Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2006 (PIRLS): pedagogical correlates of fourth‐grade students in Hong Kong

Reading literacy of fourth‐grade students in Hong Kong showed a remarkable improvement from 2001 to 2006 as shown by international PIRLS studies. This study identified various aspects of the teacher factor contributing to the significant improvement among students. A total of 4,712 students and 144 teachers from 144 schools were randomly selected using probability proportional‐to‐size technique to receive the Reading Assessment Test and complete the Teacher's Questionnaire, respectively. A number of items pertaining to teachers' instructional strategies and activities, opportunities for students to read various types of materials, practices on assessment, and professional preparation and perception, were found to be significantly correlated with the outcome of students' reading literacy. Stepwise regression procedure revealed four significant predictors for students' overall reading achievement. The most powerful predictor was the use of materials from other subjects as reading resources. Suggestions to improve quality of teaching of reading and further studies are made.     

On-Site Pedagogical Content Knowledge Development

Experiences and reflection have long been regarded as a foundation for pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development. However, little is known about how experienced teachers develop their PCK via reflection-in-action during their moment-to-moment classroom instruction. Drawing upon data sources including classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews based on lesson videos, this study examined instances when four experienced teachers were found to invent new instructional strategies/representations on the spot during the lesson (referred to as on-site PCK development) in their first attempts at teaching a new topic. The study documented the moment-to-moment experiences of the teachers, including their reconstructed thought processes associated with these instances of on-site PCK development. An explanatory model of a three-step process comprising a stimulus, an integration process and a response was advanced to account for the on-site PCK development observed among the teachers. Three categories of stimulus that triggered on-site PCK development were identified. Factors influencing the integration process and, hence, the resulting response, included teachers’ subject matter knowledge of the new topic, their general pedagogical knowledge and their knowledge of student learning difficulties/prior knowledge related to the new topic. Implications for teacher professional development in terms of how to enhance teachers’ on-site PCK development are discussed.     

Does the gender of the teacher matter in the teaching of reading literacy? Teacher gender and pupil attainment in reading literacy in Hong Kong

A study of 148 primary school teachers and 4867 Grade 4 pupils in Hong Kong found no support for the proposal that boys learn to read better when taught by men teachers. In fact, it was found that both boys and girls learnt better when taught by women. Responses to a teacher questionnaire indicate significant differences in the preferred patterns of teaching favoured by male and female teachers. Responses from men teachers suggest they are more authoritarian, prefer to control pupils' learning, engage pupils in whole-class reading and like to read passages aloud while pupils follow the text. Responses from women teachers suggest they prefer to teach reading in groups, to group pupils according to reading ability, set tasks that suit pupils' stage of learning, allocate more time for pupils to read books and use the school library and encourage pupils to discover for themselves the meaning of new vocabulary encountered in text. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Parental Authoritarian Control and Cognitive Complexity

Studies on the conceptual system proposed by Harvey et aJ (1961) suggested that the concrete mode of cognitive functioning is associated with certain developmental factors such as restricted exploration of the environment, overcontrol by parents, avoidance of uncertainty, conformity to external superimposed norms, and discouragement of independence, etc. Using the framework of Harvey, Schroder et al (1967) specified two types of training methods, one of which he called the deductive method. Parents adopting this method provide the child with ready made and fixed rules. The child is taught to avoid uncertainty by looking externally for rules. The variety of perceptions and responses available to the child is highly restricted. The environment is so structured that it is unrealistically oversimplified. Schroder et al believe that this type of training method would bring out a cognitive structure which is characterized by compartmentalization and inability to think in terms of degrees or relativeness.     

Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching a New Topic: More Than Teaching Experience and Subject Matter Knowledge

Teaching experience has been identified as an important factor in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development. However, little is known about how experienced teachers may draw on their previous experience to facilitate their PCK development. This study examined how two experienced high school biology teachers approached the teaching of a newly introduced topic in the curriculum, polymerase chain reaction and their PCK development from the pre-lesson planning phase through the interactive phase to the post-lesson reflection phase. Multiple data sources included classroom observations, field notes, semi-structured interviews and classroom artefacts. It was found that the teachers’ previous experience informed their planning for teaching the new topic, but in qualitatively different ways. This, in turn, had a bearing on their new PCK development. Subject matter knowledge (SMK) can not only facilitate but may also hinder this development. Our findings identify two types of experienced teachers: those who can capitalise on their previous teaching experiences and SMK to develop new PCK and those who do not. The critical difference is whether in the lesson planning stage, the teacher shows the disposition to draw on a generalised mental framework that enables the teacher to capitalise on his existing SMK to develop new PCK. Helping teachers to acquire this disposition should be a focus for teacher training in light of continuous curriculum changes.     

Psychometric quality of a student evaluation of teaching survey in higher education

Student evaluations of teaching (SET) are used globally by higher education institutions for performance assessment of academic staff and evaluation of course quality. Higher education institutions commonly develop their own SETs to measure variables deemed relevant to them. However, ‘home-grown’ SETs are rarely assessed psychometrically. One potential consequence of this limitation is that an invalidated instrument may not provide accurate information for the intended purposes. Moreover, in the absence of psychometric assessment, the students’ voices collected by the SETs often fail to provide insight relative to their intended purpose. The present study evaluates a ‘home-grown’ SET using a Rasch model and confirmatory factor analysis. Our results identified weaknesses in two areas: the rating categories and the number of items used to measure the intended constructs. Suggestions are provided to address these weaknesses. This work provides an additional tool set for critical analysis of SET that is generally applicable for a variety of institutions, including those in Asia.     

Use of comics to enhance students’ learning for the development of the twenty-first century competencies in the mathematics classroom

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of comics in teaching mathematics in the secondary mathematics classroom. We explicate how the use of comics in teaching mathematics can prepare students for the twenty-first century competencies. We developed an alternative teaching package using comics for two lower secondary mathematics topics. This alternative teaching package consists of (1) several sets of comic strips expounding all related mathematical concepts in a lively way; (2) tiered practice questions for learning reinforcement; and (3) a set of proposed lesson outlines with suggestions on how to use the comics for mathematics teaching. We also report how one of the teachers in our study used this teaching package in her mathematics lessons. Her lessons were video-recorded and 11 students were interviewed to help us understand how the mathematics comics lessons were enacted and the students’ perception of comics as instruction. We identified instances in which the teacher tweaked the provided resource to further enhance student learning and incorporated elements of the twenty-first century competencies during her lessons. Through selected student interviews, we also identified instances in which students commented on their gain from the new approach from the perspective of the twenty-first century competencies.     

Academic dishonesty among Hong Kong secondary school students: application of theory of planned behaviour

The theory of planned behaviour was used to examine academic dishonesty among secondary school students in Hong Kong. Participants were 386 students in Forms 1–3 (Grades 7–9). Attitudes toward cheating, perceived behavioural control, and moral obligation were positively related to the intention to cheat, but only the subjective norm against cheating was significantly related to self-reported cheating behaviour. The subjective norm was both a predictor of self-reported cheating and a moderator of the relationship between the intention to cheat and self-reported cheating: the intention predicted the behaviour only when the subjective norm against cheating was perceived to be weak.     

Psychological correlates of physical abuse in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

OBJECTIVE: To understand the associations between adolescent family physical maltreatment and psychiatric morbidity or psychological problems. METHODS: questionnaire survey on 489 secondary school students in Form 2 from 10 schools in Hong Kong. Questions regarding three forms of family physical maltreatment were measured: corporal punishment within the past 6 months, beaten without any reason within the past 6 months, or ever been beaten to injury. MAIN RESULT: Corporal punishment was not associated with the psychological variables after Bonferroni adjustment was made. Those who experienced the two other forms of physical maltreatment had significant and strong associations with positive Achenbach CBCL outcome (OR from 3.26 to 3.27), drug abuse problems (OR from 2.60 to 20.38), self-injurious behaviors (OR from 3.34 to 8.47) and poor perceived parental support. In addition, those who had ever been beaten to injury scored significantly lower in the "physical appearance" and "behavioral conduct" subscales of the Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: In Hong Kong, some forms of family physical maltreatment (beaten for no reason and beaten to injury) were associated with a number of psychiatric/psychological problems. Further studies should be carried out to clarify whether the relationships are causal in nature.     

Knowing where we Stand: Mapping Teachers’ Conception of Reflection in Service-Learning

Innovative Higher Education - Reflection is fundamental in experiential pedagogies, and many studies have been carried out to investigate its impact and benefits on student learning outcomes....