Differential gender performance in standardized mathematics assessment has long been a heated topic. Gender gaps of varied magnitude have been identified on large-scale assessments in the United States. To continue the investigation, this study examined male and female performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 mathematics along four in-depth dimensions (strand, content topics, competency cluster, and item format). Furthermore, to identify the shared and unique patterns of gender differences, students from Hong Kong were brought into the comparison. Males in both counties demonstrated superior performance, particularly on complex multiple choice items. Females scored higher on probability, algebra, and reproduction items. Hong Kong students showed a larger gender gap than U.S. students. However, the within-country gender differences were considered small compared with the significant between-country performance differences. (Some PISA participants are not countries, but education systems representative of countries (e.g., Hong Kong). However, for purpose of simplicity, instead of using "countries/systems" every time, the generic term "countries" was used to refer to countries or systems.) Hong Kong students predominantly outperformed U.S. students, including items that measure complex mathematical reasoning, an area well documented to favor U.S. students.
[Copyright of International Journal of Testing is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15305050902733547]

The authors used the Twenty Statements Test in 2 studies to investigate gender and country differences in the spontaneous self-descriptions of 811 college students from Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe and 136 secondary school students from Taiwan and Hong Kong. The authors performed statistical analysis and found no significant gender differences in the percentage of responses classified as belonging to the idiocentric self in either study. However, the authors found significant Country effects in both studies for responses classified as representing the idiocentric self and some aspects of the collective self, and the authors found significant Country x Gender effects involving all 4 categories of the idiocentric self and the collective self for the college students. These findings raise questions about the generalizability of Western findings that males are more likely to espouse an independent conception of self than females. However, as the authors predicted, females were more likely to use small group self-descriptions than their male peers.
[Copyright of Journal of Social Psychology is the property of Routledge . Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224540309598459 ]

In recent years, studies have proposed the use of intercultural communication to promote understanding among students across geographic distances and foster students' global awareness and international experience. This study compared Hong Kong students' WebCT discussion postings with those of U.S. students to investigate differences in their online communication patterns. Results showed that while Asian students were more interactive by inviting other students' opinions, American students were less responsive and more interested in stating their own views. In addition, American students tended to be direct and straightforward in expressing their positions whereas Asian participants used ambiguous language and conveyed their thoughts implicitly.
[Copyright of Journal of Intercultural Communication is the property of Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.immi.se/jicc/index.php/jicc/index]

此文是一個調查研究報告。研究採隨機抽樣方式，在中台港澳進行，以語文測試的方式評定上述地區初中生的語文應用能力，比較他們表現的差異。調查資料可作檢討語文教學的參考。（馮吳淑瑩整理）

作者調查了大陸、台灣、香港和澳門四個地區最受初中生的歡迎的20本課外讀物，在這幾個地區中，學生的思想、生活不同，反映在課外閱讀的興趣也不同。（馮吳淑瑩整理）

The paper compares the educational policy changes during the postcolonial transition in Singapore (in the 1960s) and Hong Kong (1990s). The comparison includes different areas such as the language of instruction and curriculum variations.

This article compares the educational systems of Hong Kong and Macau. The analysis focuses on differences related to their histories, populations, and economies, as well as similarities arising from their impending reunification with China. The article also discusses educational access, finance, curriculum, language of instruction, and recent reforms of the two places.