This study investigated how children's social and emotional learning (SEL) might reflect their teachers' social and emotional teaching (SET) by means of social learning. To this end, the research team conducted 20 videotaped observation sessions of four teachers' SET and 71 children's SEL during whole-group instruction in four kindergarten classrooms in Hong Kong. The research team coded SET and SEL based on teacher and child utterances for evidence of the CASEL's five key social and emotional competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making). Additionally, we coded a one-on-one correspondence between each competency and one of the four strategies identified (Telling/Commanding/Directing, Explaining, Asking Questions, and Affirming/Confirming). Both the teachers and children evidenced Responsible Decision-Making the most. Except for Social Awareness, the teachers' SET and children's SEL in the other four competencies were correlated significantly and strongly. Furthermore, among the five strategies, teachers primarily utilized the Asking Questions strategy, while children predominantly corresponded with the Telling strategy. Significant correlations were observed among the strategies: between teachers' Asking Questions and children's Telling, between teachers' Asking Questions and children's Explaining, between teachers' Explaining and children's Explaining, Asking Questions, and Affirming/Confirming, and between teachers' Affirming/Confirming and children's Telling. These findings suggest that social learning was at work to guide children's SEL in the context of their teachers' SET. Copyright © 2024 Springer.

In view of lacking in a holistic, indigenous measure to the affective well-being of teachers in Hong Kong, this study utilizes a mixed-methods approach to develop and validate the Teacher Emotions in Teaching Scale (TETS) which assesses positive and negative emotions teachers experience in teaching. The process of scale development and construct validation involving three samples of 726 in-service teachers from Hong Kong was reported. Results of this study supported the five-factor model of the TETS and its convergent, discriminant and criterion validity. This study highlights the use of the TETS to understand and promote emotional well-being of teachers. Copyright © 2024 Elsevier .

PurposeThis study introduces a non-orthodox approach to the dominant policy-based approaches to graduate employability through contextualizing international students' everyday experiences within their educational and wider structural contexts of the labour market.Design/methodology/approachThe study used narrative frames to collect data from 180 international students from China, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Nepal at a New Zealand tertiary institution. Narrative frames as a research tool in educational contexts are used to ellicit the experiences of individuals in the form of a story as participants reflect on their experience. The frames use sentence starters to draw responses from participants about their experiences (Barkhuizen and Wette, 2008).FindingsThis study argues that, through a socialization process, international students develop identities that fit an ever-changing labour market. This process is catalysed by a higher education landscape that produces career-ready subjects capable of appropriating different social spaces that prepare students and graduates to enter the labour market. Further, it argues that graduate employability should be understood as a complex process through which students and graduates socialise themselves through negotiating the socioacademic spaces by (1) familiarising themselves with the dominant workspace norms, (2) positioning themselves as more career-ready individuals, and (3) imagigining employable selves capable of meeting the needs of the job market.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations. Only one data collection source has been used. It would have been great to use narrative frames along with interviews. In addition, the data would have been stronger if the researcher could have used classroom observations, which could be a future initiative.Practical implicationsThis study could provide practical insights to tertiary institutions about international students' developing capabilities and identities

Despite the importance of socioemotional competence, few social and emotional learning programs have been developed for and evaluated with non -Western communities. The Early Prevention, Early Identification, and Early Intervention Program is a tiered, school-based program targeting the socioemotional skills of all secondyear kindergarten students in Chinese communities with the Little Garden Curriculum and providing additional training to third-year kindergarten students with socioemotional difficulties with the Little Greenhouse Curriculum. Using a cluster randomized controlled trial, this study examined the impacts of the program on 999 children (mean age in the pretest = 4.25 years; 48 % were girls) from 18 kindergartens from Hong Kong, China. Using kindergartens as clusters, children were randomly assigned to undertake the Little Garden Curriculum (n = 624) or join the wait-list control group (n = 375). Furthermore, children who had completed the Little Garden Curriculum but still showed socioemotional difficulties were randomly assigned to undertake the Little Greenhouse Curriculum (n = 87) or join the wait-list control group (n = 50). In other words, the intervention kindergartens used for the evaluation of the Little Garden Curriculum were randomly assigned into a new intervention group or a new wait-list control group for the evaluation of the Little Greenhouse Curriculum. In pre- and posttests, teachers rated children's socioemotional competence and behavioral adjustment, and children completed reading and arithmetic tasks. Results indicated that-controlling for child age, gender, and prior scores-children who had completed the Little Garden Curriculum showed better socioemotional competence, behavioral adjustment, and pre-academic skills (ten out of 12 outcome variables). Moreover, children who had completed the Little Greenhouse Curriculum showed higher scores on six out of 12 outcome measures. Findings highlighted the utility of using culturally relevant

This study investigates the similarities and differences between Hong Kong kindergarteners' shyness and social anxiety and their possible relations with social emotional adjustment and the development of receptive language abilities. Data were collected from three kindergartens, with 71 children (mean age = 52.6 months, SD = 7.28; 48% boys) and their major caregivers participating at two time points, six months apart. Findings showed that children's shyness and social anxiety levels were strongly correlated, and both were moderately correlated with children's social emotional difficulties. Interestingly, children's shyness uniquely predicted social emotional difficulties beyond social anxiety, but children's social anxiety did not significantly predict their difficulties beyond shyness. Additionally, neither shyness nor social anxiety were found to be associated with children's Cantonese receptive language skills. Our results highlight the strong similarities between shyness and social anxiety. Given the intricate interplay among the constructs examined in this study, more research is needed to further understand their relations and interactions. This knowledge may help educators to identify appropriate intervention targets to facilitate better language outcomes among shy and socially anxious kindergarteners.

The recent decade has seen an increase in attention and an upsurge in studies about emotions in the field of L2/FL teaching and learning. To expand our understanding, this study set out to investigate how young learners' boredom and enjoyment were related, concurrently and longitudinally, to grit and growth mindsets through the lens of broaden-and-build theory. Ninety-eight primary-school EFL learners in Hong Kong participated in this longitudinal study. The findings show that all variables under investigation were intercorrelated moderately to strongly. Remarkably, the two emotions predicted around 30% to 50% of the variance in grit and growth mindsets. However, closer scrutiny via multiple regressions revealed that enjoyment was the only significant predictor of perseverance of effort (a component of grit) and growth mindsets while boredom was the only significant predictor of consistency of interest (another component of grit). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2024 John Benjamins Publishing Co.

Drawing on Bandura's (1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall) social cognitive theory, this study examines the relationship between peer coaching and students’ learning performance, mediated by self-regulatory emotions, in a higher education setting. In a longitudinal field study, data was collected from 297 undergraduate students enrolled at a government-funded university in Hong Kong, and was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings reveal significant associations between facilitation and guidance coaching, as well as their interactive effects, and four self-regulatory emotions: cheerfulness, dejection, quiescence, and agitation. Importantly, the two coaching styles indirectly influence students’ learning performance through the mediating effects of dejection and agitation. This research contributes to existing knowledge by illuminating the theoretical and practical implications of academic coaching, students’ emotions, and learning in higher education. Copyright ©2024 Taylor & Francis.

In Hong Kong, Chinese and English are considered separate mediums of instruction. English immersion is expected for schools that teach with English as the medium of instruction, and direct instruction in Chinese is often used to teach English in Chinese medium schools. Evidently, a great divide persists in the Hong Kong government curriculum. In the English classroom, translanguaging is considered as detrimental to students' progress or reserved for the lower ability students. The significance of translanguaging on students' identity and meaning making is overlooked due to institutional English-only discourse. This article examines the possibility and potential impact of translanguaging in Hong Kong from the perspective of a student teacher who was an international school student and tuition centre instructor. Copyright ©2024 Routledge.

A growing body of research on identity and language learning has investigated how immigrant learners construct their identities in the process of acquiring a second language (L2). Much of the research, however, is situated in Western contexts. This study looks at how three Thai immigrants acquired an L2, Cantonese, and constructed their identities in their host society--Hong Kong. Drawing on the data collected from semi-structured interviews, onsite observation, and informal conversations, this study shows that the three Thai immigrants built multiple identities that allowed them to have access to the target language learning resources and practices. They embraced selective acculturation by maintaining their Thai identity and preserving their cultural heritage, which had a positive influence on their acquisition of the target language. The study suggests that language learners need to claim powerful identities and exercise human agency in their interaction with target language speakers to facilitate language learning. Copyright ©2024 Routledge.

Prior research on COVID-related school disruptions focused mainly on primary or secondary, with limited studies on kindergarten children. Using a naturalistic quasi-experimental design, we examined whether school disruption during the first year of kindergarten (K1) affected early numeracy, literacy, and non-academic development. We also examined whether disruption during the first or second year of kindergarten (K2) was more detrimental to children's development. A cohort of K2 students from each of two consecutive years (N = 235, 4–5-year-old) were recruited from ten kindergartens in Hong Kong, which had long periods of COVID-related school disruptions. One cohort was assessed just before the onset of COVID-19; the other, one year later. K1 disruption did not affect performance at K2. In contrast, performance at K3 showed that K2 disruption had a more detrimental effect on physical performance than K1 disruption. Findings highlight the period and aspects of children's development that are particularly sensitive to schooling. Copyright © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.