This paper provides an overview of English language education policies and practices in Hong Kong. It examines changes and developments in policymaking and implementation across the education system. Based on a qualitative analysis of government documents and empirical studies, this review utilizes a sociocultural framework in characterizing language policy decision making processes and implementation strategies in colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong. Findings revealed a multilayered context within which English language education policies and practices are enacted, highlighting the interplay among political, social, economic and educational agendas in policy formulation and implementation. The incongruence between policy recommendations and actual classroom practices, as well as the relationship between government responsiveness and public preferences suggested the power and agency of multiple stakeholders (e.g. parents, teachers and community members) in the interpretation and appropriation of language education policies. This review provides additional insights to understanding the status of English against the backdrop of changing local conditions and to identifying forces of continuity and change in the development of language education policies and practices in Hong Kong. Implications for practice, policy and research are discussed. Copyright ©Routledge.

This study questions whether Hong Kong (HK) students' engineering aspirations are facilitated within their secondary school STEM curriculum or elsewhere. HK students perform strongly on international science and mathematics assessments, although its economy is reliant on a dwindling number of engineers. We consider STEM education metaphors, recent government attempts to improve STEM education and lack of Asian STEM literature. A representative twenty-four students (sex, age, secondary school type) were interviewed to elicit school/home e/STM (engineering within/STM subjects) experiences and aspirations. Thematic content analyses found: e/STM aspirations most susceptible to (pathway-based) home and cultural inequalities; younger students excluded from engineering interests; and, inhibiting in-school activities/pedagogies. Within this high-performing Asian society, inhibitors to engineering engagement were similar to current Western findings. Copyright ©Elsevier Ltd.

In the contexts of population aging and English as a second language (ESL) proficiency decline in Hong Kong, a 12 weeks program that matched 15 retired citizens with 30 secondary school children who wanted to practice English outside the classroom was established. Using proficiency tests, open-ended questions, and Likert scales, this study examined the program value in terms of participants’ program experiences and performances. Results indicated that intergenerational contacts through games, activities, mutual understanding, and friendships appeared to be conducive to children’s ESL learning and relevant to retirees’ post-retirement development. Ideas on exploring ways to increase more available linguistic practice encounters while promoting active aging, and an insight on responding to intergenerational segregation are considered. Copyright ©Routledge.

The 3P (presage, process, product) model was introduced as a conceptualisation to underpin research into students' approaches to learning (SAL). This paper proposes the refocusing of the 3P model by formulating the initial presage phase as a teaching and learning environment, thus making the 3P model more consistent with SAL research which examines the influence of perceptions of aspects of teaching, learning and assessment on approaches to learning. The method was to use structural equation modelling to test a hypothesised version of the refocused 3P model. Data from a questionnaire administered to students at a university in Hong Kong showed a good fit to the data. The model showed that a teaching and learning environment influenced approaches to learning then impacted on the attainment of graduate attributes. The model showed that a well-designed teaching and learning environment, including teacher-student and student-student interaction, plus a lively co-curriculum had a part to play in promoting deep approaches to learning. Deep approaches then had a positive effect on attribute development in students. Copyright ©Routledge.

In recent years, the widespread growth of mobile-assisted language learning using apps has made English vocabulary learning increasingly accessible. This study investigated students' perceptions of a vocabulary learning app developed by the researcher as a tool to help them to improve their L2 receptive vocabulary. The app, containing 20 levels, works with both iOS and Android. The participants were 14 undergraduate students at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. A qualitative methodology of semi-structured interviews captured a holistic overview and revealed students' perceptions of the app. The results suggested that Hong Kong university students have a strong motivation for acquiring an L2 vocabulary. Participants also indicated a preference for mobile applications using gamified features. The study highlights directions for future research into apps for English language learning. Copyright ©I G I Global.

Over the past decades, the development of knowledge-based and innovation-led economy has gained the attention of higher education (HE) institutions. The Quadruple Helix Model of the relations amongst universities, industries, government and society provides a general framework for systematically investigating the dynamics of innovation amongst these agents. However, knowledge about their influence on cross-boundary cities is limited. The ways in which HE institutions bridge different innovation systems also remain unknown. This study thus examines the innovation systems of two neighbouring cities along the border, namely, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and their multidirectional innovation cooperation. Research findings suggest that the two innovation systems differ in terms of the unequal role of the agents. The systems seem mutually complementary in terms of HE capacity and industrial composition, and cross-boundary cooperation in HE sectors currently occurs through various means. This study sheds light on the development of and cooperation between cross-border innovation systems. Copyright ©Routledge.

This article examines the experiences of transnational teachers of English in government-funded English language teaching programs, each of which recruits, trains, and administers native speakers of English: Hong Kong's Native-speaking English Teachers scheme (NET), the Japan Exchange and Teaching program (JET), the English Program in Korea (EPIK), and Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK). It focuses on the relationship between the participation and experiences of native-English speaking teachers and the programs' different policies and institutional structures. The findings demonstrate that these different policies and institutional structures—such as the program aims, eligibility requirements, policies on salary and benefits—have significant implications for the participation of native-English speaking teachers in these programs. This research, with its focus on the experiences of these teachers, extends our understanding of their involvement in English language teaching in Asia. It urges us to locate transnationalism and the global spread of English within a much more complex field of social power relations, calling for more insightful approaches to English language teaching. Copyright ©Elsevier Ltd.

This study assesses how four types of mobility, which are analysed simultaneously, are associated with the current research output quality and visibility of academics working in the city-based higher education systems of Hong Kong and Macau. Transnational educational mobility is associated with the academics' educational path, whilst intrasectoral job mobility, intersectoral job mobility and transnational job mobility are related to their professional careers. The research output, quality and visibility of academics are based on three indicators pertaining to the publications of these academics in international, peer-reviewed and indexed journals: the number of publications, the cumulative SCImago journal rank of these publications (which measures quality from an output perspective) and the citations obtained by these publications (which measures visibility). The results show that different mobilities have different effects on research output, quality and visibility, and that often these effects can be beneficial to one indicator but concurrently detrimental to another. Nested analyses of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM academics, and by sex, offer further insight into the associations of these mobilities with knowledge output and outcomes. Copyright ©Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.

This study draws on the activity theory to explore how bilingual first-year secondary school students appropriate resources strategically in response to linguistic challenges in learning science through English in Hong Kong. The study explored 12 bilingual students' self-regulated strategy use by conducting in-depth interviews, stimulated recalls, observation and analysis of learning materials. Through analyzing these data, we examined how and why they appropriated and used resources strategically for self-regulated learning. The analysis revealed that the participants had used various artefacts (e.g. dictionary) and rules (e.g. evaluation criteria) to negotiate their respective roles (e.g. subject content learners and language learners) in situated communities of learning that consist of subject teachers, classmates, family members, private tutors and friends. Similarities and differences were found between the high achievers and the underachievers with regard to the use of resource-mediated strategies and the underlying reasons. The results inform the development of pedagogical schemes to enhance bilingual students' self-regulated strategic learning of academic subjects through English. Copyright ©Routledge.

This paper demonstrates how the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach can be useful for developing a critical sexual literacy curriculum that combines gender and sexuality education and critical language teaching. The findings from an action research study conducted with 20 tertiary students in a voluntary English class in Hong Kong show how a heightened awareness of conflicting discourses could be stimulated by the heteroglossic nature of the classroom input that included media texts, face-to-face interaction with queer individuals and in-class Boal's Image and Forum Theatres. The learners also experienced mixed emotions toward LGBTI people and reported language gain from the curriculum. A lot more would have to be done in critical sexual literacy research and practice to foster critical awareness of gender and sexuality and to challenge homo- and transphobic ideologies in everyday discourses. 摘要: 本論文探討如何應用「內容和語言整合性學習」(Content and Language Integrated Learning, 縮寫CLIL)模式, 發展一套結合性/別教育與語言學習的批判性性/別識讀課程。參與此課堂行動研究的大專學生有二十位, 課程不但使用了多媒體材料, 也包括與性小眾朋友在課堂上的互動, 和參與波瓦式的形象和論壇劇場。研究結果顯示, 這些課堂材料與活動的語言雜多性, 會令學生對性別討論中的矛盾現象加深了認識, 對LGBTI人士產生複雜的情緒, 並在語言知識上有所增長。在未來, 批判性的性別教育在研究和課堂實踐方面, 我們需要進一步了解如何培養學生對性/別議題進行批判思考, 以及在日常話語現象中挑戰恐同、恐跨的意識形態現象。Copyright ©National Taiwan Normal University. Department of English.