This article reports on an exploratory qualitative investigation of an initiative to use an electronic teaching portfolio at a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. Using in-depth interviews, this initiative is examined from the perspective of preservice teachers themselves. Interviews sought to gain an understanding of how the construction of participants' identities as teachers was shaped by their engagement with an electronic teaching portfolio throughout an eight-week teaching practicum. The study highlights the identity struggles that participants confronted in using an e-portfolio to negotiate their own and others' professional identities within their teaching practicum placement schools. Implications for preservice teachers, teacher educators, and school authorities are discussed and suggestions for future research considered.
[Copyright of Technology, Pedagogy and Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2012.720416]

A central issue in the class size debate is that while cutting class size might lead to improved teaching and learning, it is also possible that it may not if teachers do not seek to exploit the advantages of a smaller class size through an alternative pedagogy. Research suggests that teachers do not change their pedagogy when moving from large classes to smaller ones. This paper focuses on pedagogical practices in large and reduced-size secondary school classes where the teacher is the same in both contexts; a research design that has not been employed in previous class size studies. The paper explores the relationships between class size and the pedagogical practices adopted by four experienced teachers in Hong Kong who are each responsible for one large and one reduced-size English language class of the same grade level. Drawing on mostly qualitative data, this study's findings show that teachers did vary their teaching from one class to another with important differences noted in teacher-student interaction patterns, classroom organisation, the establishment of classroom rules and the teacher's use of humour. At the same time, interview data reveal that teachers could not always explain or theorise their pedagogical decisions. Implications for professional practice are presented.
[Copyright of Research Papers in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2011.653389]

Vocabulary instruction during English language learning was observed for one week in six classrooms (three K2 classes for four-year olds and three K3 classes for five-year olds) from three kindergartens in two districts of Hong Kong. From 23 sessions of observations and 535 minutes of data, field notes were coded to identify instances of vocabulary instruction and the strategies used to teach words. Participating teachers were also interviewed about their educational and professional backgrounds, as well as their beliefs and practices in English language teaching. Planned vocabulary instruction occurred in the context of storybook read aloud and theme-based learning. Words were also briefly taught during phonics instruction, which was pervasive and used to facilitate the learning of letter sounds. Teachers acknowledged the importance of oral language in the teaching and learning of English and their reported beliefs reflected their observed pedagogical practices. However, teachers mainly used strategies that enhanced the recognition and memorisation of words and, rarely, the understanding and application of words.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2013.788815]

The personal development of students is an essential component of school guidance and counselling programmes, but no published research on guidance and counselling has investigated the effects of regular classroom teaching on students' self-efficacy for personal development. In this study, questionnaire items were constructed to measure classroom teaching, student self-efficacy for personal development and student use of deep learning strategies. Data were collected from 16,208 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Using structural equation modelling, regular classroom teaching was found to have a direct effect on personal development self-efficacy as well as an indirect effect through student use of deep learning strategies. Implications of these findings for implementing a whole-school approach to guidance and counselling are discussed.
[Copyright of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2012.721126]