This thesis reports on an ethnographic inquiry into student teachers’ professional learning and development in a four-month practicum, during which no mentor is present. The subject background is Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL) in mainland China. This study draws on a variety of theories, such as Wenger’s social learning theory, Brookfield’s significant personal learning theory, Fuller’s teacher concern theory and Ghaye’s reflection hierarchy model, to conceptualize a theoretical framework to interpret collected data. The research involves two phases, i.e., the pilot and main study, each of which includes three participants. This thesis mainly reports the three cases in the main phase, with a brief account of the pilot phase. The methodological orientation of this research is naturalistic inquiry, which involves multiple data collection methods, such as student teachers’ reflective journals, individual and group interviews, lesson observations, documentary analysis, field notes and email correspondence, of which reflective journals are the main data source. The findings suggest that the student teachers are highly self-reliant in undertaking professional learning when no mentors are present. Very little participation in the professional community has been identified in all of the six cases, which is presumably attributed to the no mentorship context. Student teachers who possess a strong passion for teaching make attempts to expand their professional communities at the initial stage of the practicum; however, they are demotivated when their attempts fail. They thereafter have to rely on their own initiative by drawing on their prior teaching experiences or other resources available in their personal communities. Those who are not passionate about teaching do not take the initiative to widen their professional communities and make no changes throughout the practicum. The results also indicate that the student teachers suffer extreme anxiety, often for the whole practicum period. They are tormented by self-doubt and panic about the uncertainties and emergencies in teaching. They show great concern for “self” throughout the practicum and rarely demonstrate concern for “tasks”, “teaching performance” or “learners”. Their concern for survival predominates the whole practicum. The student teachers’ reflections as revealed in their teaching journals are basically at the descriptive and perceptive level. Little higher-level reflection has been identified. This is also likely to be associated with the no mentorship context. Recommendations for the TCSL teacher preparation programmes and the student teachers are highlighted. For the programmes, providing a more structured and supportive environment is suggested. The student teachers are advised to take more initiative to widen their professional communities and to have more peer learning and self-directed learning. A good combination of formal and informal learning can enable them to achieve the maximum professional growth in the practicum. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this qualitative research is to determine the factors involved in adult language learners’ success or lack of success in the private sector in Beijing, and why learners have chosen to voluntarily sign up to learn English as adults. To be specific, I wanted to find out why some learners are more successful than others when all have started learning English at beginner level and under the same context for a period of 9 months to 2 years. A total of six students in Aspire English (AE), a language training school in Beijing, took part in this small scale study. The six learners were interviewed on aspects such as motivation to learn English, reasons for learning English and for choosing AE, language learning strategies and previous learning experiences. Four AE teachers were also consulted to further ensure participants were placed accordingly to the two groups of learners – successful language learners and less successful language learners. The overall results of this study showed that students had negative learning experience when learning English in formal schools. Also, it was found that adult learners would most likely succeed in language learning in the private sector context of they were learning English as a way to obtain symbolic resource and not material resource. This means that learners were learning the language in order to gain a sense of belonging to the target language community, and not as a way to gain capital. Furthermore, learners who were integratively motivated, who used a wider variety of learning strategies along with out-of-class socializing with members in the target language community were also more successful that their peers. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The study investigates the learning of parents in parent education. It aims to find the parent learners’ conceptions of learning and to obtain an understanding of parents as learners. Phenomenography was employed as the research method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents who participated in an in-school parent education course targeted at parents of students in the first year of secondary school. The study found six conceptions of parental learning: Learning as A. recalling experiences, B. acquiring problem solving skills, C. applying the problem solving skills, D. awareness of the parent-child system, E. seeing alternative ways of parenting, and F. changing of persons. Among the six categories, the first three are akin to surface learning, while the last three are deep learning. The research found a hierarchical relationship among them. Conception A is considered the lowest level of learning, while F is the highest. The first three conceptions are focused on the control of the child’s behavior. In these, learning is often limited to acquiring and to applying quick fixes to regain control of the child’s behavior. The last three conceptions are focused on the development of the parent and child relationship. Learners reflect upon the assumptions that define the parent-child relationship, the assumptions on the developmental needs of the child, and the assumptions that govern parenting attitude and practices. Deep learning approaches are more systemic than the surface learning approaches. In the former, the problem is treated as something external to the learner, while in the latter the learner is treated as part of the system and is therefore also part of the problem. Transformation is more personal and internal to the learner in the latter categories. Reflection is found to be the key learning strategy in all the conceptions. The first three employ ‘practical or pragmatic reflection’, while the last three employ ‘critical reflection’ of assumptions. This study extends the field of phenomenographic research to more complex and ill-defined real life learning in a lived context. The study concludes that for parent education to acquire an educational and developmental perspective, there is a need to treat ‘parents as learner’. The ‘conceptions of parental learning’ provide critical insights to parents as learners, which in turn give an alternative framework for parent education practitioners and researchers toward designing appropriate programs that facilitate parental learning. Facilitators should foster critical reflection, take into account the rich experiences among the learners and endeavor to harness them. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Curriculum and Educational Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Hospitality and tourism management (HTM) programmes are unique in that they usually emphasize the development of students’ industry and generic skills through means of practical and experiential learning elements. This research attempted to explore the learning experience of students in an HTM programme by comparing three different modes of curriculum delivery: 1) traditional lectures; 2) practical workshops; and 3) internship which are generally provided by local institutions. Students’ learning experiences were assessed through the examination of three indicators: 1) students’ perceptions of their learning environment (PLE); 2) learning approaches applied (LA); and 3) their perceived learning outcomes (PLO). The results showed that the existing instruments being adopted can be positively applied for assessing students’ learning in an HTM programme. Variations in students’ learning experiences were found in different modes of curriculum delivery. A significant relationship among PLE, LA and PLO was also observed which generally followed the Trigwell and Prosser’s 3P Model. The author, based on these findings, has suggested various ways to enhance the learning experience of students in HTM programmes and areas for further improvement if follow-up researches are conducted in the future. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Karl Popper developed a falsificationist epistemology in which knowledge grows through falsifying, or criticizing, our theories. Since criticism plays such a vital role in Popper’s falsificationist methodology, it seems natural to envisage his heuristic as a helpful resource for developing critical thinking. However, there is much controversy in the literature over the feasibility and utility of his falsificationism as a heuristic. This study argued that Popper’s falsificationism is justified on the grounds that it not only solves, theoretically, the problem of the bounds of reason in the form of comprehensively critical rationalism, but influences, practically, the research work of scientists from diverse fields. It also found that there is cause for cautious optimism about the effectiveness of falsification as a strategy for solving scientific problems. Popper’s falsificationist epistemology carries profound political and educational implications. On a political level, it is necessary to establish and maintain an open society by fostering five core values, viz. freedom, tolerance, respect, rationalism, and equalitarianism, as well as three crucial practices, viz. democracy, state interventionism, and piecemeal social engineering. On an educational level, the overriding aim is to nurture in children the requisite abilities, skills, and dispositions characteristic of critical thinking for full participation in an open democratic society. In order to achieve Popper’s educational ideal, this study proposed implementing Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (commonly known as P4C) programme in schools, arguing that the programme can fulfil the requirements of Popper’s educational ideal through using community of inquiry as methodology of teaching, philosophy as subject matter for inquiry, logic as both means and ends of inquiry, and Socrates as a model teacher for inquiry. The present study then conducted an experiment to assess the effectiveness of Lipman’s P4C programme in promoting Hong Kong children’s critical thinking. Forty-two Secondary 1 students volunteered for the experiment, from whom 28 students were randomly selected and randomly assigned to two groups of 14 each: one receiving P4C lessons and the other receiving English lessons. The students who were taught P4C were found to perform better in the reasoning test than those who were not, to be capable of discussing philosophical problems in a competent way, and to have a very positive attitude towards doing philosophy in the classroom. It was also found that P4C played a major role in developing the students’ critical thinking. Considering that the construction of children by adults as incompetent in the sense of lacking reason, maturity, or independence reinforces the traditional structure of adult authority over children in society, it runs counter to the goal of fostering critical thinking in children. As a way to return justice to childhood and to effectively promote critical thinking in children, the present study suggested reconstructing the concept of childhood, highlighting the importance of establishing a coherent public policy on promotion of agency in children and also the importance of empowering them to participate actively in research, legal, and educational institutions. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences