This study investigated the impact of student-selected pairs on emotional engagement and language-learning opportunities generated during collaborative tasks. Sixteen learners of English at a Hong Kong secondary school performed collaborative tasks in two pairing arrangements: student-selected pairing and teacher-assigned pairing (mixed…

Despite the global adoption of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and extensive research on the effectiveness (product-oriented) and classroom interactions (process-oriented) of CLIL, existing studies have overlooked the motivational beliefs and metacognitive strategies of CLIL students. Hence, there is a need for a…

This study investigated how English learners complete multimodal formative quizzes. Participants included 17,950 students enrolled in a mandatory English for Academic Purposes course at a university in Hong Kong. We retrieved data from Blackboard, a learning management system, and conducted a two-step cluster analysis to examine student…

Although teachers have access to a great deal of scholarship on teaching academic vocabulary (AV), much less is known about the experiences and perceptions of English language learners regarding AV. To address this gap, we used an online metaphor elicitation survey and follow-up interviews to collect data from 432 undergraduates at a Hong Kong…

Although research has always related e-portfolios to self-regulated learning, recently agency, which includes individual, relational, and contextual domains, has also been highlighted. Likewise, agency has been explored in technological environments that support collaborative and co-design learning processes. This study, investigating the…

The use of three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVWs) in language education has been widely acknowledged in the field, and researchers have expressed a growing interest in their proliferation in second language (L2) learning and instruction. In order to improve the Thai-speaking abilities of learners of Thai as a foreign language (TFL) in three…

While play-based learning is important for a high quality early education, only when teachers are confident and competent in enacting play-based learning in their everyday practice are expected benefits of play-based learning for whole-child development realized. A sample of 592 early childhood educators who assumed different job titles in Hong…

Despite the increasing use of virtual modalities in schools since the COVID-19 pandemic, no systematic tools exist to evaluate the process of online learning. We developed and validated an Online Learning Process Questionnaire (OLPQ) for assessing online at-home learning among 219 Hong Kong primary-school students and 474 caregivers. Exploratory…

This paper reports the results of a quasi-experimental study that evaluated the effectiveness of collaborative mind mapping in three Hong Kong primary schools. More than 200 grade 4 students, divided into three pedagogical groups, participated in a variety of science learning activities with the aid of a mind map and/or collaborative group work.…

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted learning from the traditional classroom approach to online learning. As such, this study used a revision centre as a case study to develop the factors that contribute to the theoretical framework of online peer learning in the higher education sector due to COVID-19. This study also…

The present study seeks to explore the long-term impact of an overseas immersion programme on pre-service teachers' professional learning in Hong Kong. In-depth interviews with 11 pre-service teachers about their immersion experiences and post-immersion learning revealed their professional gains and challenges brought by their exposure to…

In-person teaching abroad experiences, where pre-service teachers spend a defined period teaching in schools in a foreign country, have received considerable research attention in recent years. However, virtual alternatives have yet to be explored. This exploratory study sought to understand the effects a virtual teaching abroad experience had on…

Formative assessment has been considered an essential concept for motivating and improving learning. However, implementing formative assessment has been confronted with challenges in Confucian-heritage culture (CHC) contexts such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, where the atmosphere of high-stakes tests dominates at policy and classroom levels. Whether…

The ability to formulate problems is an important part of computational thinking (CT) development for nurturing creative problem solvers. However, problem formulation is inadequately addressed in primary school education. This study aimed to investigate the problem formulation processes of primary school students. Students from eight winning teams…

In K-12 schools, classes are forced to transform online due to the class suspension amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators began to design alternative ways to conduct some meaningful learning activities for their students. However, not all subject disciplines could be easily transformed online, especially for those requiring much social interaction…