the domains with factors in the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale indicated that the manifestation of anxiety was different in these domains.
Time spent by parents communicating with their children, parental emotional, informational and instrumental supports and children's resourcefulness were beneficial to children's emotional and academic adjustment independent of the stressors. When the support was delivered in overprotective and authoritarian ways, adverse outcomes were the result. Interaction effects were found only in the domain "academic demands

This thesis investigated the process of gender construction in kindergartens by considering the unique roles of different socialization agents. Participants were 40 4-year-old Hong Kong Chinese children (21 girls and 19 boys) enrolled in four local kindergartens and their four female teachers. Over a period of ten months, 105 visits to these kindergartens were made and 235 hours of systematic observations focusing on social interactions among the target children, their teachers and their peers were analyzed. Participants were also interviewed, in individual sessions, to discern their personal theories about gender. Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate.
Transcripts of observation and interview data were subject to systematic content analysis and the lens of gender was used to frame interpretations of these data. Descriptive codes, generated iteratively, were clustered, categorized, integrated, recoded, and re-categorized and led to the identification of three major themes. These were "Gendered Preschool Routines", "Perpetuation of Gender Stereotypes" and "Self-Censuring". Teachers were responsible for preschool routines, and both teachers and children upheld gender stereotypes while children monitored their own behavior when they feared they would be chastised by their peers for behavior which may be considered gender inappropriate

The study of Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition has long been an established research area. However, researchers have often worked in separate areas, for example, motivation, anxiety and learning strategies. Their studies have enriched our knowledge of the mechanisms in shaping Individual Differences, yet, very little is known about their developmental nature. In another area of Second Language Acquisition research, studies focusing mainly on learners in target-language communities, indicate that learners voice their individual differences through the construction of second language identities. These studies primarily focused on adult language learners in target language communities and yet little is known about pre-tertiary level learners studying a second language in the regions in which they have grown up.
This study was designed to explore the development of individual differences of Hong Kong English learners. Adopting a qualitative research method, ten learners from age 8 to 18 (5 females and 5 males) were interviewed three times over a two-year period. The interviews were scheduled to match the learners' transitions across key learning stages, for instance, from primary to secondary school, and from secondary school to tertiary institution. The data were analyzed in a two-tier system: narrative analysis and the analysis of narrative. The findings were presented through the ten language learners’ stories and a thematic analysis on domains of learning: home, school and out-of-class.
Findings show that Hong Kong English learners emphasized different realms of learning during different stages of their learning. Second, as learners matured, their communities of comparative others expanded and their conceptualizations of being different from their comparative others were refined. Third, the learners processed their learning experiences into future language learning orientation. Finally, participants developed their individual differences

Data for this study was collected from the Program for International Student Assessment in Hong Kong (HK-PISA), which was conducted in 2002. A total of 4405 fifteen-year-old students from 140 Hong Kong secondary schools completed the student assessment. A total of 4336 parents also completed the parent questionnaires. These questionnaires was used to provide information about family social capital and family background.
In conclusion, the results of this research support Coleman's thesis of social capital in the creation of human capital. It also underscores the importance of bridging social capital in student's learning. Finally, the given recommendations based on the results of this research may be useful for policy makers, educators and parents in assisting students to improve their learning and develop their potential fully.
The CFA results suggest that the applicability and validity of the indices related to the three types of capital created by OECD is fair, and therefore the local social context should be taken into consideration when modifying these indices for adoption in the research. The results of the HLM analysis demonstrate that most measures of family social capital are consistently associated with students' literacy. They also show that effects of the process attribute of social capital on student's achievement are stronger than that of the structural attribute. Among the social capital variables used at the individual-student level, students score higher if their parents communicate (both social and culturally) with them more and also if their parents expect their child to attend university. Among the social capital variables used at the school level, the school mean parental network has a stronger positive contextual effect on students' achievement. As for the variables of physical and cultural capital, only part of them has a significant effect on student's achievement, and the effect is weaker than that of family social capital.
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