This study studied the accent perception of a group of non-native pre-service EFL teachers in Hong Kong in order to see whether native English norm is of their preference for teaching and learning. Results found that participants all preferred traditional native English as learning model and seemed to have overlooked the principle of intelligibility, even there had been calls for using lingua franca core as learning model. Results show that participants all preferred using native English to be the model of teaching and learning. Among all the native English varieties, participants preferred the accent from the United Kingdom though not all could identify the accent they preferred. The study showed there was a mismatch between what the participants preferred and their ability of identifying accents of different kinds. Copyright © 2018 Academy Publication.

Background. Word reading and linguistic comprehension skills are two crucial components in reading comprehension, according to the Simple View of Reading (SVR). Some researchers have posited that a third component should be involved in reading and understanding texts, namely executive function (EF) skills.Aim. This study was novel in two ways. Not only did we tested EF skills as a predictor of reading comprehension in a non-alphabetic language (i.e., Chinese) to extend the theoretical model of SVR, we also examined reading comprehension further in kindergarten children (age 5) in Hong Kong, in the attempt to reveal possible early precursors of reading comprehension.Sample(s). A group of 170 K3 kindergarteners was recruited in Hong Kong.Methods. Children’s word reading was assessed. Their linguistic comprehension was assessed with phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, and vocabulary knowledge. Using a structured observation task, Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS), we measured their composite scores for EF skills.Results. Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders performance predicted unique variance in children’s Chinese reading comprehension concurrently beyond word reading and a set of linguistic comprehension skills. Conclusions. The results highlight the important role of EF skills in beginning readers’ reading comprehension. Copyright © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

This paper reports and discusses the results of a study aimed at automatically categorising teacher feedback on student writing. A total of 3412 teachers’ written comments on 90 students’ draft essays were collected from an EFL course offered by a Hong Kong university during the first semester of 2016/17. The data were primarily used to design and implement an automated tool to classify teachers’ comments with respect to a taxonomy of their characteristics. The findings of this study show that the performance of the automated tool is comparable to that of human annotators, suggesting the feasibility of using the automatic approach to identify and analyse different types of teacher feedback. This study can contribute to future research into the investigation of the impact of teacher feedback on student writing in a big data world. Copyright © 2018 International Journal of Information and Education Technology. All rights reserved.

本文以香港中文准教師沉浸課程的學習成果為研究材料，比較學前學後 PSC（國家普通話水準測試）成績，結合自我評估問卷調查，檢測沉浸課程的普通話學習成效。資料顯示，有超過 70% 的准教師在參加沉浸課程後達到了 PSC 二級乙等或以上水準，較之前增加 30% ；個人成績提升了 6 分左右，近 70% 的准教師提升了至少一個等級 ；沉浸課程對 PSC 三級甲等或以下等級的提升作用最明顯。研究發現，以 PSC 為導向的普通話能力訓練，以及語言環境、語伴活動和文化考察等多元化的語境實踐，可以從多個層面促進准教師的普通話進步，以及專業發展和個人成長。沉浸課程具備可以提高內在動機和外在動機的多種誘因，同時也需要照顧學生的認知和情感 ；而學習者開放心態，投入學習，也是課程成功的重要因素。This research examines the effectiveness of an immersion program in the Putonghua learning of pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong by studying their selfevaluation questionnaires, as well as their pre- and post-PSC (Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi ‘Putonghua Proficiency Test’) results. It is shown that more than 70% of preservice Chinese teachers are able to attain Level 2B or above in their PSC through this program, at least a level higher than the one they previously attained. Each of them is able to get around 6 more marks in his/her PSC. The total number of preservice Chinese teachers attaining the aforementioned level or above increases by 30%. It also leads to a remarkable improvement in the PSC results of pre-service Chinese teachers who previously attained Level 3A or below. The immersion program has the most obvious effect on the students at Level 3A below. Moreover, this research discovers that a PSC oriented Putonghua skills training, along with the application of language skills in real-life contexts through culture exploration activities or a language buddy program, can lead to a significant improvement in the Putonghua proficiency of pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong, as well as professional development and personal growth. An immersion program provides them intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to improve their Putonghua proficiency. Meanwhile, we need to take care of students’ cognition and emotion. The success of such immersion program depends on whether pre-service Chinese teachers are openminded and willing to concentrate on their Putonghua learning. Copyright © 2018 香港教育大學.

Ethnic minorities (EM) comprise 5% of Hong Kong's population of 7 million. In schools 3% (14,000) are ethnic/linguistic minority students whose poor achievement in senior secondary years is evidence of disproportionate educational outcomes compared with those of Chinese speaking students. The government has rolled out support measures to meet the learning needs of EM students. Research reported here gathered perceptions of the impact of these support measures in achieving the stated objectives - minimising language and cultural barriers to school achievement, and facilitating smooth integration of EM students into Hong Kong society. Findings reveal that the singularly focused pedagogical provision for Chinese language acquisition is too narrow and exposes the role language policy plays in the construction of social inequality in Hong Kong. There are absences; unacknowledged culture diversity; unaddressed discrimination, and unrecognised pedagogical challenges emanating from teachers' calls for more support. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Teacher Education.

香港教育大學中國語言學系提供的「照顧小學生中文的學習差異專業進修證書」課程，通過理論介紹與行動研究，幫助在職老師進一步了解、掌握、推動小學中文課室內融合教育，改善教學方法，提升教學質量，照顧學生不同需求，讓不同層次的學生在學習上都能有所提升，從而更好地在學校推行融合教育。此課程是一個雙向的課程，學員們不但能從課程中學到最新的理論，也可以從各自的學校的實戰當中相互分享先進實用的經驗。本文將列舉本課程中和學員一道進行的一部分行動研究，並闡述一些學校在融合教育當中對於協助具有特殊教育需要的同學在小學中國語文方面的中國語文校本課程計劃、照顧個別差異的課程評估，以及提升學生在閱讀教學中的興趣和投入感等方面的實戰經驗，使學界能對香港小學課室內中文科目融合教育有進一步的了解。The Department of Chinese Language Studies of The Education University of Hong Kong offers a “Certificate in Professional Development Programme on Catering for Student Diversity in Learning Chinese in Primary Schools” course. Through theoretical introduction and action research, the in-service teachers can better understand, master and promote their classroom integration in primary school Chinese classes and improve their teaching methods. The quality of teaching takes care of students' different needs and enables students of different levels to improve their learning so as to better integrate education in schools. This course is a two-way course, not only the in-service teachers can learn the latest theory from the course, but also share their advanced and practical experiences. This article will describe some of the action studies conducted in conjunction with the students in this course, and explain some of the schools' Chinese language school-based curriculum plans for assisting students with Special Educational Needs in elementary school Chinese language in integrated education. The practical experience of taking care of individual differences in curriculum assessments and enhancing students' interest in and interest in reading has enabled the academic community to have a better understanding of the integration of Chinese subjects in Hong Kong’s primary school classrooms. Copyright © 2017 特殊教育學會有限公司.

Students' progress in reading comprehension is a crucial goal in language education, and teaching comprehension processes to students is considered to be one of the most effective approaches to improving students' reading ability. To facilitate teachers' use of the Comprehension Process Model (CPM), it is necessary to identify teachers' stages of concerns about using the model, which has not been investigated systematically in language teaching. This study investigated Hong Kong (HK) Chinese-language teachers' concerns about using the CPM in their teaching of reading in secondary schools. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) was administered and 347 completed questionnaires were suitable for analysis. The study has found that teachers demonstrated a profile with multiple peaks, which shows highest concerns at the collaboration and informational stages in the Stages of Concern (SoC) model. The result implies that teachers realize that they need to learn more about the CPM and to enhance collaboration with their colleagues to implement it effectively. Teachers' concerns varied according to demographic factors including training on the CPM, years of using the CPM, years of teaching expe-rience, and richness of experience in using the CPM. Implications for developing more effective professional development interventions for Chinese-language teachers are also discussed. Copyright © 2016 International Association for Research in L1 Education.

This qualitative study investigates the language ideology of a groups of Chinese language teachers working in Hong Kong’s secondary schools when they teach ethnic minority students. Drawing on interview data, this study reports on how these teachers’ language ideologies are in accordance/discordance with dominant discourse, and in what ways their ideologies impact their teaching approach and attitudes towards the students’ heritage language and culture. Key findings indicate that instead of promoting homogeneity as a prerequisite for success, the teachers hold a pluralistic language ideology and outline the potential for ethnic minority students to become linguistic and cultural brokers between the heritage communities and mainstream society. An inconsistence was found between the teachers’ positive language attitude towards heritage language and their self-distancing from the heritage language learning and use in school contexts. The findings implied that teacher education courses could enable teachers, as active agents, to re-negotiate the separate language ideology of the language policy at the macro level, deconstruct it in classroom settings and develop knowledge and beliefs to challenge and resist the ideologies that sustain the marginalisation of heritage language and culture. Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The University of Hong Kong (HKU), following its establishment in 1911, has assumed the mission of bridging British and Chinese cultures, to prepare European and Chinese elite youth for political and other professional careers, and thus to improve Britain's cultural influence in competition with other western powers with regard to China. Dominated by its colonial character and pragmatic orientation, Chinese education at HKU was confined to no more than a supplementary subject at the initial stage. However, colonial crisis and cultural changes in the 1920s and 1930s, together with the endeavours of local cultural and commercial elites, made advanced Chinese education at HKU necessary and possible, and led to an independent unit for Chinese education and Chinese studies being established and strengthened. Organisational and curricular reforms before the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 led to further modernisation and solidified the structure of Chinese education at this university, laying the essential foundation for its post-war recovery and development. The evolution of Chinese education at HKU demonstrated well the subtle entanglements of education, culture and politics in a colonial context, through which coexistence and tensions between tradition and modernity, between China and the West, and between the imperial and republican intellectuals were also vividly revealed.
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