In Hong Kong, English instruction begins early and is delivered as a school subject in kindergartens. English teaching approaches are diverse and English Teachers’ background varies greatly among different kindergartens. It is acknowledged that teachers’ background may influence their pedagogical approaches and students’ learning. In the present study, we explore the differences between the teaching content and quality of instruction delivered by English teachers who are native speakers of English or non-native speaker of English. We compare their teaching content and quality of instruction based on lesson observations over one school year in 12 Hong Kong kindergartens. The findings have implications for future professional development in English teaching and learning in early childhood education. Copyright © 2017 ICLLL.

The knowledge and pedagogies of e-learning in English language learning in teacher education courses would be developed and transformed by student teachers via pre-service learning experiences. The strategies of e-learning in the English language learning of student teachers in the teaching education courses and their own teaching practices lead to a widespread discussion in Hong Kong and Mainland China. It not only benefits educators and student teachers to intuitively understand the strategies of e-learning in English language learning but also helps student teachers to refine their e-learning strategies in English language learning in further teaching practices. This study aims to compare the implementations and transformations of strategies of student teachers to e-learning in English language learning from pre-service learning experiences in Hong Kong and Mainland China. One hundred student teachers were involved. The mixed-method approach would be adopted in the research including questionnaires, interviews, observations and analysis of weekly teaching dairy. The findings would help educators and student teachers to know the general situation of strategies to e-learning in English language learning through their pre-service learning experiences in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Meanwhile, the results of this study will give some suggestions to student teachers for future in-service teaching and learning experiences. Copyright © 2018 The Asian Conference on Education.

Adequate reading literacy skills are essential for receiving formal education and subsequently gaining full participation in society. Research into L2 reading demonstrates that L2 vocabulary knowledge is key for developing learners’ L2 reading comprehension. This chapter looks into the vocabulary knowledge measured by word associations and sheds some light on the implication of developing vocabulary knowledge to facilitate young learners’ L2 reading literacy for Hong Kong primary schools. The results show that word knowledge and word class have an important influence on young L2 learners’ word association patterns. A number of implications are proposed, including enlarging children’s vocabulary size to reach a threshold level for L2 reading, utilizing graded readers to control vocabulary and teaching words of different word classes with their preferred collocates. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).

The paper explores and describes the kinds of learning attained by a group of Hong Kong preservice teachers who worked collaboratively to develop online grammar teaching resources for school teachers worldwide. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected during the ongoing collaboration, lesson tryouts, and post-project evaluation, the project results reflect the value of experiential learning in preservice teacher education. The themes that detail the student teachers’ experiences include textbook evaluation, professional knowledge, core competencies of teachers, and understanding of English language teaching outside the Hong Kong context. Copyright © 2019 Social Science Press.

This presentation focuses on an innovative approach to writing instruction, exemplar-based writing instruction and is divided into two parts: (1) a systematic review of recent literature on the use of exemplar in higher education contexts using a text-mining software called Leximancer and (2) an introduction of an ongoing teaching development grant project being conducted in a Hong Kong university which aims to develop an exemplar-based textbook and online platform to be used by university English instructors to teach IELTS writing. In the first session, the speakers will present a systematic review of current literature on exemplar use in univesity writing classrooms to highlight its affordances and limitations. Different from traditional systematic review which is criticized as lack of ‘methodological rigor’ (Major & Savin-Baden, 2011, p. 647) and ‘subjectivity in data analysis and the interpretation of findings’ (Thomas, 2014, p. 236), this review of literature is done using a text-mining software named Leximancer. Leximancer was selected as the tool because it has been used in educational research (e.g. distance education, physical education, general education) (Hyndman & Pill, 2017; Zawacki-Richter & Naidu, 2016). Additionally, Leximancer is chosen over other similar tools (e.g. Rapidminer) because of its user-friendliness. Leximancer can automatically generate a list of most frequently-appeared word-level concepts that appear in the selected documents and a concept map which shows the relationship between those concepts after completing a few simple steps. In the second session, an ongoing grant project will be introduced which focuses on the development of curriculum materials for university English instructors to implement exemplarbased instruction in their academic writing classrooms. Focusing on IELTS writing, sample materials developed by the presenters will be shared. Copyright © 2018 ICBLT.

Language textbooks are written to help students develop language proficiency as well as have a better understanding of the culture of the target group. English instructional materials are usually arranged in the form of linguistic structures and communicative functions, with culture being presented through how native people eat, play, work, dress and live. According to Pfister and Borzilleri (1977), five major cultural themes can be distinguished in foreign language textbooks: the social sphere, family unit and the personal sphere, religion and the arts, political systems and institutions, and the environment sphere. On the other hand, Cortazzi and Jin (1999) suggested another three categories to evaluate English language textbooks: the source culture (the learner’s native culture), the target culture (British or American culture), and the international target culture (other English and non-English speaking cultures). In the present study, a series of popular English language textbooks for primary students, recommended by the Education Bureau in Hong Kong, was compared with the authorized English language textbooks used in mainland China. The aim was to examine how culture is presented in the two regions so as to heighten students’ awareness of being Chinese citizens in a global community and foster international understanding. The research findings could also raise the consciousness of textbook writers and publishers on the need to remove biases in textbooks, and to promote a multicultural environment in the classroom. Copyright © 2018 ACLL.

The Education policy "Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers of English" had been controversial since its establishment in 2000, in the sense that various stakeholders including parents, students, school administrators, teachers and the general public. This essay critically analyses this education policy in the HK context by scrutinizing the prerequisite. Subsequently, how LPATE was built on policy texts and how it was construed as a solution of gradual decline of English as well as the reciprocal politics interacting with the policy were analyzed. Additionally, the institutions and actors involved in the policy process are discussed followed by the revelation of the outcomes of LPATE in both the expected and the unanticipated dimensions. Copyright © 2014 the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal.