Capitalizing on the comments made by teachers on videos of exemplary science teaching, a video-based survey instrument on the topic of 'Density' was developed and used to investigate the conceptions of good science teaching held by 110 teachers and 4,024 year 7 students in Hong Kong. Six dimensions of good science teaching are identified from the 55-item questionnaire, namely, 'focussing on science learning', 'facilitating students' understanding', 'encouraging students' involvement', 'creating conducive environment', 'encouraging active experimentation' and 'preparing students for exam (PSE)'. Significant gaps between teachers' and students' conceptions on certain dimensions have been revealed. The inconsistency on the dimension 'PSE' is particularly evident and possible reasons for the phenomenon are suggested. This study raises the important questions of how the gap can be addressed, and who is to change in order to close the gaps. Answers to these questions have huge implications for teacher education and teacher professional development.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2011.629375]

Since 2008, outcome-based learning (OBL), a student-centred strategy aiming to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, has been launched as a major initiative among higher education institutions in Hong Kong. When adopting OBL at course level, other than designing the OBL framework, it is also very important to evaluate the effectiveness of the OBL implementation. However, studies focusing on the evaluation of OBL have been rare. In this paper, the authors will report on the evaluation of the implementation of OBL in 17 pilot courses in the English Department in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Five evaluation instruments were developed, and questionnaire surveys and interviews based on these instruments were carried out to find out both students' and teachers' perceptions of OBL adopted in the pilot courses. The findings suggest that both the students and the teachers hold a generally positive attitude towards OBL, but a number of issues have been raised concerning the successful implementation of OBL at course level.
[Copyright of Research in Higher Education Journal is the property of Academic and Business Research Institute. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://www.aabri.com/rhej.html]

A major challenge for language teacher educators working in the area of teacher language awareness (TLA) is to develop pedagogical approaches that will go beyond merely enhancing L2 teachers' knowledge about language by enabling them to make the bridge between the declarative and procedural dimensions of TLA. This paper sets out to investigate the effectiveness of using online discussion forums to develop the language awareness of a group of student-teachers of L2 English in Hong Kong. Through content analysis of the 18 discussion threads initiated by these novice teachers, the research team found that despite the different reasons they had for posting their discussion topics, most of them had used extensively the e-learning platform to request help regarding the two dimensions of TLA, and that their reflections showed a strong tendency to move from the declarative to the procedural dimension of TLA. The study, though exploratory, has enhanced our understanding of learning to teach by opening up a small window for people to understand how TLA affected the teacher behaviour of this group of student-teachers during their teaching practice. The study also shows the research potential of using online discussion forums to understand teachers' language awareness development.
[Copyright of Language Awareness is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2012.680467]

This study investigates the development of reading in young Chinese learners of English in Hong Kong by comparing the effects of a guided reading intervention to an alternative treatment based on reading from e-books and a no-treatment control group. The key features of the guided reading intervention included: instruction on reading strategies and opportunities for interaction for negotiation of meaning with peers. The e-book reading focused on reading stories from CD-ROMs with embedded instructional features including opportunities to hear the stories and engage in routine word and text games but without any interaction with peers or any guidance from a teacher. Two hundred and five children, aged 9??0 years, from six primary schools in Hong Kong were stratified for gender and reading proficiency in English and randomly assigned to one of the three groups: the guided reading group, the e-book reading group and the no-treatment control group. The treatments were delivered as additional reading sessions on top of normal classroom instruction. Pre-and post-intervention tests revealed that children in the guided reading group significantly improved their reading comprehension and reading accuracy scores compared to the no-treatment control group. The children in the e-book reading group did not improve significantly compared to the no-treatment group in reading comprehension although there was significant improvement in reading accuracy. However, there was no significant difference between the children in the guided reading group and the e-book reading group ineither reading comprehension or reading accuracy scores. The pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed in the context of teaching English in primary schools in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of Language Learning Journal is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2011.625214]

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]