published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Within the framework of task-based language teaching, various types of tasks have been proposed, yet in English as foreign language classroom contexts where learners’ exposure to target language input is often limited, the adoption of form-focused tasks seems to receive much credit. Although the potential academic gains brought forth by such tasks have been studied in some previous quantitative research, the call for investigations into those tasks from a learner perspective remains warranted. In this study I investigated the use of grammatical consciousness-raising (C-R) tasks as an inductive approach to grammar pedagogy in an EFL classroom from a learner perspective. While performing such tasks the informants, who were a class of secondary level English as foreign language learners, made discoveries about the targeted grammar items based on contextualized examples provided. In the study I first examined the extent to which adopting C-R tasks impacted on the informants’ learning of English grammar through pretests and posttests. Second, I elicited their perceptions of C-R tasks through a questionnaire and two semi-structured interviews. Third, with the think-aloud protocols method I studied the informants’ engagement with the grammar items presented through either C-R tasks or deductive explanation. The findings revealed that the majority of the informants were able to develop grammatical understanding through performing C-R tasks. They tended to respond positively to and show deep engagement with the grammar items presented though such tasks as well. To enhance the perceived effectiveness of such tasks and thus to maximize the effect of grammar teaching, I concluded by suggesting the need for teachers to make the learners fully aware of the nature of and rationale behind C-R tasks and to investigate whether and how such tasks can be integrated with other methodological options in realizing effective grammar instruction in their own contexts. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

　　This study explored a group of mainland Chinese research postgraduate students’ attitudes to using English in their current academic and daily lives in Hong Kong. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. An interview survey with seven participants was carried out to seek in-depth information about participants’ perceptions of using English in Hong Kong. Based on the major themes found in the preliminary analysis of the interview survey, an online questionnaire survey was designed and sent out to investigate a much larger group of mainland research students' English language use experiences in Hong Kong. 　　The results revealed that this group of students generally had positive attitudes to using English in their academic lives in Hong Kong while had relatively negative attitudes to their experiences of daily English language use. Their perceptions of the English of different groups of people in Hong Kong were varied although they all opined that English was an important language in the educational, commercial and other formal settings in Hong Kong. The pedagogical implications for mainland research students, their academic supervisors and university language policy makers are discussed and future research directions are suggested. / published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This study aimed at finding out junior secondary student’s attitude towards school science in a co-educational school in Hong Kong. Eleven items from the survey instrument Attitude towards School Science (AtSS) were used to collect both descriptive and explanatory data on student’s attitude towards school science. The sample consisted of 393 Form 1 to Form 3 students. Their positive AtSS were found to decline with grade level (i.e. declining from Form 1 to Form 3). The decrease in positive attitude was sharpest between Form 2 and Form 3. A remarkable decrease in positive attitude towards their science teachers was also noticed between Form 2 and Form 3 mainly due to the decrease in variety of activities during the lessons. In general, female students were less positive to school science but they were trying harder than the male students because they wanted to do well even though they were not as interested as male students in the subject. In terms of interest, female students were more favorably inclined towards biological science and male students towards physical sciences. Based on the findings, it is suggested that the curriculum and time allocation for junior secondary science, especially for Form 3, should be revised so as to help cultivate student’s interest in science. Also, peer observations can be arranged more frequently to let teachers learn from each other. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Many non-English-speaking countries and regions are establishing medical programmes using English as the sole medium of instruction, with the aim of producing global leaders who can function without communicative barriers. However, graduates from these programmes still have to use the local, non-English language to communicate with their local patients. The aim of this study is to examine whether these graduates experience any difficulty in communicating with their patients in the local language. We looked at the medical graduates of The University of Hong Kong as a specific example. The results of the study can be used for designing a local language course in these programmes. Graduates from the MBBS program of The University of Hong Kong were invited to take part, using selective, convenience and snowball sampling methods. Nineteen subjects voluntarily took part. Semi-structured interviews were individually conducted, and were based on a framework of questions in the four areas of Chinese language usage: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. All subjects indicated a certain degree of difficulty in using Chinese language in their clinical practice. In reading professional medical documents in Chinese, they had problems in recognizing the hand-written and the simplified Chinese characters. They also had difficulty in understanding the meanings of the words, in particular the Chinese medical terms, their variants, their abbreviations, and in following the complex Chinese academic discourses. In listening, they had difficulties in understanding Mandarin, especially those subjects who graduated more than 14 years ago and had little exposure to Mandarin during their school education. Even if they were able to recognize the spoken words, they may still have difficulties in understanding their meaning, just as they did in reading. In writing, the subjects did not perceive much difficulty, mainly because they could avoid writing professional medical documents in Chinese. In speaking, the subjects had difficulty with Mandarin. But the subjects did not complain of difficulties in speaking to their patients in Cantonese, despite their poor Chinese medical vocabulary, mainly because they developed strategies to avoid using Chinese medical terms, including giving the English terms instead, using a more general term, and or giving a description or explanation instead of the name. These strategies of complete omission, code switching, generalization, circumlocution are commonly used by learners of a second language when they experience lexical difficulties. They may jeopardize doctor-patient communication. Many subjects recognized the importance of having a good level of Chinese medical vocabulary. They also think that the use of Chinese medical terms, under appropriate conditions, allowed patients to have a more accurate and concrete picture of their conditions. The present study has identified Mandarin and Chinese medical vocabulary as the areas in which medical graduates from the HKU medical programme are particularly deficient. With the increasing emphasis on Mandarin in primary and secondary schools, new graduates from the programme can become more competent. But Chinese medical vocabulary remains a problem, and should be considered in the planning of a Chinese language course for the medical students at HKU. The results may also inform medical programmes in other non-English speaking countries and regions which use English as the sole medium of instruction. Training in the local language is important when English is used as the sole medium of instruction. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

 This study had two aims. The first was to examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of Schwartz Values Survey(SVS-58) and Super’s Work Values Inventory (WVI-45) for measuring general and work values of Hong Kong Chinese university students. The second aim was to explore the relationship between ‘general’ and ‘work’ values. The validity and reliability of the two measures were checked using a sample of 211 university students from various subject majors in five universities in Hong Kong. Data collection was facilitated through the help of staff in the Student Affairs Office and in academic departments. Respondents’ participation was voluntary, and their anonymity was ensured. The composite questionnaire used to obtain information contained the Chinese versions of SVS-58 and WVI-45,plus the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Marlowe-Crown Social Desirability Scale. Participants also provided basic demographic information. The same methodology and instruments (SVS with one item deleted and WVI with 3 items removed) were adopted later in the main study involving a larger sample—451 students from seven universities. Results of the pilot study showed that SVS-58was acceptable as a reliable and valid instrument with this population. The reliability of the Hedonism subscale was enhanced by deleting an item. Some of the WVI subscales were found to be unreliable, but the reliabilities increased when 3 problematic items were removed. The construct validity of WVI-42was confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis in the main study sample. In terms of relationships between ‘general’ and ‘work’ values, Roe and Ester (1999) had proposed three possible scenarios: (1) work values and general values are discrete constructs, or (2) work values are a sub-set of general values (as represented in a model developed by Ros, Schwartz, and Surkiss, 1999), or (3) general values are a subset of work values. Due to the lack of well-established theory for studying possibility (3), this study focused on the first two. The main study with a sample of 451 students showed that both scenarios (1) and (2) were to some extent supported by findings from Multidimensional Scaling, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Pearson Correlation Analysis, and Canonical Correlation Analysis. This was in spite of the unexpected results from Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling. The findings here can therefore be used to suggest a combination of scenarios (1) and (2) as an explanation of the relationship between ‘general’ and ‘work’ values, with work values being both a distinct construct to some extent but closely integrated with general values. Clearly, these findings cannot rule out the possibility of scenario (3). The findings indicate that classifications of general and work values proposed by Roe and Ester (1999) seem not to be mutually exclusive. The findings also provide empirical support for the model proposed by Ros, Schwartz and Surkiss (1999) ―with a theoretical link between general and work values. The implications for career counseling point to a need to include assessments of both general and work values when planning individualized comprehensive career guidance for university clients. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

This paper aims at investigating the attitude of junior and senior students of Hong Kong secondary school toward the medium of instruction. This study involved 37 senior students and 34 junior students of the same CMI secondary school. The research is quantitative in nature and data is analyzed statistically. The major findings are, firstly, both groups of students affirm with the benefits of CMI in enhancing effective learning of content subjects. However, they do not agree that CMI can effectively enhance their English ability. Second, students choose between CMI and EMI according to the status of Chinese and English in their mind, which varies with the changes of needs and challenges they face with. The results suggest that the status of Chinese is higher with the junior students. They are both strongly integratively and instrumentally orientated toward Chinese. The benefits of CMI outweigh the disadvantages it has on English learning. Therefore, junior students show a more positive attitude toward CMI. On the other hand, senior students are aware of the high demand in English at university and at work. Their needs to face the society after graduation cause them to be more instrumentally orientated toward English. Therefore, the status of English is relatively higher than Chinese among the senior students, which results in a more positive attitude toward EMI learning. / published_or_final_version / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This is a comprehensive research which examines students’ perception of climate change and their positive actions (i.e., Low-Carbon Behaviors) by comparing students in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. The research has employed both quantitative and quantitative approaches to collect data. Quantitative data was collected from 709 student samples from two secondary schools and two primary schools by conventional paper-and-pencil questionnaire surveys that include the measures of (1) environmental attitude; (2) perception of climate change problem; (3) engagement in LCBs; (4) hurdles to the adoption of LCBs; and (5) climate change knowledge. Qualitative data was collected from five school teachers of the participating schools by interviews to gather views on climate change education (CCE) and to explore the constraints of its effective implementation. The research concluded that students held moderate pro-environment attitude. Both primary and secondary students were equally worried about climate change problem and believed that its impacts were severe. Yet, fewer primary students believed the anthropogenic cause of climate change and they also perceived lower severity of climate change impact on local ecological environment. Students held modestly positive hope in mitigating climate change problem. Primary students felt a stronger empowerment to influence others, and were more willing to take action than secondary students. Moreover, students perceived that additional commitment and lack of practicing opportunities were major hurdles of LCBs. They also possessed a fairly low level of climate change knowledge with different misconceptions. In addition, the research has unveiled that lack of funding support and inconsequential administrative procedures from the application of environmental project funds were the foremost obstacles to the implementation of CCE. Most teacher respondents were contented with the curriculum design of climate change problem and inclined to oppose the introduction of formal CCE in Hong Kong. Furthermore, the research has thoroughly reviewed the existing curricula in primary and secondary schools. The existing design of school curriculum on climate change was found to be fragmented and unable to allow students to comprehend the issues thoroughly. Finally, overseas CCE practices, recommendations on improving CCE, and enhancing students’ engagement in LCBs, were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education