Hong Kong, a leading city of China, is a place with students having good examination results but being regarded as incapable of thinking critically. In 2005, the Education Bureau decided to make Liberal Studies as a core subject and aroused controversial debate. This change, proposing to use a core subject to nurture student critical thinking skills, is a drastic curriculum change in this society. This study, inquiring into the perceptions and practices of teachers teaching Liberal Studies, consists of two research questions. First, how do teachers perceive the aims and nature of the core subject Liberal Studies in the new curriculum? Second, how do they nurture the critical thinking habits of students in their classroom? Qualitative study was conducted to investigate teachers’ perception and practices of critical thinking in Liberal Studies. Both interview and documentary analysis are used in this study. First, the researcher interviewed five Liberal Studies teachers, who were experienced in teaching Liberal Studies. Each teacher individually attended the interview for about one hour. The researcher audio-recorded the conversation and transcribed word by word. Second, in order to follow up with interviews, teachers were invited to provide supporting materials such as teaching plan for further analysis. The study showed that a positive side in this reform. Teachers with strong perceptions for nurturing critical thinking skills of pupils were empathetic in teaching Liberal Studies. Teachers had initiated various methods to provide students opportunities to reflect on thinking and learning, which were drastically differed from traditional culture of Hong Kong. This study also showed that teachers’ perception of critical thinking skills in Liberal Studies also influences their practices in teaching the discipline. However, with the traditional pedagogical culture and examination bounded system, shifting from transmission of knowledge to nurturing critical thinking

The research reported here investigated the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by 15 Hong Kong preservice early childhood teachers (PSTs) who had completed a course regarding the use of ICT in early childhood settings as they participated in their first-year teaching practicum. The study examined the preservice teachers use of ICT and their ability to integrate ICT into their teaching practices. The research took place in 7 preschool settings across the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR). The results indicated that preservice teachers used ICT mostly in the context of a teacher-directed approach to learning. The contexts allowed for few child-directed activities and very few child-initiated activities. Similarly, when the preservice teachers incorporated learning activities that used ICT, they initiated and directed most of the activities. The findings from this study indicate that school factors, such as school-level curriculum, ICT infrastructure, and the mentor-teacher’s teaching philosophy exerted a powerful influence on the way that preservice teachers were able to use ICT in their teaching practicum.
[Copyright © 2017 National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators.]

A lot of literature has been written about education as the transmission of cultural knowledge yet the way in which culture, as ritual action, constitutes and fosters religio-cultural ideological myth remains largely unexplored in the context of ritual pedagogies in school settings. In Hong Kong, the government had initiated an educational reform promoting the play-based child-centred approach to replace the traditional mode of teacher-centred approach aimed at meeting the changing world at the start of 21st century. However, there are great variations when these principles and approaches are implemented in classroom practice. Even though the school voucher scheme1 providing support for parents to choose kindergartens that adopt the approach has been introduced in 2006, there is no significant impact in the field of early childhood education. This study aimed to identify the extent to which how different ritual pedagogies had reflected the mythical values that the teachers held by examining the forms and practices of ritual in two early childhood classroom settings. Data was collected through observational records and interviews to examine how the mythical values of the two teachers concerned had underpinned their ritualistic practises. The findings suggested that teachers using different ritual pedagogies had reflected entirely different mythical values that they held respectively. The implication for this study is that schools should not ignore the mythical values of their teachers if they are to realise their school missions and cultural values that they cherished. The study might give insight to early childhood practitioners and policy makers on how the ritualistic practises of the teachers could make a big difference to the realisation of their ideological goals. On the academic side, light might be shed for an understanding of the puzzled gap between the traditional teaching mode and the recommended approaches.
[Copyright © 2013 Grace LAU, Kwok Keung

There is about 17,000 kindergarteners (i.e. young kids aged 3 to 6 years old) learning Chinese as a second language (CSL) in Hong Kong (HK). Previous research shows that these children’s Chinese language (CL) ability is at least 3 years behind their native Chinese counterparts while encountering difficulties in learning. It is also a challenge for the teachers to cater for such huge learning diversity, as HK kindergartens (for 3- to 6-year-olds) mainly use the theme-based approach without deliberate consideration of CL curriculum (HKEDB, 2006). Without professional training in CSL teaching, teachers have little knowledge of how to provide these students with adequate support. The present study aims to examine the possibility and effectiveness of implementing a CSL curriculum for CSL students, and how well it works with the existing theme-based curriculum. “Dynamic Enrichment Learning Mode” (DELM) was developed and implemented in six kindergartens with 131 CSL learners. This CSL-focused DELM was designed based on the Second Language Acquisition (Krashen, 1982) and CL orthographic (Leong et al., 2011) theories and comprises the following: (1) tailor-made individual (one 30-minute session every fortnight) and group (two 30-minute sessions every week) enrichment learning activities; (2) using both CSL and mainstream theme-based curricula; (3) authentic learning materials (e.g., picture books and specially written children’s songs based on the learning objectives of each unit); (4) diversified learning activities (e.g., interactive language games, matching games, free writing games etc.). CSL students learn together during the enrichment activities, and then return to their ordinary classes to learn with their native Chinese classmates to benefit from both the CSL and theme-based curricula. This enables them to immerse in a safe, comfortable environment with rich target language input while not having to separate from their Chinese counterparts. Quasi-experiments,

This chapter reports on a one-year study, investigating how students in a primary school in Hong Kong advanced their content knowledge of science in a seamless inquiry-based learning environment leveraged by BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), taking the topic of “Flowers and Seeds” in the Biodiversity learning unit as an example. One teacher and 28 Grade 6 students were involved in this study. The students’ inquiry learning activities were documented using various apps. Qualitative data including pre-and post-domain tests, class observations, student artifacts, online postings and field notes were collected and analysed to examine students’ learning. The findings suggest that effective use of apps such as Skitch, Edmodo and Evernote with BYOD using an inquiry-based learning approach, could help younger students advance their knowledge in science, develop personalised learning skills and gain a better sense of ownership in science learning. In addition, the results indicate that tracing individual and group inquiry activities in multiple spaces can make the learning process and outcomes visible that may inform teachers and learners of their enhanced educational practices.

Request is a prominent daily life speech act which a speaker manipulates appropriate linguistic forms to make a hearer perform an action to fulfill the speaker’s needs. Variations in the use of request forms will normally reflect a speaker’s pragmatic competence; i.e. language and culture. Research findings by Rose (2000 & 2009), Achiba (2003), Dewart and Summers (1995) and Ellis (1992) have pointed out that request forms used by young children provide a lot of important information about the pragmatic development of young children in their L1 and/or L2 learning. Previous research on pragmatics has concentrated on the learning of English or other European languages as a second language by adult learners. Not much has been known about pragmatic development among young children learning a second language. As a result of internationalization and global mobility of people, it is getting common that some children start learning a second language in early years for schooling adaptation in the host country. In recent years in Hong Kong, the lack of research evidence in inter-language pragmatics, with special regard to child language (i.e. Cantonese as L2) development, has made it difficult for policy-makers and educators to make decision on the Chinese language (as L2) education instruction and intervention for education equity of ethnic minority children studying in mainstream schools. This paper aims at examining (i) the relationship between L2 Cantonese pragmatic knowledge (language proficiency and cultural knowledge) and Pakistani preschoolers’ expression of Cantonese request strategies; (ii) the relationship between Pakistani parents’ Cantonese proficiency and their children’s Cantonese request strategies; (iii) the difference in the ability of using Cantonese request strategies by Pakistani preschoolers at different grade levels in kindergarten; i.e. K1, K2 and K3. All discussions in the paper are based on findings from an on-going research project which is

在漢語教學的國際熱潮中，香港的情況比較特殊。除了通過普通話教學外，更多香港非華語人士需要學習本地通用的廣州話（粵語），從而認識中文，解決生活的需要。粵語是現代漢語中較強勢的方言，有自成體系的語音系統、方言詞彙和語法特色。非華語人士如要通過粵語學習中文，面對粵語口語和現代漢語書面語之間的差距，往往會較諸通過普通話學習中文更遠。 以粵語作為中文教學媒介語在香港由來已久，無論是中文母語或二語教學，如何能指導學生兼顧口語與書面語表達之間的差異──能以粵語口語有效表達，同時又能避免 讓粵語方言干擾現代漢語書面語，素來都是中文教師的重大考驗。為此，本文將以一次支援「多元文化教學助理先修課程」的中文教學實踐為例，報告如何活用粵語拼音，裝備非華語中學業生掌握基本的中文幼兒教學用語，並認識與本地幼兒教師溝通所需的粵語。 上述教學試驗為特定對象而設，含前測與學業評估（口語及書面語）共 30 教時。本文擬檢視學生的前測與學業評估表現，對照教學實驗重點、學習內容及學生反饋意見等資料，評鑑粵語拼音在教授香港非華語學生中文的意義，為同類課程的未來發展提供實證的參考資源。

外籍人士表示，學漢語最大的困難莫過於漢字（趙金銘，2006）。學漢字必須一個一個地學，一個一個地記。周健、尉萬傳（2004）提出漢字學習三種現象：1. 漢字學習與漢語學習的正相關顯著，漢字學得好的學生往往也是漢語成績好的；2.儘管反復書寫練習是留學生普遍認同的策略，但優秀學生更多地採用音義符歸納策略或整字策略。3.女生成績優於男生，日韓等漢字學習圈學生優於非漢字圈國家學生。本研究試從教學語言方面探討。研究員曾在香港兩所幼兒園，分別以英語及粵語為主要的教學語言進行識字教學的研究。本文將探討這兩所幼兒園的非華語學童識字能力的表現。

Mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum is core to school education in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Through mother tongue language learning, students are expected to enhance their understanding of the nation's culture and foster the sense of cultural and ethnic identity. However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. This study examines Hong Kong Chinese language teachers' perceptions of MTL education, and the implication on MTL curriculum development. The questionnaire was administrated to 97 teachers, and interviews were carried out on 17 teachers. Usually, MTL is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture. In Hong Kong, 95% of the population is of Chinese descent. Traditionally, education in China was a mixture of philosophy, history, politics and literacy. Chinese as an MTL subject in pre-colonial Hong Kong has always been assigned the mission of developing students' cultural identity in addition to the development of linguistic proficiency. During the colonial period, the Chinese Language curriculum shifted to be more language skills based with less emphasis on Chinese culture and moral education. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, although a new curriculum was implemented in 2002, teaching and learning in school as well as public examinations seem to be remaining language skills oriented instead of culturally based. This deviation from the trend of both Chinese traditional education and global mother tongue language education makes some Chinese language teachers feel confused. In addition, there is comment that in general Hong Kong students' Chinese language proficiency is becoming weaker and weaker in recent years. Thus, effectiveness of the skills oriented language curriculum has come under question. How a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language