A much under-researched issue in higher education is the extent to which English-medium university courses help students improve their English proficiency in an ESL context. Adopting a longitudinal, mixed methods design in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed, the current study tracked English language improvement, or lack thereof, among 33 students over a 12-month segment of a Bachelor of Education degree (B.Ed.) program. The results revealed that on average, student scores showed very slight improvement both overall and across each of the four skill areas, although there was considerable variation among the students in the amount of improvement or lack of improvement made. Analysis of the interview data identified a combination of factors that might influence students’ English language development in the B.Ed. program. Important implications of the results for pedagogical practices that facilitate ESL teacher trainees’ English language proficiency development are discussed. Although this study took place in Hong Kong, it has value in other contexts where second or foreign language learners study disciplinary content through the target language.
[Copyright © 2015 the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Presidio of Monterey.]

A central issue in language testing is the choice of norms, and the need to reconcile notions of "standard" English with local language norms and features. Data from studies of international intelligibility indicate that some features of "standard" language descriptions, based on native-speaker language use, are not essential for successful communication. A specific question in test design is thus the extent to which descriptors and rater decisions reflect native-speaker, as opposed to local, language norms. This article takes a case study approach by focusing on a speaking test used in Hong Kong. It analyses published examiner comments from 12 examination sessions between 2003 and 2011 and compares them with criteria for international intelligibility. It also analyses the distribution of the comments among various segmental and suprasegmental phonological categories and relates this to intelligibility research and to theoretical considerations. The study critically evaluates the concept of "intelligibility" and considers its relevance for language testing, and revisits certain aspects of the "local norms" debate. The findings of the study suggest that what examiners notice is generally also what is important for international intelligibility, although the importance of certain suprasegmental features is questionable from an intelligibility standpoint.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2013.824974]

This study, conducted over a one-year period, examined the collaboration practices in a large-scale school-university capacity-building collaborative action research project that was designed to help English language teachers develop the skills needed to deal with the reforms to assessment practices in Hong Kong's school curriculum. The study theorized collaboration as a complex construction that must be understood in the context of the prevailing ideologies shaping professional development practices for teachers. Online data generated from the collaborative action research project were analysed to explore the discursive construction of interpersonal relationships. Critical discourse analysis was used to examine the discursive strategies that were used in the emails of two university researchers and two school teachers to negotiate and manage collaboration practices. It examined the complexities of negotiating collaboration as a social practice in institutional cultures in a non-Western sociocultural setting. The implications of the findings for policy, professional development and future research are discussed.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2014.906386]

The aims of this study were to examine changes in students' English and math self-concepts and to investigate the effects of gender and school ability level on these changes. Self-concept in English and math were measured thrice across three years among a sample of 2618 secondary school students from Hong Kong. Gender and school ability level were included as time-invariant predictors. Results indicated that students' English self-concept slightly increased across time, while math self-concept marginally declined. Gender influenced both the initial levels and rates of change for English and math self-concepts, while school ability level predicted initial levels of self-concept. Implications are discussed.
[Copyright of Educational Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2014.909009]

In recent years, school-based assessment (SBA) has been incorporated into the English Language subject of a traditional high-stakes public examination, the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. As reactions from various stakeholder groups have been mixed, it was necessary to review this new practice. This paper reports on a study of 33 English language teachers who have been frontline SBA assessors. The study aimed to better understand (1) teacher-assessors' perceptions of the English SBA, (2) their professional development needs in relation to implementing SBA, (3) their perceptions of how students could benefit from SBA and (4) the pressing issues arising from the SBA implementation. The study found that, while many participants agreed that SBA could be beneficial to students' English learning, there was much room for improvement in all four aspects investigated. In particular, some problems identified at the very beginning of the implementation of the English SBA have still persisted.
[Copyright of Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2014.915207]