Hong Kong is linguistically complex and diverse with three principal languages: Cantonese, English and Putonghua. A substantial debate on the language policies governing the three principal languages has continued for more than two decades among policy-makers and educators. The political transition in 1997 has greatly affected Hong Kong society, including language education. Since then, the HKSAR government has made a series of language policy reforms trying to create a reasonable balance among the three languages in Hong Kong. The policies of ‘biliteracy and trilingualism’ and ‘mother-tongue teaching’ are two of the most significant in terms of controversy and impact. They are now guiding the curriculum design in Hong Kong language education. The goal of the former policy is to train Hong Kong people to be truly biliterate (written English and Chinese) and trilingual (spoken English, Cantonese and Putonghua). However, Hong Kong primary schools presently do not have an agreed method for the implementation of trilingual education. After a comprehensive historical review of the development of language education in Hong Kong schools, this study aims to find out how the ‘biliterate’ and ‘trilingual’ language policy is currently implemented in Hong Kong primary schools. 155 Hong Kong primary schools participated in a questionnaire survey on how trilingual education is implemented in the schools. The findings suggest that the implementation of trilingual education varied significantly from school to school, and the effectiveness of the trilingual education models varied as well. It is hoped that the findings will help us to gain a better understanding of trilingual education in Hong Kong, and the study could lead to some insightful and theoretical contributions to multilingual education in general.
[Copyright © 2015 Wang and Kirkpatrick; licensee Springer.]

The present study explored the home literacy environment for Chinese ESL kindergarteners and examined the relationships between home literacy practices and language and literacy skills. Ninety Hong Kong Chinese ESL kindergarteners were assessed for English vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and word reading. Their parents completed a questionnaire about home literacy practices. Results showed that these practices can be classified into three aspects: shared reading, exposure to English materials and home teaching. Shared reading uniquely predicted receptive and expressive vocabulary, syllable awareness and word reading in English. Exposure to English materials predicted expressive vocabulary and home teaching predicted letter knowledge.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.]

The article describes a comparative case study on children's agentive orientations in two Hong Kong preschools, one is play-based and the other is academically focused. Agentive orientations were measured using Reunamo's interview tool, which focuses on children's uses of accommodative and agentive orientations in everyday situations. The findings show that children in the academically oriented preschool had more uncertain and less participative orientations than those in the play-based preschool. Boys in the academically oriented setting were found to be more vulnerable than both girls and their counterparts in the play-based preschool when confronted with a conflict setting. The results indicate that the play-based environment stimulated children's capacities for agentive and participative social engagement, suggesting that play provides children with the opportunity to develop more versatile social tools and strategies. These competences are of vital importance for successful engagement in collective settings such as classrooms and schools.
[Copyright © 2015 Taylor & Francis.]

Since the late 1990s, early childhood education in Hong Kong has progressively lounged a series of reforms to raise the quality of early year education. Along with the emphasis on adopting the 'child-centred' concept of children's learning, the Guide to the Pre-primary Curriculum issued in 2006 recommend an integrated approach in the curriculum design. The integrated "holistic" approach calls for a shift of paradigm from the formal didactic teaching of academic knowledge to an informal development of the children through quality teacher-children interactions. Hitherto, small class teaching environment is created via the increase in teacher-student ratio at the start of the 2003-2004 academic year. A review of literature on small class teaching suggested that teacher-children ratio, classroom settings and the relevant pedagogic applications are important ingredients for the philosophical enhancement of the small class spirit. This paper will report some preliminary data collected in a pilot study conducted in two classrooms in a Hong Kong Kindergarten. The findings are reported as case studies which suggest that the spirit of small class teaching is not restricted in an informal teaching environment but in some formal teaching settings in the school as well. Discussion and implications on this understanding will be made.

香港教育學院2012公布語文政策，當中要求中文主修學員離校前須考獲普通話水平測試二級乙等成績。為此，中國語言學系為中文主修學員提供兩個必修及一個選修普通話科目。惟語言學習要有成效，必須引導學員作自主和持久的練習。 本研究計劃發展的普通話網上自學平台，利用學院電子學習平台Moodle，設計一系列針對普通話水平測試的學習材料，供學員使用，達致自主和持久學習的目標。

踏入二十一世紀的新時代，語文教學有甚麼新的發展？語文老師是否還是在「溫故 “支薪”」的年代？這當然不是！現在已是資訊網路的年代，當老師的也應當與時並進，好好裝備自己為教與學而努力。對於資料的收集方面，網路已為我們帶來了不少方便，無論是聲、畫、文字等各方面材料可說應有盡有，就以「全球華文網路教育中心 (http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/)」為例，已為語文教育工作者帶來了不少的方便。 教育始終是較個人化的，教育工作者對別人設計的課材，未必感到完全合用，必要加上了自己的處理，這才有個人的特色、才可以看見教育的獨特，否則用整套的完全製成品，老師便有如工廠的生產工人，只有匠氣，而沒有了教育的特質了。而且網路到今天來說，也未必是每一教室都有「資訊站」，空找到有用網站材料亦無法用在教室……！這雖然有點兒令人氣餒，但這是不爭的事實。而且要是完全依賴別人的設計，不加一點個人特色，總有點兒那個。可是要一個百忙的老師去學習一套新的程式，再來自行製作一些切合時代、容易引起學生學習興趣的教具，未必是一件易事，雖然很多工具程式都說自己簡單易用。所以我以自己的學習與應用經驗，特別選定了一個簡易的工具 (Microsoft PowerPoint) 作介紹，因為這個工具不單在香港的中、小學校，就以其他地區的電腦資訊軟件設備來說，也可說是必備軟件，大部分的學校也會設置，對老師說，這是較直接，也容易入手，加上這套軟件也十分易學易用，只要化上數小時，已可以自行製作與應用，而且性能可說與黑板十分接近，既有黑板的靈活，又較有系統。所以我就以這作為基礎，以很短的時間，根據語文知識的學與教、讀文教學、寫作教學、聆聽教學、課堂引起學習動機、語文練習遊戲等項目自行製作了一些教材教具，和大家分享，好讓我們了解，語文老師也不一定要「依書直說」，也可以追上時代，與學生同步上教與學的新時代。教學不但要與時並進，而且還要互相分享，用這套軟件，正好合於這樣的要求。這些經驗既能合於科技化教學的目的，又達到資源共享的目的，在現今教學環境來說，是值得向大家推薦的。

為配合香港教育當局以「用普通話教中文」的遠程目標，不少學校已陸續於中國語文課程中加入普通話 (國語) 的學習元素，甚或直接採用普通話為教學語言。對大部分以廣州話為母語的本土師生而言，教育變革不但影響課堂互動，而且衝擊語文教學的效益。 通過觀察五位限學語文教師的課堂，一項質性研究嘗試探討在香港實施以普通話教授中文的具體情況及成效。

本論文介紹一個光盤，是結合資訊科技教學、學生創意與母語教學的製作。光盤由學生編寫十五個與新修訂的初中科學 (基礎教育) 課程單元配合的故事。並同時由學生製作插圖、練習及配音，讓學生發揮創意，自我增值。由於本光盤製作著重學生投入參與，故獲香港政府優質教育基金撥款資助。