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

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

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

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

　　For the past decade, the general public got in touch with the noble causes of collective memory, heritage conservation and cultural heritage extensively. Many incidents such as tore down the Star Ferry Pier Clock Tower and demolition of the Queen’s Pier aroused vigorous social discussions and protests. In fact, it is not easy to understand those jargons and events when the people lack of basic knowledge of conservation and the right attitudes toward our local cultural development. Besides, the official educational department has never been enthusiastic in constructing local history and culture to students both in primary and secondary levels before handover. Regrettably, our present curriculum reforms are still at an indeterminate stage. Without widespread and fundamental background knowledge and cognition, it is very hard to start rational conversation between different stakeholders, even hard to motivate our next generations to participate heritage conservation affairs actively. 　　With no doubt, heritage conservation has become a hot and a controversial social topic in recent years. Not only because Hong Kong has regained its identity after return to Mainland China in 1997, but also there emerges a positive attitude towards Hong Kong as our home among most people in the post-transition era. However, the rapid economic and social development, as well as urbanization changes our city’s scenery and characteristics drastically. Our treasured cultural heritage is at risk now. Therefore, “Save Our Heritage, Retain Our Memory” is a fashionable slogan in these years. No one will argue that heritage is an important resource and asset to a society. Because it reflects not only the uniqueness and diversity of our community, but it also helps to sustain and strengthen our sense of place identity and cultural identity. Since most primary school students learn about local history (include cultural heritage) and cultural identity in different learning stages, what they obtain are some incomplete and incoherent information. This ridiculous situation of our present Primary School General Studies Curriculum cannot fulfill and satisfy their future study need. In order to fill up the gap and link up the Secondary Liberal Studies syllabus, this dissertation try to construct a school-based learning programme which the author personally believe that through heritage education will definitely provide the student opportunities for a better understanding of their identity and cultural heritage. Thus, the author attempts to design and develop a heritage educational programme for the primary six pupils who are aged from eleven to thirteen. The main purposes of the programme strive to educate target students: 1. Arouses interest and curiosity in local history 2. Understand the meaning of cultural heritage 3. Distinguish the different between tangible and intangible cultural heritage 4. Appreciate Hong Kong’s cultural heritage resources 5. Perceive the values and significance of cultural heritage in our city 6. Construct the relationship between cultural heritage and our identity 7. Develop the right attitude of better appreciation with cultural heritage 8. Apply relevant knowledge and attitude to contemporary issues 9. Cultivate their critical thinking Children in the 21st century have to overcome many challenges. One of the major duties of teachers should provide the students with learning experiences that enable them to construct knowledge and develop life-long learning skills, so that they can contribute to today’s knowledge-based economy and society. The author strongly support the life-wide learning approach because through this learning tactic, students can develop a holistic view of themselves as individuals in the community, their role and responsibility in the society, and the interrelationship among people and the environment. Base on these reasons, the heritage educational programme that described in this dissertation will adopt a thematic approach and appropriate use of community heritage resources to widen the learning scope of our students. To educate and motivate our students effectively, the dominant education theory of Constructivism will be use during the teaching period. The advantages of this theory are: 1. Students will obtain and construct their knowledge actively 2. Students with different learning abilities will find their role and contribution during the learning process 3. Stimulate students’ interest to inquire and explore with hands-on and problem-solving activities to construct knowledge 4. Teachers can use various methods to encourage and motivate students 5. Teachers’ roles range from a transmitter of knowledge to resource person, facilitator and assessor Due to our children are primary six students and they are too young to understand the arguments of the contemporary complicated conservation issues, all the teaching materials and examples are learner-focused and suit for the different needs of students. In spite of this programme has not yet been carry out owing to the time limit, the author do believe that this idea could be implemented successfully and this teaching plan could be a good pilot example to inspire other front line teachers to good use our cultural heritage in their lessons. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

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

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