This study investigated the effects of two vocabulary instructional approaches on Chinese EFL primary school students (n = 31) to vocabulary learning, extended and incidental instructions, with using a between-subject design. Student's general intelligence and initial English ability were entered as covariates. The extended instruction featured multiple encounters to vocabulary, providing opportunities to apply as well as encouraging active and deep processing. The incidental instruction featured natural exposure to the words and learning vocabulary through readings. The instructional effects on student's vocabulary knowledge were assessed by three measures: target word mastery, expressive definition as well as word association. Extended instruction showed an advantage in building up vocabulary breadth in students compared to incidental instruction. Both instructions seemed inefficient on enhancing depth of vocabulary knowledge. Implications of present findings are discussed and directions about future research are suggested. All rights reserved.

Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that being stigmatized by the frontline educators. However, research targeting on the preservice teachers is scarce. Guided by the common sense model, a psychoeducation training about ASD was developed to understand pre-service teachers' attitude and to address the myths with comprehensive information.Methods A total of 233 undergraduate students studying educational programs completed a pre-test questionnaire, psychoeducation training, and a post-test regarding ASD. Among them, 216 participants completed a one-month follow-up measure. The hypotheses were tested using bivariate correlations and repeated measure t-test.Results The results of the bivariate correlations between the perceived chronicity and consequence of the course of ASD were positively associated with stigma and preferred social distance. By using the paired-sample t-test, the results suggested that participation in psychoeducation training could help to increase pre-service teachers' knowledge and reduce their stigmatizing attitudes towards individuals with ASD. A shorter preferred social distance and more acceptance level were significantly associated with improved knowledge at the post-test. The results of improved knowledge and decreased stigma were also observed one month after the psychoeducation training.Conclusion Theoretically, the present study indicates that the common sense model contributed to a deeper understanding of the attribute of the negative attitudes towards people with ASD. Practically, the effectiveness of the psychoeducation training on improving knowledge might provide some insights for the future development of knowledge-based interventions that mitigating the stigma associated with ASD. The findings could also guide the design of the teacher-training programs on special education to better prepare the pre-service teachers on their teaching professions. All rights reserved.

Early childhood is viewed as a fundamental stage of life in terms of physical and cognitive development; therefore, the investigation of pedagogy used in kindergarten and young children’s surrounding environment becomes essential. Play is being viewed as a central pedagogy in kindergartens of many countries, and teachers are considered as a vital element affecting child development. In Hong Kong, the importance of “Play” has been stressed for over 30 years; however, government reports and researches reflect the reality that learning and teaching in early childhood settings is deviated from the government’s expectations. In fact, kindergarten teachers face many challenges implementing play in their classroom. Factors such as parental expectations and school policy may discourage kindergarten teachers to further develop quality play time. Playwork is considered as the art and science of facilitating children’s play, and in this poster more about playwork and teachers as playworkers would be explored. Teachers will have a general idea on the benefits of having quality play time in early childhood, how playwork can facilitate play time, and strategies applying playwork theories in early childhood education settings. Strategies such as evaluating play values of different materials, creating playful environments and assessing play environment would also be mentioned. The intended results of this poster presentation are to increase teachers’ awareness in improving play quality in their classroom and to enhance their self-efficacy when hosting play activities. Copyright © 2017 The Education University of Hong Kong.

In recent years, universities in Hong Kong have attracted a large number of applicants from the Chinese mainland; however, despite sharing a common ethnicity with the locally born Chinese population of Hong Kong, these migrant students still encounter both linguistic and cross-cultural obstacles to their socialization (Gu 2011). Hong Kong students affected a particular Hong Kong style of code-switching between Cantonese and English (using Cantonese as a sentence base) to present a Hong Kong identity, through which to establish a group boundary (Gu, 2014). Putonghua is seen as an irrelevant language; to these students, not using Putonghua terms in daily intra-group communication is a means of establishing a Hong Kong identity, as opposed to a more generic Chinese one. Mainland Chinese students were found to have set up a Putonghua-speaking community at university, to resist the marginalized status of Putonghua. Furthermore, maintaining that American- or British-accented English is superior to other versions of the language, they practiced speaking ‘standard‘ English in order to establish an international identity, differentiating themselves from Hong Kong peers, who tended to speak Cantonese-accented English (Gu 2014). In addition to these two populations, there is a growing body of international students studying in Hong Kong, which makes the linguistic situation even more complex.With multilingual speakers sharing Chinese ethnicity but having different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, tertiary campuses in Hong Kong are unique multilingual settings, sites full of struggle in relation and response to governmental ideology surrounding multilingualism, public discourse emphasizing the use of English, and diverse language ideologies held by different language-based and cultural groups. As part of a larger project investigating the linguistic ecology of multilingual universities, this study, drawing on notion of symbolic competence (Kramsch and Whiteside 2008) and insights

Educators and politicians in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea expound the necessity for their East Asian school systems to become more like those in the West. They complain that there is too much rote learning, uniformity, and standardization and too little emphasis on creativity, diversity, and problem solving. In addition, competition is fierce for scarce places in elite schools and universities, leading to unfulfilled ambitions and wastage of talent among the high proportions of young people failing to gain entry. Meanwhile, their counterparts in North America, Australia, and Great Britain look in the reverse direction to these same East Asian countries and wonder what they can learn from the superior academic results of East Asian students on International Achievement Tests in mathematics and science (Atkin & Black, 1997). Copyright © 2002 by Routledge.

This chapter presents a qualitative study of the language-related educational experiences of a group of immigrant mainland Chinese students in a multilingual university in Hong Kong. Drawing on interview data, this study explored the construction process of the language ideologies of these students and the social, contextual and interpersonal factors that may influence the construction. This study identified the problems and issues that Hong Kong university academics need to address in order to build a more inclusive learning environment to accommodate the language needs of these Chinese students. Furthermore, this study explored effective ways of maintaining cultural and linguistic diversity in the multilingual universities in an era of globalisation. This study provided implications as to how the immigrant students can employ the multilingual practices as a symbolic resource instead of as a disadvantage constructed by the institutional ideologies. Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.

With the arrival of the new millennium, school leadership in Hong Kong is at a crossroads. School leaders are called upon to be more professional, more accountable and more active than ever before. Public pressure for better quality schools, and policy moves toward School-Based Management place new and increasing demands on school principals and other educational leaders. Knowledge and information are more available and transferable than at any time in history. Such an environment challenges school leaders to constantly search for ways to develop their skills, knowledge and thoughts. In line with this challenge, a group of professional educators met in May 1999 to reflect on and to analyze school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The group's brief was to consider school leadership specifically within the Hong Kong context and to identify and describe the key functions of the principal's role in Hong Kong schools. The outcome of their deliberations is the present document; a multi-level and multi-dimensional profile of contemporary school leadership practices in Hong Kong. The profile is not presented as a definitive description of school leadership in Hong Kong, nor do we expect everyone to embrace it as a professional tool. Rather, we hope that principals will use the profile as a resource when considering their key roles in school - and that through reading and reflecting upon the profile they will think more deeply about their own and others' roles in furthering the quality of education offered to Hong Kong students.
[Copyrigt© 2000 by Hong Kong Centre for the Development of Educational Leadership, The Chinese University of Hong Kong]

With restructuring characterising many school systems throughout the world, and major change leaving few schools untouched, school leaders are facing major challenges. This study focuses on a group of Hong Kong principals who conceptualise some of their challenges as dilemmas. The paper draws on previous literature to highlight the importance of articulating principals' perceptions of dilemmas in their daily lives, and identifies typologies and categories of dilemmas. It notes that dilemma research to date is grounded in Western examples and cultural settings, and that dilemmas faced by principals in non-Western settings have been ignored. Analysing dilemma situations recounted by Hong Kong principals, we identify the sources, coping mechanisms and outcomes of their dilemmas and examine the relationships between these phenomena. Among our findings are that dilemmas are multifaceted and irresolvable situations, and that principals tend to rely on a narrow range of deeply embedded Chinese cultural values as coping strategies. Copyright © 2000 Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

國際化是現時高等教育界的一個重要議程和發展方向，也是主流評級機構用以評核大學的其中一個因素。各界對國際化的定義不盡相同。在香港，有意見指實施國際化目的就是為了強化「香港的特徵」，從而增加國際學生與本地學生相互文化發展機會。境外學習活動既可以提升學生多方面的技能，亦能讓他們獲得個人全面發展及擴闊全球視野。透過瞭解國際化的定義，以及一所本地大學在其國際化進程中為學生提供境外學習的經驗，我們可對香港高校學生怎樣在國際化中獲益有更深瞭解。 Copyright © 2017 香港教師中心.

This study captures the thoughts and perceptions of a group of Hong Kong principals on the transfer of sovereignty and its effects on education. The investigation addressed the following guiding research question: What, according to their perceptions, have been, and will be, the effects on education policy and on school-level management and curriculum, of the transfer of sovereignty? A qualitative approach was adopted, using naturalistic methods of inquiry. Nine principals of aided secondary schools were selected for interview according to procedures of purposive sampling. Findings indicate that, faced with uncertainty arising from the change of sovereignty, principals feel confident of managing and coping with situations at the school level in connection with curriculum and management. However, they express concern and greater uncertainty about their ability to manage changes emanating in the broader socio-political educational environment, especially in regard to values and norms and access and opportunity, all of which are likely to impact on their schools. Copyright © 1997 Carfax Publishing Ltd.