In the past few years, the education sector, including teacher education, has encountered unprecedented challenges resulting from the global pandemic of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). In Hong Kong, it was fuelled by protests and campus occupation due to the unstable political situation. Many universities were forced to suspend face-to-face instruction and adopt online teaching. This volume is a response to the global transformation of teaching and learning from the face-to-face mode to the online mode triggered by these challenges, with a focus on teacher education in Hong Kong. This introductory chapter pulls together the narrative of the volume by detailing such challenges and showcasing how the challenges have accelerated the use of e-technology in teaching and learning online. It provides an overview of the chapters included in this volume and discusses how they contribute to the rationale of the volume and the various sections, which include challenges in teaching and learning in times of crisis, curriculum and pedagogical innovations, assessment and feedback practices, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in the teacher education context. Copyright © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Kevin Wai Ho Yung and Huixuan Xu; individual chapters, the contributors.

Based on a case study of an undergraduate course for a teacher education program at a university in Hong Kong, this chapter examines how technology-enabled case-based learning engages pre-service teachers behaviorally, cognitively, and emotionally and prepares them for teaching in schools. Qualitative data obtained from individual interviews with four pre-service teachers and online discussion threads were analyzed using a content analysis approach. This chapter describes how the use of 360-degree panoramic videos and asynchronous discussion forums supports the development of pre-service teachers’ problem-solving skills in tackling school students’ undesirable classroom behaviors, enhancing their reflective skills, and consolidating their content knowledge in classroom management. This study sheds light on how technology-enabled case-based learning may contribute to teacher education programs and prepare pre-service teachers for effective classroom management. Copyright © 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Against the backdrop of rapidly growing attention to FL learners’ emotions, the present study investigated learners’ classroom emotions (anxiety, boredom, and enjoyment), literacy outcomes (reading and writing proficiency), and a largely neglected factor in FL emotions research to date – maternal education as a proxy for socio-economic status. One hundred and ninety-one Grade-three/four EFL learners from Hong Kong participated in this study. These learners completed a questionnaire about their classroom emotions, and reading and writing tests. Their parents/guardians attended individual interviews in which the highest level of maternal education was elicited. Overall, the results showed that maternal education and enjoyment were significantly associated with reading and writing proficiency. The contribution of maternal education to literacy outcomes was partially mediated by enjoyment, but not anxiety and boredom. The importance of maternal education and enjoyment are highlighted and discussed. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

香港的中文作為第二語言教學的課程，除了由大專院校開辦的對外漢語課程及國際學校提供的中文課程外，還有近年備受關注的面向非華語學生（Non-Chinese Speaking Students）的中文課程。本文旨在評介香港非華語學生中文課程的實施狀況及其特色，通過對有關文獻及統計資料的考查與分析，探討當中的教學困境與對策。研究針對目前非華語學生中文教學在課程、評估及師資方面的不足展開論述，建議當局考慮從以下三方面加以改善：一、改革課程設置，重新審視對非華語學生的語文教育政策，積極考慮另設一個適應非華語學生學習需求的中文課程，與本地華裔學生的中文課程雙軌並行；二、優化評估機制，建立適用於香港本地的中文作為第二語言能力的評核基準，客觀反映非華語學生的中文學習進度和能力水平；三、加強校本支援及師資培訓，針對目前非華語學生中文教材不足、教師工作量大的情況，增撥資源加強校本專業支援，並與大學及研究機構合作，提供合適的教師培訓及開發教材資源等，以改善目前的教學困境，提升教學成果。In Hong Kong, there are mainly three kinds of curriculum in the field of teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL), namely the Mandarin Chinese courses run by the tertiary institutions, Chinese curriculum offered by international schools, and the Chinese curriculum for the Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) students. Through the analysis of documentary materials and statistical data, this paper aims at giving an overview of and discussion on the historical background and development of Chinese curriculum for the NCS students, as well as to investigate the challenge and measures followed by its implementation. It reveals that there is still inadequacy of the on-going curriculum implementation process in the aspect of curriculum planning, assessment system and teacher’s training. The research proposes that the government should consider making improvement in the following ways: firstly, the government should have a review on the language education policy for the NCS students, re-consider to plan an independent Chinese curriculum which tailors to students’ specific learning needs; secondly, modification of the assessment system should be made, a new Chinese language proficiency test system designed for the NCS students is required in order to assess students’ learning progress and the actual level they have attained; thirdly, measures should be taken to give professional support for school teachers, encourage teachers to design NCS Chinese curriculum together with educational experts from tertiary institutions, hoping to reduce teacher’s workload

This paper reports a case study of teaching Cantonese to Hong Kong ethnic minority pre-schoolers using process drama. Based on Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts of minor literature and language, becoming and de-/re-territorialisation, this paper aims to reconceptualise a playful adaptation of process drama developed by Joe Winston (Citation2012) as a language-minoritising approach to the teaching and learning of a major language that is very foreign to children. The findings suggest that, to accomplish ethnic minority children’s becoming Cantonese speakers, the theatre games and language play should involve minoritorisation and de-/re-territorialisation of the normative practices of process drama, the target language as well as learner identity. Copyright © 2023 Pedagogy, Culture & Society.

The innovative use of technologies in language learning and teaching significantly impacts language education. This paper aims to investigate technology-enhanced language learning (TeLL) and teaching (TeLT) in higher education through surveying 223 students and 93 teachers across four Hong Kong universities, and interviewing around 50 students and 20 teachers. The current study investigated the e-resources/tools frequently adopted in language learning and teaching, how participants perceived the affordances of TeLL and TeLT, and challenges they had faced in technology-enhanced language learning and teaching. The results reveal that students and teachers perceived several affordances of TeLL and TeLT, such as provision of authentic materials, enhancement of interactivity, and enhancement of learner autonomy. A list of commonly adopted e-resources/tools for language learning and teaching were identified. The students and teachers also indicated what support they would hope to receive from a Community of Practice (CoP) on technology-enhanced language learning and teaching. Copyright © 2022 IGI Global.

Set against a background of societal pressure and preference for English language education in Hong Kong, this paper explores the policy and practice of English medium instruction (EMI) from the perspective of one group of content subject teachers. Grounded in Bakhtin's dialogism, the paper reports the results of a qualitative study that used in-depth interviews to explore the perspectives and experiences of these teachers as they implement EMI policy in Hong Kong schools. The results reveal the existence of several discourses of EMI in Hong Kong that position the teachers at community, institutional, and professional levels. The results also suggest that the interplay of EMI discourses can offer content subject teachers positions which they regard as undesirable. Suggestions for ensuring that the voices of these teachers are heard within the context of teacher professional development opportunities in EMI settings are considered and implications for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2022 John Benjamins Publishing Company.

This study attempted to analyze learning strategies used by Hong Kong university students for learning English. Results indicate that Cantonese native speakers mostly used cognitive strategies when learning English, while memory strategies were the least used. Besides, the use of memory strategies among males varied significantly, and little difference was observed in the use of metacognitive strategies by females. The use of cognitive strategies was significantly associated with grade level, with fourth-year students using cognitive strategies more often than fifth-year students. Finally, on correlating the daily study time with cognitive strategies, it was observed that students who studied more than 0.5 hours a day used cognitive strategies more frequently than those who studied less than 0.5 hours a day. This study not only provides new evidence that grade level and study time affect the use of English learning strategies in Hong Kong, but also yields some important pedagogical implications. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.