Mathematical problem solving typically involves manipulating visual symbols (e.g., equations), and prior research suggests that those symbols serve as diagrammatic representations (e.g., Landy & Goldstone, 2010). The present work examines the ways that instructional design of student engagement with these diagrammatic representations may…

This study surveys the opinions of both teachers and students involved in the Year 1 course "University English" in the Language Centre at City University of Hong Kong. The survey involved 265 students and 37 teachers. The issues studied were: 1.) How useful is peer and teacher feedback? 2.) How effective are direct vs. indirect…

Based on student survey data from five East Asian countries, the paper contains an analysis of attitudes towards the use of personal connections in politics and towards personal morality among politicians. The first part of the analysis describes the extent and variations of these attitudes, which are viewed as of particular relevance within the…

Using English as a global communicating tool makes Taiwanese people have to speak in English in diverse international situations. However, consonants and vowels in English are not all effortless for them to articulate. This phonological reduction study explores concepts about phonological (articulating system) approximation. From Taiwanese folks'…

A postal survey on a random cluster sample of 1,032 secondary school students in Hong Kong was conducted to investigate how much students know about the environment and how their environmental cognition is shaped by the use of mass media. Results indicated that students were very knowledgeable on both general and local environmental issues. The…

Project Yi Jin was developed to provide an alternative route to higher education for students who failed the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination to gain academic status for and access to higher education. The project provides a 1-year full-time program that includes 600 contact hours of instruction in 10 subjects--7 core subjects and 3…

Currently school organizations are under pressure to achieve excellence. There is no exception to this pressure in the schools of Hong Kong. Research into organizational cultures of excellent schools in Hong Kong is seeking evidence for others striving for excellence. Excellent schools are defined as few schools that have many aspects that…

A study investigated the study strategies used by 450 native Cantonese-speaking distance education students in Hong Kong/Macau studying in English, and the correlation between language skill levels and study approaches used. Students were surveyed concerning study motives and strategies, demographic information, langbuage use patterns, and…

Set in the context of Hong Kong's school curriculum reform initiative, which centers on development and implementation of task-based instruction, a study examined: (1) what teachers of English as a Second Language understand about language learning and what decisions they make when preparing a classroom task; (2) to what extent elementary and…

For decades there has been no formal evaluation system to ensure the quality of art teaching in Hong Kong. Additionally, although the syllabi for art are open and flexible, art teachers do not have adequate knowledge to develop a balanced curriculum. This study investigates what constitutes good art teaching and the extent to which art teachers…

A series of studies examined the media use habits of Hong Kong students trying to improve their English. Subjects for the first three studies, 138 pre-service student teachers in Hong Kong, completed questionnaires. Frequency of media use provided some indications of students' level of commitment to the study of English. In study four, students…

A total of 199 students from a school in Hong Kong responded to 25 items in a survey. Principal components analysis found four school motivation factors consistent with the Task, Effort, Competition and Praise scales of the McInerney, et al. (1997) Inventory of School Motivation, one education aspiration factor and one career aspiration factor.…

A Hong Kong survey, part of a primary school English-as-a-Second-Language curriculum development effort, investigated the extent to which extensive reading materials and activities are used at the upper elementary level, identified learner difficulties with English reading, and solicited teachers' opinions of the role of extensive reading in the…