Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2006. / "March 20, 2006"--T.p. Title taken from PDF title screen (viewed September 10, 2007). Includes bibliographical references and appendices.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Iowa, 2006. / Supervisor: L. Kathy Heilenman. Includes bibliographical references (l. 335-341).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2006. / Supervisor: Judith Liskin-Gasparro. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-189).

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-226) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (May 2, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) in Hong Kong are a marginalised group, with many being subjected to various kinds of abuse. Numerous empirical studies documented the nature and extent of the abuse FDWs suffer. This study, with the aim of enhancing the prestige of FDWs, investigated the impact that Filipino Domestic Workers (FilDWs) in Hong Kong have on children's L2 English listening comprehension and spoken fluency. It was the first research that explored the impact of FilDWs on both a productive and receptive skill. A total of 20 children from Chinese Medium oflnstruction (CMI) schools between eight and 12 years old were used as research subjects. The experimental group consisted of 10 children from households with FilDWs, while the control group was composed of 10 children from households without FilDWs. Each group consisted of six boys and four girls. Prior to doing the study a pilot study was launched at a CMI school where five children of the target age group were tested. Based on the results of the pilot study, a test was designed to assess both listening comprehension and spoken fluency. Each participant listened to a children's story and was asked 25 fixed questions about it. All answers were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Results showed that those in the experimental group consistently outperformed those in the control group by substantial margins, even after controlling for age and gender. These results serve as evidence against the popular assertion in Hong Kong that FDWs have a bad influence on children's English.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Life in the twenty-first Century globalised world brings people into contact with others from different cultures who use different languages. Through these contacts, the need for interactions makes these people to find different ways of understanding one another and to generate knowledge. For them to achieve this objective, they need a strong medium. L2 and Foreign language education has been develop to unravel such challenges posed to competence in intercultural communication, with the emphasis placed on how to communicate with a different "other" since the world is now a small village. Foreign and second language teaching and learning (a social practice) in this study, is tangible to eradicate linguistic and cultural barriers. In this case, it does not only require to promote competence through linguistic capital (language), but more importantly, it arouses intercultural awareness. For these issues to develop and consolidate intercultural communication competence, language practitioners need to deviate from the rationalist reductionistic approaches to language teaching and learning in favour of an ecological or a constructivist perspective, which views language learning as a social practice. In view of this, whatever language the participants may use for communication does not matter, what really matters is that they need to switch to any given language as a situation may demand. In upholding a constructivist perspective, this research hypothesized that engagement and participation as a social practice, does not only increase competence in the target language, but it also helps the participants to develop in terms of emotional maturity and character (Bilton and Sivasubramaniam 2009). This research made use of the qualitative research methodology, revolving around an ethnographic design, to understand the outcomes and the fluidity of interactions among a diverse community of the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. Such an understanding can therefore only be deduced from the perspectives of the role-players through their engagements and participation in activities and events in and out of the classrooms. The research population constituted lecturers, tutors and students of the above institution. The four principal tools used for data collection included: the Interviews, Questionnaires, Naturally Occurring data and Participant Observation. The interviews were both formal and informal and together with the Questionnaires, they were all open-ended. Their open-ended nature was not only because of the interaction it provided between the researcher and the researched but also because they aroused an awareness of diversity and a need to understand otherness. The findings from the study affirmed that the participants gained competence in intercultural communication through the different levels of interactions that were used to enhance participation, engagement and involvement. In view of this, the participants benefited from provisional understanding, tentative interpretations and the affective environment. Furthermore, it could be said that interactions provided them the rationale to challenge, develop and explore ideas and meanings for communication. Holistically, the study attested to the importance and centrality of participation and engagement in a target language, with the main aim of motivating the participants to understand that there is no such thing as correctness in meaning or proficiency in a language, nor in understanding the world around them.

Fine-tuning Medium of Instruction (FTMOI) policy was introduced in 2010 after more than ten years of compulsory Chinese as the instructional medium for junior secondary education. Research results have proved that learning through first language Chinese does not necessarily guarantee better academic performance. Instead, the rigid compulsory Chinese medium of instruction policy led to a general decline in English standards. This alarms most students and parents in several regards. First, the lack of opportunities to the exposure of English affects the build-up of the English abilities for most students. Second, the declining English standards can potentially affect the chance of students being admitted into university as English is a prerequisite for further education in Hong Kong or other places of the world. Declining English standards also weakens the competitiveness of Hong Kong as a world financial center. Hong Kong has a strong bilingual tradition where most people can benefit from the trade and businesses. With strong demand for English in all sectors, the Education Bureau finally proposed a more flexible medium of instruction policy aiming to cater for the language needs of the students as well as their bilingual development. This study aims to investigate the views and attitudes of principals, teachers and students towards the Fine-tuning Medium of Instruction policy. Special focuses were given to investigate the strategies employed by teachers and students as well as the measures taken by the schools for FTMOI implementation. Two government-aided schools were selected to participate in this study. Based on the student intake of the year, the two schools were approved by the Education Bureau to arrange English-medium classes. The change of medium of instruction from Chinese medium (CMI) to English medium (EMI) is under a six-year review cycle. In this study, a Convergent Mixed Methods Design has been adopted to explore the issue regarding teaching and learning under FTMOI. The quantitative part of the research includes the study of the surveys in reflecting the views and attitudes of all stakeholders (Principals, teachers and students) towards FTMOI. Comparison has been made between the EMI and partial-EMI students within schools. Special attention is given to the strategies employed by teachers and students through interviews and lesson observation, the qualitative part of the study. Significance of the study is reported. Results indicated that most stakeholders (principals, teachers and students) welcomed the Fine-tuning Medium of Instruction policy (FTMOI) despite diverse views observed when conducting interviews. Groups of strategies used by teachers were explored, categorized and analyzed how they played the role to help bridge both knowledge and language gaps of students when teaching was conducted through a second language. A detailed record of the strategies used by teachers and students helped uncover the complication of teaching content-based subject through English. The results of this study should provide more insights for further investigation concerning English-medium teaching. Investigating the FTMOI implementation, not only does this study fill the knowledge gap of exploring the pedagogical insights regarding learning through a second language, but it also helps to inform policy-makers the perspectives of teaching and learning in bilingual context while providing solutions to the strategy use of teaching content-based subjects through English in achieving better learning outcomes, both in terms of content knowledge and English. Further exploration of enhancing teaching and learning through a second language is worth to be discussed in this research paper.