Faculty Publications and Conference Presentations

<p>The present article lies at the intersection of research on teacher cognitions and the rising importance of literary texts in second language learning. It is a qualitative analysis of teacher reports on integrating Language Arts (LA) in the context of New Senior Secondary (NSS) English Language Curriculum in Hong Kong. In particular, this study explores three English teachers’ conceptions of teaching literary texts. Juxtaposing teachers’ views of LA integration and their personal experience of English language learning offers teacher educators a useful lens through which to view the personal practical nature of teacher cognition. It also unveils the factors influencing their conceptions of the place of literary texts in the English Language Curriculum. The results portray teachers as individuals with unique personal characteristics and backgrounds. It is hoped that the study will offer insights into the development of teachers’ personal practical knowledge (PPK) by highlighting their personal learning experience. The study suggests a reconsideration of the relationship between teacher knowledge and belief from various perspectives.</p>

<p>This article brings together an experimental study involving L2 knowledge of negation in English and an analysis of how English language textbooks treat negation, in order to consider whether textbook explanations of negation could better exploit linguistic insights into negation. We focus on the English negative polarity item any, whose distribution is contingent on negation, whether through the explicit negator not or through lexical semantic negators (e.g. hardly). Our experiment compares Chinese-speaking learners with existing data from Arabic-speaking learners, finding lower accuracy on any with lexical semantic negators in both groups. Our textbook analysis reveals an approach to negation that is limited to form, focusing on the explicit negator not without explicit treatment of other types of negation. We propose that emphasizing the meaning of negation, with explicit treatment of the full range of negative forms could facilitate more complete acquisition across a range of grammatical properties where negation plays a role.</p>

The present study is a follow-up study on Chan (2018a) which examined a new code-switching form in Hong Kong called trilingual code-switching. Previous studies on the code-switching in Hong Kong focused mainly on bilingual code-switching between Cantonese and English, yet Chan’s (2018a) ethnolinguistic study suggested that there was a new form of trilingual code-switching among Cantonese, English and Putonghua arisen in Hong Kong because of the increasing contact with mainland China as well as the introduction of Putonghua in the school curriculum. By analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data from sixty university students collected through an online survey, the present study revealed Hongkongers’ view on three language uses, including the use of pure code, bilingual code-switching and trilingual code-switching. The result showed that trilingual code-switching exists in Hong Kong with a low acceptance in Hong Kong. Also, the research showed how bilingual code-switching is linked to a Hong Kong identity.

自《通典》行世，歷代學者多將之歸入史部故事類、典故類，強調其資料彙編的特性，現代學者亦多持此態度。清代實中國經學發展之高潮，清儒治經不再專守於一經一注，傾向追求通貫群籍，由是每取《通典》以為典籍的文字校勘之佐證，惟他們對《通典》之利用實不僅止於此。本文擬勾稽清代學人對《通典》之評論與對其具體使用，窺探《通典》一書於經學研究中所發揮的影響，以及清儒對是書性質之研判。就本文所考，清儒研治經書除以《通典》為中介，鉤沉其中所載的六朝前儒之訓詁經解，或藉以校訂經文注疏文字，更有逕把《通典》視為《五經正義》外的一種「古注疏」，肯定其於經義探研上之價值。Since being published, Tongdian has been chiefly categorized as a historiographic or policy and politic writing, and emphasize has been placed on its expansive compilation of information. Such approach has been also widely adopted in the contemporary scholarship. Qing dynasty -- a climax of the development of Chinese classics study, during which, the study of Confusion classics was not seeking for ＂an annotation solely for a classic＂ anymore. Instead, an extensive application to different classics of the annotation was pursued, especially when referencing to Tongdian as an allusion for collating texts. However, the application of Tongdian was not limited to this. Through scrutinizing the commentaries and utilizations of Tongdian by Qing dynasty scholars, this paper analyzes the influences Tongdian has made on the study of classics, and the classification of Tongdian by Qing scholars. Based on its researches, the Qing classical study had taken Tongdian as a medium, probing into the exegesis of the Six Dynasties depicted in it, or collating the classics, annotations or texts. Besides, in Qing classical study, Tongdian had also been considered as a kind of ＂ancient annotation＂ other than that of Wujing zhengyi, which affirmed its significance on the study of classics.