Silence has been identified as a defining characteristic of Asian students in second language contexts. Recent qualitative studies in this area indicate that taking this as a generalisable characteristic of Asian learners may be an over-simplification. Therefore, there is a need to rethink Asian students’ silent behaviour in learning interactions. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides a high level of communicative demand; however, no in-depth qualitative work has been done to date on students’ silence in PBL tutorials in Asian contexts. Given this lack of research, this study investigates students’ silence in PBL interactions in an Asian English medium of instruction (EMI) university. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore the functions of silence and factors contributing to silence in PBL small group interactions. In this research, a sociocultural theoretical orientation formed the foundation for the conceptualisation of silence in situated learning. A case study was conducted to investigate the complexities and subtleties of silence in PBL interactions. The focus of the case was first year students’ experience of PBL tutorials in an undergraduate dental curriculum. A variety of data, including questionnaires, post-survey interviews, observations, audiovisual recordings, and stimulated recall interviews, were collected. Analysis of over twenty hours of PBL tutorials then drew upon traditions from interaction theories and studies of silence to provide an explanatory perspective. Thus, students’ silence in PBL interactions was examined from communicative functional and critical perspectives. From a communicative functional perspective, findings indicate that students’ silence in PBL interactions is not only a means of non-participation or an effect of possible constraints, but is also enacted as a learning and communicative strategy. Based on this understanding of silence for communication and learning, the issue of silence was further explored based on critical discourse analysis. Data analysis indicates that students’ silence occurred when multiple identities, shifting relations, and a specific learning and professional community in an Asian EMI context were constructed, challenged, and reconstructed in PBL discourse. Two key factors were found to influence students’ silence in PBL tutorials: the immediate contextual factor and the power relation. This study has theoretical and practical significance for higher education pedagogy. Findings underline the importance of investigating silence in depth in order to compose a more insightful picture of interaction in small group learning. The study also develops insights into a proposed re-conceptualisation of silence in PBL discourse and offers a novel viewpoint to locate the issue of silence in small group interactions for PBL. Lastly, based on the analysis of a substantial body of qualitative data, this study has increased understandings of student silence in PBL tutorials in an Asian EMI university. Such a study not only contributes towards theorizing silence in higher education but also provides teaching staff and education policy makers with useful information about learners in small group learning in an EMI context. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This study examines the implementation of the flipped classroom model in a local secondary school in Hong Kong. The flipped classroom is a relatively new educational model requiring teachers to invert the time students spend on lectures and the time students spend on homework. Although several studies conducted on this approach show improvements to student achievement as well as positive views from participating educators, parents and most students, there has been little research done based in Asian schools. For this design study, four geography classes of secondary one students in a local Hong Kong school were “flipped” for one full school term (4 months). Throughout the term, learning resources were posted to online educational platforms for students to access at home, and the teacher developed interactive activities for class time. This paper analyzes data from various summative assessments, statistics from the online platforms, student posts, video footage from the class, responses to a student survey and a teacher interview to examine four elements of the flipped classroom: the nature of the learning environment created to flip the classroom in a local Hong Kong secondary school; whether students could achieve or potentially improve outcomes of the course through flipped learning; whether flipped learning stimulated engagement from students with a particular focus on social constructivist behaviors; and, the sustainability of flipped teaching in a local Hong Kong school. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Recent curriculum reforms in Hong Kong emphasize learning how to learn, inquiry, collaboration, and similar capabilities. Problem-based learning (PBL) seems an appropriate approach for addressing these new requirements. However, little is known about the use of PBL in secondary (middle) schools, particularly in East-Asian countries in which Confucian-heritage values influence learning approaches. Therefore, the goal of this research was to provide a systematic account of an attempt to implement PBL in Form 1 (Grade 7) Integrated Science classes. The study investigated the teachers’ pedagogical actions, the aspects of the PBL environment that helped to motivate students in science learning, their pattern of discourse for science development and the possible differences of their learning outcomes compared with PBL and conventional learning conditions. A quasi-experimental and mixed-method approach was employed to gather data from two experimental classes (n = 62) and two control classes (n = 63). Data sources included field notes of classroom observations, audio recordings of students working in small groups on their PBL problems, interviews with teachers and students, and science tests administered immediately prior to each instructional unit (pre-test), at the conclusion of each unit (post-test), and before the school term ended (delayed post-test). The study has five main findings: (1) PBL teachers used different strategies to help students who were new to PBL to adapt to the new pedagogical practice, to facilitate group confrontation, and to help students become self-directed learners. (2) Choice, challenge, control and collaboration seem to have motivated students’ learning in the PBL classrooms. (3) Disagreements about the problem situations stimulated task-related cognitive activity and resulted in academic progress. (4) Students’ questions during collaboration facilitated learning by directing their’ inquiry and expanding their thinking. (5) Science test results show that the PBL group performed at least as well as the traditional learning group in knowledge acquisition, and that PBL helped the high achievers to retain information better than their peers in the traditional learning group. The study provides valuable information that shows how PBL can work in secondary school science classrooms. Implications for future research on PBL, and its practice in secondary school science, are also outlined. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Students studying under the new senior secondary school curriculum in Hong Kong can either perform community service under the Other Learning Experiences (OLE) organized by schools or volunteer their time for service. The primary aims of this study are to report the community service involvement of a selected group of secondary school students in Hong Kong, and to explore the impact of different types of community services on students’ intention to volunteer, volunteer satisfaction, and sense of personal and social responsibility. This study also investigates the effects of various individual and volunteering factors on students’ continuation of volunteering in Hong Kong. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used to examine the relationship between community service and other variables, namely responsibility, intention and satisfaction on young people in Hong Kong. A total of 1,046 secondary school students aged between 13 and 21 were recruited via purposive sampling from seven secondary schools. The respondents in this study consisted of Forms 5 to 6 students, and they completed the self-administered questionnaire containing 92 items to measure the theory of planned behavior personal and social responsibility, volunteer satisfaction and continuation of volunteering. Based on their participation in community service under the OLE and their self-organized volunteer services, four groups of respondents can be identified. They are: 1) those who participated in both OLE-related community services and self-organized volunteer services (N=461, 44.84%); 2) those who participated in self-organized volunteer services only (N=339, 32.98%); 3) those who participated in OLE-related community services only (N=38, 3.70%) and 4) those who did not participate in any form of community services (N=190, 18.48%). As expected, findings indicate that the factors of gender, level of educational attainment and prior community service involvement are associated with volunteer intention, satisfaction, responsibility and continuation of volunteering. The results also highlight that those who did not participate in any form of community services in the past 12 years had the lowest scores on the Theory of Planned Behavior-Chinese (TPB-C) scale and continuation of volunteering behaviors. Students with only OLE-related community service participation had the lowest scores on Personal and Social Responsibility Scale-Chinese (PSRS-C), and Volunteer Satisfaction Index-Chinese (VSI-C). An Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis showed that the Theory of Planned Behavior, personal and social responsibility, and volunteer satisfaction are predictors of students’ continuation of volunteering behaviors. This study offers further implications for school personnel and youth workers who work closely with young people and promote volunteerism among secondary school students. Students with voluntary community service experience (i.e. those who both participated in OLE-related community services and self-organized volunteer services, and those who participated in self-organized volunteer services only) have higher scores in their volunteer intention, satisfaction and responsibility. Practitioners can engage students with different community service programs in fostering their positive development. Practitioners can also improve service design and related arrangements with reference to the results of the study. For example, practitioners could encourage young people to serve specific targets that will ultimately bring about the most benefit to their continued volunteering. Further research is needed to validate and refine the scales of TPB-C and PSRS-C in the Chinese context, to explore factors in facilitating students’ continuing service involvement, and to develop evidence-based service programs for young people in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education