This paper presents the design and implementation of a technological literacy course in professional development training for a diverse group of in-service primary teachers in Hong Kong. A set of micro-controlling hardware was chosen such that not only the controlling and coding barriers are acceptable to the teachers but that their pupils can also adopt the easy-to-use hardware and software to create STEM projects in primary schools. The hands-on training seeks to broaden their technological experiences in various interfacing and sensing activities. The coding challenge is reduced by introducing visual programming, thereby allowing the learners to focus on real- world problems in the STEM disciplines. Details of the course are provided and the assessment projects by Engineering Design Process are illustrated in this paper. The quantitative evaluation of teachers in their micro-controlling experience is provided. Copyright © 2018 by IEEE.

Transmission of traditional art forms in the modern world has been a major issue in the field of arts education. Different issues have been raised on how to preserve the traditional art forms for further development. Cantonese opera is a representative Chinese opera popular in south China including Hong Kong. However, the genre has been experienced fluctuation since 1950s with the difficulties of transmission through oral tradition to conservatory tradition. While the Hong Kong Government promotes the genre to reserve the cultural tradition, great masters have been fading out and younger generation encounters difficulties in inheriting the genre. This article reports parts of a large-scale study on the nature and characteristics of oral tradition, learning in community settings, conservatory tradition, and proposes a model of transmission of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong. The model may shed light on preserving, inheriting, and further developing traditional performing arts in the modern world. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s).

This study studied the accent perception of a group of non-native pre-service EFL teachers in Hong Kong in order to see whether native English norm is of their preference for teaching and learning. Results found that participants all preferred traditional native English as learning model and seemed to have overlooked the principle of intelligibility, even there had been calls for using lingua franca core as learning model. Results show that participants all preferred using native English to be the model of teaching and learning. Among all the native English varieties, participants preferred the accent from the United Kingdom though not all could identify the accent they preferred. The study showed there was a mismatch between what the participants preferred and their ability of identifying accents of different kinds. Copyright © 2018 Academy Publication.

Background. Word reading and linguistic comprehension skills are two crucial components in reading comprehension, according to the Simple View of Reading (SVR). Some researchers have posited that a third component should be involved in reading and understanding texts, namely executive function (EF) skills.Aim. This study was novel in two ways. Not only did we tested EF skills as a predictor of reading comprehension in a non-alphabetic language (i.e., Chinese) to extend the theoretical model of SVR, we also examined reading comprehension further in kindergarten children (age 5) in Hong Kong, in the attempt to reveal possible early precursors of reading comprehension.Sample(s). A group of 170 K3 kindergarteners was recruited in Hong Kong.Methods. Children’s word reading was assessed. Their linguistic comprehension was assessed with phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, and vocabulary knowledge. Using a structured observation task, Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS), we measured their composite scores for EF skills.Results. Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders performance predicted unique variance in children’s Chinese reading comprehension concurrently beyond word reading and a set of linguistic comprehension skills. Conclusions. The results highlight the important role of EF skills in beginning readers’ reading comprehension. Copyright © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

This paper reports and discusses the results of a study aimed at automatically categorising teacher feedback on student writing. A total of 3412 teachers’ written comments on 90 students’ draft essays were collected from an EFL course offered by a Hong Kong university during the first semester of 2016/17. The data were primarily used to design and implement an automated tool to classify teachers’ comments with respect to a taxonomy of their characteristics. The findings of this study show that the performance of the automated tool is comparable to that of human annotators, suggesting the feasibility of using the automatic approach to identify and analyse different types of teacher feedback. This study can contribute to future research into the investigation of the impact of teacher feedback on student writing in a big data world. Copyright © 2018 International Journal of Information and Education Technology. All rights reserved.

本文以香港中文准教師沉浸課程的學習成果為研究材料，比較學前學後 PSC（國家普通話水準測試）成績，結合自我評估問卷調查，檢測沉浸課程的普通話學習成效。資料顯示，有超過 70% 的准教師在參加沉浸課程後達到了 PSC 二級乙等或以上水準，較之前增加 30% ；個人成績提升了 6 分左右，近 70% 的准教師提升了至少一個等級 ；沉浸課程對 PSC 三級甲等或以下等級的提升作用最明顯。研究發現，以 PSC 為導向的普通話能力訓練，以及語言環境、語伴活動和文化考察等多元化的語境實踐，可以從多個層面促進准教師的普通話進步，以及專業發展和個人成長。沉浸課程具備可以提高內在動機和外在動機的多種誘因，同時也需要照顧學生的認知和情感 ；而學習者開放心態，投入學習，也是課程成功的重要因素。This research examines the effectiveness of an immersion program in the Putonghua learning of pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong by studying their selfevaluation questionnaires, as well as their pre- and post-PSC (Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi ‘Putonghua Proficiency Test’) results. It is shown that more than 70% of preservice Chinese teachers are able to attain Level 2B or above in their PSC through this program, at least a level higher than the one they previously attained. Each of them is able to get around 6 more marks in his/her PSC. The total number of preservice Chinese teachers attaining the aforementioned level or above increases by 30%. It also leads to a remarkable improvement in the PSC results of pre-service Chinese teachers who previously attained Level 3A or below. The immersion program has the most obvious effect on the students at Level 3A below. Moreover, this research discovers that a PSC oriented Putonghua skills training, along with the application of language skills in real-life contexts through culture exploration activities or a language buddy program, can lead to a significant improvement in the Putonghua proficiency of pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong, as well as professional development and personal growth. An immersion program provides them intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to improve their Putonghua proficiency. Meanwhile, we need to take care of students’ cognition and emotion. The success of such immersion program depends on whether pre-service Chinese teachers are openminded and willing to concentrate on their Putonghua learning. Copyright © 2018 香港教育大學.

Ethnic minorities (EM) comprise 5% of Hong Kong's population of 7 million. In schools 3% (14,000) are ethnic/linguistic minority students whose poor achievement in senior secondary years is evidence of disproportionate educational outcomes compared with those of Chinese speaking students. The government has rolled out support measures to meet the learning needs of EM students. Research reported here gathered perceptions of the impact of these support measures in achieving the stated objectives - minimising language and cultural barriers to school achievement, and facilitating smooth integration of EM students into Hong Kong society. Findings reveal that the singularly focused pedagogical provision for Chinese language acquisition is too narrow and exposes the role language policy plays in the construction of social inequality in Hong Kong. There are absences; unacknowledged culture diversity; unaddressed discrimination, and unrecognised pedagogical challenges emanating from teachers' calls for more support. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Teacher Education.

Private tutoring has become a widespread phenomenon worldwide, partly due to the global trend of marketisation and commodification of education. Informed by a discursive view of identity and through multimodal discourse analysis, this study aims to unveil part of the shadow education discourse by investigating the identities of 41 English language tutors portrayed in their biographies on the websites of six leading tutorial schools in Hong Kong. The findings suggest that the tutors project identities as (1) an authoritative exam expert, (2) a popular star, and (3) a well-qualified English language teacher. These multiple identities overlap and collectively create an 'exam expert-star-teacher' hybrid identity. The study sheds light on how implicit values and beliefs about shadow education are created and manifested in educational and social discourses, particularly when biography in tutorial advertisements is a prevailing commercial genre with promotional purposes. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

香港教育大學中國語言學系提供的「照顧小學生中文的學習差異專業進修證書」課程，通過理論介紹與行動研究，幫助在職老師進一步了解、掌握、推動小學中文課室內融合教育，改善教學方法，提升教學質量，照顧學生不同需求，讓不同層次的學生在學習上都能有所提升，從而更好地在學校推行融合教育。此課程是一個雙向的課程，學員們不但能從課程中學到最新的理論，也可以從各自的學校的實戰當中相互分享先進實用的經驗。本文將列舉本課程中和學員一道進行的一部分行動研究，並闡述一些學校在融合教育當中對於協助具有特殊教育需要的同學在小學中國語文方面的中國語文校本課程計劃、照顧個別差異的課程評估，以及提升學生在閱讀教學中的興趣和投入感等方面的實戰經驗，使學界能對香港小學課室內中文科目融合教育有進一步的了解。The Department of Chinese Language Studies of The Education University of Hong Kong offers a “Certificate in Professional Development Programme on Catering for Student Diversity in Learning Chinese in Primary Schools” course. Through theoretical introduction and action research, the in-service teachers can better understand, master and promote their classroom integration in primary school Chinese classes and improve their teaching methods. The quality of teaching takes care of students' different needs and enables students of different levels to improve their learning so as to better integrate education in schools. This course is a two-way course, not only the in-service teachers can learn the latest theory from the course, but also share their advanced and practical experiences. This article will describe some of the action studies conducted in conjunction with the students in this course, and explain some of the schools' Chinese language school-based curriculum plans for assisting students with Special Educational Needs in elementary school Chinese language in integrated education. The practical experience of taking care of individual differences in curriculum assessments and enhancing students' interest in and interest in reading has enabled the academic community to have a better understanding of the integration of Chinese subjects in Hong Kong’s primary school classrooms. Copyright © 2017 特殊教育學會有限公司.