Bringing a coach or coaches into a school to provide support is not entirely a new idea in Hong Kong. In local schools there is increased emphasis on coaching – a process whereby teacher trainers provide instructional support, professional development opportunities, feedback, and materials to classroom teachers – as a means to improve instruction and strengthen the competence of teachers. This paper reports on a pilot study which involved two academic staff from the Hong Kong Institute of Education and teachers of English in a local primary school to work together to enable teacher professional development. The paper reports a sub-set of the findings of a study which aims at identifying a coaching model for English teachers' professional development, and at developing a school-based language teaching curriculum development framework pilot school using a school-based language teaching curriculum development framework piloted in earlier research projects by the investigators. Data were collected through pre-, while- and post-questionnaire surveys, focus groups interviews, and lesson observations. The findings echo earlier research that modeling instruction in individual classrooms, rather than just the provision of group-focused activities, is most likely to result in modifications in instructional practices. It is also argued that in addition to teachers' exposure to new teaching materials, continuous joint professional discourse between coaches and teachers about how to use the materials would also lead to changes in teachers' instructional goals and practices. Implications for incorporating the use of coaches into school improvement plans for optimum results will also be discussed.

Schön's notion of artistry of professional practice as defined in the notion of 'framing' offers a way to capture an essential process of the practitioner's learning in practice in professional development. In the process of interacting with the practical situation, the practitioner has to rely on his/her past experience and understanding to experimentally impose meaning on the situation in action (Furlong et al, 1988). This involves 'a constant proves of interpretation, action, reflection and adjustment' (ibid: 123) in action-learning cycles, which is important to teachers' development of expertise (Pang, 2005). Applying such a notion of teaching to understand the processes provided in the action-learning cycles inherent in the design of Learning Study carried out in Hong Kong, this paper aims to report on a Learning Study carried out in the context of English language teaching at primary level, in which four primary ELT teachers were involved in an Institute-school collaboration project. In the process of the Learning Study which consisted of 10 to 12 meetings, the teachers involved and the researcher contributed in a collaborative manner their experiences and understandings to the framing of the lesson in focus. While reporting on the stages of the Learning Study, and the effectiveness of learning of the topic in focus, the paper will focus particularly on how the teachers had benefited in such a process of collective framing in addressing the pedagogical problem in focus. Implications will be drawn on the use of Learning Study as a tool for expertise development in teaching.

This colloquium addresses the issue of the effectiveness of content teaching and learning through English in Hong Kong secondary schools in the context of the current moves to change the eligibility of schools to adopt English as their medium of instruction. It brings together some recent classroom-based research and development on teaching and learning through English in Hong Kong secondary schools in order to promote debate as to how this can be improved. Cummins will present an overview of the value of integrating second language and content learning. Kong and Hoare will focus on the use of English by teachers and students in the local English medium classrooms, based on data drawn from two studies on teacher explanations and student writing. Man will discuss some adaption issues of Secondary 1 English medium students switching from Chinese medium primary schools and will examine some support measures for their content learning. Walker will report on some of the difficulties students face using English for content learning in S4 and the role of an enrichment programme in supporting them. The colloquium will include an extended time for discussion on ways forward in English medium teaching and learning.

The Hong Kong government's language policy seeks to ensure that its citizens are trilingual (in Cantonese, Putonghua and English) and biliterate (in Chinese and English). The Singapore government also seeks to ensure that the population is biliterate in English and the speaker's L1. As most of the population is ethnically Chinese, this means that the Singaporean education system is concerned to ensure that people emerge biliterate in Chinese and English. The Chinese government, while insisting that Putonghua remain the medium of instruction in most contexts, is also encouraging the acquisition of literacy in English, and English has recently been introduced as a subject in all primary schools. This talk will consider the cognitive challenges involved in the acquisition of literacy in both Chinese and English and discuss some of the results of the current policies. The talk will include suggestions for ways of helping students acquire literacy in both Chinese and English.