Purpose: Dyslexia is characterized by its diverse causes and heterogeneous manifestations. Chinese children with dyslexia exhibit orthographic, phonological, and semantic deficits across character and radical levels when writing. However, whether character dictation can be used to distinguish children with dyslexia from their typically developing…

This qualitative study explored Hong Kong students' views and reactive emotions towards interpersonal teacher behaviour in their classrooms. Fifteen focus-group interviews were conducted with 69 secondary-school students. Content analysis was performed to identify main themes. Cultural similarities and differences were identified in students'…

We sought to test a componential model of Chinese written spelling, including the role of orthographic working memory (OWM), among Hong Kong kindergartners. One hundred seventeen kindergartners were recruited. OWM was measured using a visual orthographic judgment and a delayed copying task. Orthographic knowledge, semantic knowledge, and…

Against the background of increasing internationalization, Chinese-foreign cooperative education programs are growing in the Chinese higher education sector. With the international teaching environment combined with the local IC education concept, Chinese-foreign cooperative education programs are potentially the ideal platform for the complete…

Over the past decade, Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong have experienced a series of educational reforms. They are now expected to design and implement their own school-based Chinese language curriculum, and adopt innovative pedagogies and customized materials in the classroom. The current literature suggests that some teachers are not ready…

Hong Kong attained the top place in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011, an international study of reading achievement, which arouses keen interest in understanding the reasons behind this remarkable achievement. Although factors associated with reading achievement in English have been widely studied, similar studies…

This study explored the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between reading and writing in young Chinese-as-a-second-language (CSL) learners' sentence writing, using structural equation modeling. The participants comprised 126 Hong Kong senior primary ethnic minority students, whose literacy skills were assessed at two time points over the…

This study examines the development of the reading comprehension of young learners of Chinese as a second language (CSL) in Hong Kong, with reference to the Simple View of Reading model. The model postulates that reading comprehension is a product of decoding and linguistic comprehension. A sample of 121 ethnic minority senior primary students was…

This study aimed to investigate the timecourse and neural underpinnings of the coding of radical positions in Chinese character reading. To isolate effects of radical positions, four types of pseudocharacters were created in which the constituent radicals appeared in positions varying in probability of occurrence, that is, Unique, Dominant,…

Previous studies have suggested that word processing in English as a second language (L2) is affected by first language (L1) orthographic features. However, little is known about what affects L2 Chinese character processing in adult Chinese learners with different L1 orthographies such as Japanese, Korean, and English. With a picture-character…

Hong Kong attained champion of the PIRLS 2011 that aroused keen interest in understanding the underlying reasons of a non-alphabetic language. The study aimed at unravelling various aspects of the student and home factors which contributed to remarkable Chinese reading performance. Totally 3,875 students from 132 primary schools completed the…

This study examined the Chinese written composition development of elementary-grade students in relation to the simple view of writing. Measures of nonverbal reasoning ability, component skills of transcription (stroke sequence knowledge, word spelling, and handwriting fluency), oral language (definitional skill, oral narrative skills, and…

This study aimed to explore the cross-lagged association of achievements in mathematics and languages. While the effect of language on achievements in mathematics is well-documented, few studies have examined the reciprocal relationships among mathematics, the Chinese language and the English language in the same study. This study conducted a…

Based on social-cognitive career theory (SCCT), we explore how ethnic identity, parental occupation, efficacy in learning Chinese, and learning experience relate to ethnic minority adolescents' academic and career expectations. The participants are 632 Southeast Asian adolescents in Hong Kong. In accordance with SCCT, structural equation modeling…

Understanding the value of monocultural acculturation orientation to the host culture (assimilation) and bicultural acculturation orientation (integration) for language learning is critical in guiding educational policy and practices for immigrant students. This study aimed to enhance our understanding on the relationship between acculturation…