Based on a tentative model and a sample of 215 university international students of the second year studying Chinese in the PRC, this research studied the relationships among Motivation in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Socio-cultural Adaptation, Academic Adaptation, Language Achievement and Institutional Persistence, and evaluated their contributions in a causal model of Adaptation and SLA. The results of the study indicated that the theoretical model provided good fit to the data, and generally supported Gardner's (2005) socio-educational model except that Language Anxiety was not found to have a cause and effect relationship with Language Achievement. Instrumentality seemed to significantly predict the variation of Persistence together with Academic Adaptation. Moreover, Saving Other's Face Scale seemed to be important to predict Motivation, Socio-cultural Adaptation and especially Academic Adaptation. Copyright © 2006 Office of Research, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong.

參照 Cummins 的語言相互依存假說（The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis）和閾限假說（The Thresholds Hypothesis），本文以香港一所標榜中英雙語教育的國際學校為案例，旨在探索港式中英雙語教育成效。通過運用（1）多元線性迴歸分析法（Multiple Regression Analysis）全面檢驗 251 位小學一至六年級學生中英雙語語文能力與超學科認知能力表現之相關性，評鑑 Cummins 的假說對解說港式中英雙語教育成效的適用程度；（2）ANOVA 變異數分析法（Analysis of Variance）探析 30 位小學一至六年級學生的中英雙語能力表現與其對中英雙語的態度及家長對中英雙語教育的態度之相關性，推論影響接受中英雙語教育學童語文能力不平衡發展的因素；（3）內容分析法（Content Analysis ）分析案例學校 10 位中英班主任和 3 位校長訪談內容、校本中英雙語課程大綱等，探討校本中英雙語教學模式與學生雙語能力發展的關係。研究發現：（1）Cummins的假說某程度能解說港式中英雙語教育成效，跨語實踐（Translanguaging）學理進一步完善和補充其假說；（2）在相同的校本中英雙語教育條件下，學生學習中英雙語的動機和對外語學習的焦慮程度、家長對孩子的期望值和對孩子學習的投入度、家庭社經地位、家庭用語偏向、不同持分者對雙語教育信念一致性、差異化教學的實施、社會語言生態環境等因素影響學童中英語文能力發展；（3）校本中英雙語教學模式有利於學生發展多重、整合的雙語實踐能力，具獨特的參考價值和發展意義。Based on Cummins's Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis and Thresholds Hypothesis, this study aimed to examine the effectiveness of Chinese-English bilingual education in a bilingual international school in Hong Kong by using :（1） Multiple Regression Analysis to examine the correlation between Chinese and English bilingual proficiency and transdisciplinary cognitive ability of 251 primary Year 1 to Year 6 students, in order to evaluate the applicability of Cummins’s hypothesizes for explaining the effectiveness of Chinese-English bilingual education in Hong Kong; （2） Analysis of Variance to analyze the correlation between Chinese and English bilingual proficiency of 30 primary Year 1 to Year 6 students, their attitudes towards Chinese-English bilingualism and their parents' attitudes towards Chinese-English bilingual education, in order to infer the factors that affected the unbalanced development of Chinese and English proficiency of children who are receiving Chinese-English bilingual education; （3） Content Analysis to analyze the interview scripts of 10 bilingual class teachers and 3 principals, the school-based bilingual curriculum, etc. to explore the relationship between the school-based Chinese-English bilingual education model and the development of student's bilingual

Diagnostic assessment (DA) has its objective in generating fine-grained diagnostic profiles for effective treatment or intervention. Most existing DA studies on English academic writing focus on developing diagnostic tools to identify problems or difficulties within written texts. Rarely are there studies that design and implement a treatment or intervention phrase following the diagnosis. Moreover, despite of its importance, few studies have examined the construct of discourse competence. This thesis project, therefore, firstly diagnosed EFL learners’ development of discourse competence (DC) as indicated by their academic writing in university, and then based on the diagnostic results, designed and implemented an intervention study.The project involved six Chinese EFL learners studying in a university in Hong Kong, nine individuals studying in mainland, and their 277 peers pursuing their first degree in an international degree program based on a comprehensive university in mainland China. In both contexts, the participants need to write academic assignments in English. Methodologically, the project adopted a mixed-method approach and was conducted via four inter-linked studies, namely, a text analysis study, a comparative multiple-case studies, a survey, and an intervention study. The diagnosis phrase, consisting of text analysis, multiple case study and a survey, examined student writers’ textual features, composing strategies, and academic writing knowledge status. The intervention phrase was designed to resolve students’ problems and difficulties identified in the first phase.The results showed that the cyclical diagnostic assessment procedure was effective in identifying specific lacks, problems and difficulties in learners’ written products, composing process and knowledge status, and the diagnosis could inform the design of intervention measures in teaching and learning of EFL academic writing. Specifically, contextuality was found to be a critical element for

Subject-specific training in mathematics teaching for students with intellectual disabilities (IDs) has been little studied in the academic field and is uncommon in the practice of teacher education. Given that teachers face significant challenges in regard to teaching mathematics to ID students, it is necessary to know whether there is a need for subject-specific training. If yes, what kind of subject-specific training do teachers need? What kind of subject-specific knowledge should be covered? How can this kind of training contribute to improving mathematics teaching for ID students?To answer the above questions, this study focuses on one particular teacher professional development programme (BE MATHS programme) for mathematics teachers who teach ID students in special schools in Hong Kong. Programme effects and the contributing factors of the effects are examined to explore whether and how subjectspecific support can contribute to the profession of teaching mathematics to ID students.The study is conducted via a mixed-methods approach. First, it uses quantitative measures to examine teachers’ changes in mathematics teaching efficacy and students’ changes in their academic engaged time in mathematics classes. Second, a qualitative approach is used to explore the contributing factors of the changes.Quantitative results show that the programme has a significant positive effect on teachers’ mathematics teaching outcome expectancy and a conditional positive effect on teachers’ personal mathematics teaching efficacy. It is also found that the programme can improve teachers’ mathematics teaching by engaging more students in mathematics learning.The qualitative findings in this study show that the design of teaching and learning trajectories with subject experts is a substantial learning activity for teachers. During the design process, teachers and subject experts identified knowledge gaps within the mathematical content to be delivered to ID students and successfully inserted

The mixed methods study detailed in this thesis, which involved 238 Higher Diploma of Early Childhood Education students, investigated the influences on the environmental attitudes of pre-service preschool teachers (hereafter, pre-service teachers) in Hong Kong. The research design adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach was the dominant method of data collection, and it consisted of a web-based self-administrated survey, namely, the Environmental Attitudes of Pre-service Preschool Teachers Scale (EAPPT Scale), which had 52 items that were measured by a Likert-type scale. The qualitative approach aimed to supplement the quantitative findings, and the method involved three face-to-face focus group interviews. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using Rasch modeling and the thematic approach, respectively.In this study, the Rasch Rating Scale Model (RSM) was utilized to examine the quantitative data of the EAPPT. Person supportiveness and item agreeability were both expressed as probabilistic units (i.e., logits or log-odds) in reference to the same continuum. The Rasch RSM is a probabilistic approach that converts non-linear data (i.e., ordinal data) into linear data (i.e., logits) for the in-depth analysis of psychometric variables.The Rasch modeling analysis found that the EAPPT Scale and its five subscales, namely, education, alternative experiences, beliefs, social interactions, and action potential, fit the Rasch model well, and the respective reliability of the subscales was good. Through the triangulation process, the qualitative results mostly concurred with the quantitative findings. The pre-service teachers’ scores in the action potential domain were comparatively lower than those in the other domains. The most influential factors of the environmental attitudes of the pre-service teachers were in the education and alternative experiences domains. The key findings were encouraging in that, overall, the pre-service

This study aims at identifying effective metacognitive teaching strategies (MTSs) in the Chinese Language that can enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities. Learning to learn is the common theme of education reform in Shanghai and Hong Kong since the 21st century. It implies that schools have to train students to become self-regulated learners since the new millennium. However, empirical literature using classroom observation to identify MTSs in a natural environment is scant. Such an approach of study can provide useful results to support student reading abilities within the Chinese-speaking regions. Therefore, this study attempts to fill the research gap. There are three research questions of this study:Q1 What metacognitive teaching strategies are used by the Shanghai and Hong Kong teachers to develop students’ reading comprehension skills in the Chinese Language?Q2 Are the metacognitive teaching strategies used by the teachers of the two regions suggest any similarities and/or differences?Q3 What are the factors that may contribute to teachers’ use of metacognitive teaching strategies?A cross-case analysis was employed in this study to identify teachers’ strategies and the factors that influence teachers’ instruction. The study compared the case studies of Shanghai and Hong Kong teachers’ classroom teaching and explored teachers’ metacognitive teaching factors. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Two schools from Shanghai and two from Hong Kong took part in the research. In each school, two teachers and about 70 students from two separate classes participated. Data were collected in multiple methods of inquiry, including questionnaires, lesson observation, and open-ended interviews. Classroom observations and interviews were conducted to identify MTSs for teaching the Chinese language. Questionnaires and interviews were used to explore the influencing factors of teachers’ use of instructional strategies. This research adopted NVivo to code

Background: In Hong Kong, the time limitation set for physical education (PE) lessons at schools is one of the obstacles in promoting adequate physical activity (PA) levels for students. Flipped learning is a pedagogical approach that advocate more interaction between teachers and learners, in return promoting more PA participation. The present study utilised the self-determination theory (SDT) as the theoretical framework for designing flipped learning content to be applied during PE lessons, targeting the improvement of students’ PA levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the flipped learning unit on the PA levels and motivation of students during PE lesson.Method: For this study, 111 Grade 5 students at a Hong Kong primary school participated in the study. They were grouped into a flipped learning group (PE lesson with flipped learning; n=57) or a traditional learning group (PE lesson with regular teaching; n=54). Participants were randomly assigned to groups followed the class they were in. The flipped learning design included an online self-learning session and an in-school learning session with more practice and discussion time allowed during the course of a four-lesson PE learning unit. The lessons for both groups were conducted in twice weekly sessions that lasted for 25 minutes each. An accelerometer (GT3X) was used to measure the PA levels of students during the four experimental PE lessons; and questionnaires were used to assess their motivation before each PE class.Results: Using ANOVA, a significant difference in PA level was found between the traditional learning group and flipped learning group (F, [1,21] = 21.76, p < .05). Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) duration of the flipped lessons was higher and duration of sedentary (SED) was lower than that of the traditional lessons. At the same time, autonomous motivation was a positive predictor of MVPA (β = 1.603, p < 0.05) in practice-oriented lessons. In addition

This qualitative study examined the pedagogical thoughts of three kindergarten teachers in the English classroom practice. It is a partial replication of Gatbonton Model (1999, 2008) and Mullock Model (2006). Three teachers were invited to attend stimulated recall interviews to explain their segments of their lesson recordings. The underlying assumption is the cognitive thinking of teachers can be coded when they are prompted with visual or audio aids. These pedagogical thoughts were labeled and categorized into 50 pedagogical thoughts under eight domains. The highest consulted pedagogical thoughts of the three teachers were compared and discussed to find patterns, and similarities and differences. The data were further studied to find out the PCK of kindergarten English teachers (PCK-EKT). Seven PCK components were identified: (1) Subject Content Knowledge (PCK-SCK), (2) Knowledge of Students (PCK-KS), (3) Knowledge of Educational Context (PCK-KEC), (4) Knowledge of Education Ends (PCKKEE), (5) Knowledge of Curriculum (PCK-KCu), (6) General Pedagogical Knowledge, and (7) Child-friendly Pedagogy. With a focus to inform teaching practice, the components are basically like the seven categories of Shulman’s teacher knowledgeg. The derived PCK-EKT emphasizes the knowledge in PCK. For example, PCK-SCK means Subject Content Knowledge within teaching kindergarten English. The knowledge is discipline-specific. The category in teacher knowledge in Shulman’s model is in a broad sense. Besides, the PCK development of the three teachers was recorded. Their stories give insights on teacher professional development and the role of principals in ‘nurturing’ competent English teachers. All rights reserved.

In most of the Christian churches in Hong Kong, children Sunday schools were established for nurturing children’s spirituality. Bible storytelling is the major activity in Sunday school lessons. Sunday school teachers are church goers and serve voluntarily. However, some of them feel frustrated as they have difficulties in engaging children.Various research studied the characteristics of children’s spirituality and the influences of storytelling. Scholars suggested that adults can learn from children. Therefore, the author of this study is interested in the experience of Sunday school teachers on children’s spirituality in the lessons. Therefore, a conceptual framework of how the Sunday school teachers or Bible storytellers experienced children’s spirituality was established. A qualitative research was worked out and 15 Sunday school teachers were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the verbatims were the major data. Five observation sessions were also done, providing supplemented data.This study identified three kinds of Bible stories that are more attractive to children and visualization of the ancient world with suitable teaching materials also facilitated children’s engagement. When the children were engaged, the teachers experienced children’s spirituality in terms of relational consciousness and characteristics of children as spiritual beings.For the relational consciousness, teachers experienced the children making meanings of Bible stories to God’s stories, self-story and others’ story. Interestingly, the teachers also perceived that they experienced spiritual growth in terms of feeling connected to self, God and others.For the experience of the essential characteristics of children as spiritual beings, it was in terms of simple, wholeness, genuine, and joy. It impacted the teachers and they hoped to be “becoming like a child”.Therefore, this study identified that the teachers were spiritually nurtured in terms of growth in relationships

本文以香港教育大學“漢語作為第二語言教學榮譽文學士課程”的“學校體驗 (Field Experience) ”課程為例，從評核模式、QA機制和學習成果等三方面，介紹、檢測、反思香港國際漢語准教師學校體驗課程的評核機制，以期為對全球化背景下的國際漢語師資培訓提供參考。文章首先從評核項目和評核標準層面，系統介紹相關評核模式的框架與內容，包括准教師掌握學科知識、運用教學內容知識 (教學設計)、進行教與學活動、應用評估以促進學與教的能力，以及關懷及照顧學習者的需要、教學評鑒和反思 (上課期間及課堂後)的表現。進而介紹評核的素質保障機制，包括導師層面的專業資格認定，操作指引，評估標準化訓練，啟導協同，意見調查，以及學生層面的申訴與轉介機制。最後從學習成果層面檢測相關評核機制的成效。數據顯示，學校體驗評核機制形成的回沖效應（Backwash effect)可以正面引導學生的學校體驗學習行為，達到評估促進學習的目標。 Copyright © 2022 英國漢語教學研究會.