This study explores how contextual factors affect the instructional reaction of teachers to the changes in the high-stake testing. The results obtained from an investigation of 11 teachers from five senior middle schools show that contextual factors can be categorized into three, namely, traditional exam culture, leadership at district and school…

By the start of kindergarten, there are already large gaps in achievement between black and Hispanic children and their white peers, between children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and their higher socioeconomic counterparts, and between dual language learners (DLLs) and their native English-speaking peers. This dissertation examines the…

It has been generally accepted that the left hemisphere is more functionally specialized for language than the right hemisphere for right-handed monolinguals. But more and more studies have also demonstrated right hemisphere advantage for some language tasks with certain participants. A recent comprehensive survey has shown that hemisphere…

This study examines stance in cross-cultural media discourse by comparing disaster news reports on the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008 in a Chinese, an Australian Chinese, and an Australian newspaper. The stance taken in the news reports is examined using the Attitude sub-system of Martin and White's (2005) Appraisal framework. The analysis…

In the past, the Curriculum Development Council in Hong Kong [Curriculum Development Council (CDC). (1996). "Guide to the Pre-Primary Curriculum." Hong Kong: Government Printer; CDC. (2000). "Consultation Document: Learning to Learn: The Way Forward in Curriculum Development." Hong Kong: Government Printer; CDC. (2001).…

The era of Asia has been felt in foreign language education in Japan, with more and more youth reportedly opting to study Chinese and Korean as the second foreign language. The shift in popularity, from European to Asian languages, not only reflects the societal demand for the institutional rearrangement of academic staff but also stirs teachers…

The notion of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has recently emerged as a key theoretical framework that could help explain the complexity involved when teachers integrate ICT into classroom teaching. While the framework has been employed in hundreds of published studies, surveys of teachers' TPACK for specific subject matter,…

Shortly after the political handover from Britain to China, mother tongue education was enforced in Hong Kong, which mandated the majority of the local secondary schools to switch the medium of instruction (MoI) from English to Chinese. Henceforth, schools were divided into Chinese-medium and English-medium. In 2001, a study was conducted to…

The relationship between speech perception and production has been debated for a long time. The Motor Theory of speech perception (Liberman et al., 1989) claims that perceiving speech is identifying the intended articulatory gestures rather than perceiving the sound patterns. It seems to suggest that speech production precedes speech perception,…

Translating existing sociodental indicators to another language involves a rigorous methodology, which can be costly. Free-of-charge online translator tools are available, but have not been evaluated in the context of research involving quality of life measures. To explore the value of using online translator tools to develop oral health-related…

In this paper, we argue that second language (L2) reading research, which has been informed by studies involving first language (L1) alphabetic English reading, may be less relevant to L2 readers with non-alphabetic reading backgrounds, such as Chinese readers with an L1 logographic (Chinese character) learning history. We provide both…

In a bilingual society like Singapore, home language environment (HLE) of Singaporean children is becoming increasingly concerned, especially for those who are yet to have formal education in schools. The reported rapid shift of family language has increased the tensions among families, schools and communities. This study examined some of the many…

Since the late 1990s, early study abroad (ESA) in English-speaking countries has been a popular educational strategy for pre-university Korean students to acquire important language skills such as global English, which is imagined to help them prepare for the competition in global educational and occupational market. However, as ESA, commonly…

The rapid development of the digital classroom has made it possible to combine extensive reading with online writing, yet research and development in this area are lacking. This study explores the impact of online writing after extensive reading in a classroom setting in China where there was one computer for each student (a 1:1 digital…

In Australia, students from Chinese and Arabic language backgrounds form the largest minority language groups in the New South Wales (NSW) public school system. Yet the mainstream academic performance of students from these two communities show marked differences in their levels of attainment. This article explores the home literacy practices of…