This chapter discusses the rationales for promoting the data-driven learning (DDL) approach in Cantonese learning and teaching. Instead of relying on prescribed grammar rules stated in textbooks, it is more important for learners, through authentic and natural language data, to explore, internalize and generalize the patterns and usage of the target language. Using the Corpus of Mid-20th Century Hong Kong Cantonese developed at the Education University of Hong Kong, we illustrate the types of linguistic information that can be provided by corpora but not by traditional learning materials such as textbooks and dictionaries: Usage frequency, collocation information, authentic language examples. The DDL approach also concerns that Cantonese learning materials should be more practical and communicative. With the increasing amount of Cantonese language data available in the cyber world, it is anticipated that more Cantonese learning materials will be compiled, which can make the learning process of Cantonese more flexible, exploratory and motivating. Copyright © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Siu-lun Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.

In Hong Kong, the issue of teaching Chinese as a second language (CSL) to school children is receiving considerable attention in recent years due to the trending proportion of CSL students in classrooms. While the Hong Kong Government encourages the integration of these students into mainstream schools in which the medium of instruction is predominately Chinese, the inadequate support provided puts these school aged children in a disadvantaged position. In light of this, there is a need of developing effectual interventional strategies to support the CSL learning of these students at preschool, primary and secondary levels. This chapter introduces a new support mode, the Dynamic Enrichment Learning Mode (DELM), which has been specifically developed for an intervention programme for promoting CSL students’ proficiency in Hong Kong kindergartens. Pre-test and post-test data were collected from 146 CSL kindergarteners aged 4 to 5 years who received DELM activities (DELM group) and compared to that of 110 CSL kindergarteners of the same age group who learned Chinese by merely learning in an immersion setting (immersion group). Findings show that the DELM is more effective in promoting CSL kindergarteners’ overall Chinese proficiency levels when compared to an immersion setting. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

As varieties of the Chinese language, Mandarin and Cantonese are both tonal in nature and involve pitch cues for distinguishing characters and words. Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners often find Chinese tones difficult to grasp, especially for those at the preschool stage. In Hong Kong, Cantonese is the dominant variety of Chinese for daily communication and serves as the medium of instruction in local kindergartens, whereas Mandarin is used in Chinese language teaching in international kindergartens. Children’s songs are widely used to foster preschoolers’ CSL learning in the aforementioned settings. With adequate phonological input in a pleasurable learning environment, such an approach helps facilitate tone perception, which is key to the development of prosodic competence for better facilitation of reading comprehension. However, the tone-melody mismatches in children’s songs and their negative influence on CSL learners’ tone learning have long been underestimated. This chapter looks into the problems concerning teaching CSL through children’s songs from a comparative perspective. Based on a contrastive analysis of the Mandarin and Cantonese tone systems with reference to multimodal learning, the authors recommend that teachers and curriculum developers should be more sensitive to tone-melody relationships when selecting or creating children’s songs for pedagogical purposes to better support CSL literacy development. It is also important to raise the preschoolers’ tone awareness, particularly in Cantonese-medium CSL classrooms, given the distinct tonal features of the target variety. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

跨文化敏感度指在跨文化交際中應對文化差異的情感能力。提高國際漢語教育專業學生的跨文化敏感度對於他們未來有效教授多元文化背景的學生至關重要。本研究以針對國際漢語教育專業碩士生（准教師）的修訂版跨文化敏感度量表（ISS）為研究工具，調查了132位就讀於香港、北京、珠海三所大學的國際漢語教育碩士生的跨文化敏感度及其影響因素。結果表明：參與研究的國際漢語教育專業碩士生跨文化敏感度整體處於中高水平。香港地區被試跨文化敏感度顯著高於北京、珠海兩地。年齡、過往跨文化培訓經驗、國際漢語教師教齡、學生國籍、境外旅行次數與國外生活時長、外國朋友數量與聯繫頻率對跨文化敏感度有顯著影響。 Copyright © 2023 香港教育大學.

中文寫作一直是二語學習者的重點和難點，特別是小學階段，如何讓二語學童對中文寫作產生興趣並更願意動筆寫作是很多中文教育工作者不斷探討的話題。同時，在科技資訊發達的今天，各種軟件和在線平台越來越廣泛地使用在中文二語學習當中。因此，基於長期的實踐和教學經驗，本文就二語學生的中文寫作學習提出一個可行性的教學方案 —基於過程導向的寫作框架，將資訊科技融入中文寫作前、中和後的階段中，從而幫助二語學習者增加背景知識和相關詞彙句型，延長寫作的計劃時間，提高中文寫作的動機和效果，培養學生的自主學習與寫作的能力。本研究以香港一間國際學校二十位小四學生為研究對象，通過教學實踐，了解資訊科技融入跨學科的中文寫作教學成效，希望探討資訊科技與中文寫作學習的關係。 Copyright © 2023 香港教育大學.

本文對大灣區國際中文師資培訓課程概況進行介紹，並且通過線上問卷，對來自粵、港、澳三地的112位國際中文師資課程在讀學生（或稱準教師，包括本科生、碩士生和博士生）進行調查，瞭解他們的基本背景、對專業和科目的看法、對畢業後去向的想法、對課程和專業前景的看法等。通過量化的數據分析，我們可以看到粵港澳大灣區中文師資課程的一些共性，也可以看到不同學位等級（本、碩、博）和不同地區（粵、港、澳）的一些特點。我們再從二語師資教育框架，國際中文教育中的“三教”、“三基”和“三化”，以及粵港澳大灣區背景的機遇和挑戰等角度進行討論，反思這些師資課程未來的發展路向和改善舉措。 Copyright © 2023 香港教育大學.

Fifty-five Chinese kindergarten teachers from Shenzhen (n = 38) and Hong Kong (n = 17) were surveyed to discern their beliefs and reported practices about multiple literacies related to e-learning and knowledge management. Results indicated that: (1) Shenzhen teachers had a better knowledge about multiple literacies and facilitated the development of multiple literacies in their students more than their counterparts from Hong Kong; (2) Teachers' educational attainment and their beliefs did not predict the multiple literacies practice; and (3) after controlling for these variables, child-PC ratio significantly contributed to the variation in multiple literacies practice. Educational implications and challenges associated with teacher education are discussed. Copyright © 2009 Laboratory for Knowledge Management & E-Learning, The University of Hong Kong.