This study analyzes the performances of 2,861 students who took the Putonghua Proficiency Test (Putonghua Shuiping Kaoshi, PSK) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the academic year 2007-2008. Among the sub-skills of Putonghua, students performed best in speaking, followed by listening, and performed worst in reading aloud and Putonghua basic knowledge. It was found that students had difficulties in pronunciation when reading aloud and in mastering the basic knowledge of pinyin and Putonghua vocabulary. To enhance the Putonghua proficiency of university students in Hong Kong, more efforts should be put into the teaching of Putonghua pronunciation and vocabulary. At the same time, more opportunities should be provided for Putonghua communication in an authentic environment.

Keywords: Putonghua, speaking, listening, reading aloud, basic knowledge, countermeasure in teaching 

The paper investigates the use of strategies by Singapore lower secondary students when writing Chinese compositions. A survey on strategy was designed to collect data from 281 Singapore lower secondary students who also sat for a writing test. Exploratory factor analysis was used to interpret the questionnaire data, while a mixed approach was employed to analyze the relationship between students' strategy use and writing performance. The results show that students' writing strategies can be classified into four categories: planning strategies, transcribing strategies, revising strategies and monitoring strategies. The difference in the use of strategies accounts for 27% of the variance in writing test scores. Meanwhile, there is a great difference in strategy use between students with higher writing scores and those with less favourable scores. The findings from this study provide insights into Singapore lower secondary students' Chinese writing processes and give implications for teaching Chinese writing in Singapore secondary schools.

Keywords: Chinese, writing strategies, writing performance, Singapore lower secondary students 

Internet-based language courses exploit the multimedia-rich internet platform to support language learning. They contain online multimedia language learning materials which are complete with pictures, texts and sounds. They allow learners to study whenever and wherever they want. In the information age, such virtual classrooms show remarkable vibrancy and have attracted the attention of learners and education researchers. While online language courses can supplement traditional classroom teaching, they still cannot replace physical classrooms completely as there is much room for their improvement. For example, there is a lack of interaction between teachers and students, and certain learning resources are outdated. This study analyses the strengths and weaknesses of several internet-based Chinese courses and discusses the teaching framework, features as well as the future developments and prospects of online Chinese courses.

Keywords: internet-based lessons, Chinese learning, multimedia software

This paper discusses the forms and features of dialogic teaching in literature classrooms based on literature reviews and an empirical analysis. The theoretical underpinning of dialogic teaching in the literature classroom, as discussed in this paper, is mainly derived from Bakhtin's concept of "active understanding" and Rosenblatt's "transactional theory". Based on this theoretical framework, an empirical study was designed and carried out. The features of one form of dialogical teaching, which the author calls dialogic IRE (initiation-response-evaluation), is discussed and the case study is analysed by means of four indicators adopted from various studies, namely, authentic question, uptake, high-level evaluation and substantive engagement. Transcripts from a second-year English literature classroom in a Danish high school are analysed, with the support of several classroom practice examples. While limited in scope, these studies fully demonstrate what the dialogic IRE could be like and how the lessons unfolded as teachers guided students to make meaning from literature texts. With Bundsgaard's Cross-model of Teaching Methods as a reference framework, this paper proposes several possible forms of dialogic teaching for future studies. The author concludes that the dialogic IRE instructional approach is necessary for meaning-making and its implementation is highly flexible. Teachers in primary and secondary schools should try to integrate the approach into their lessons.

Keywords: dialogic teaching, literature classroom, dialogic IRE, cross-model of teaching methods

This is a study of the strategies employed by teachers in a primary school in New Territories, Hong Kong, when teaching fairy tales in Chinese lessons. It also analyses the problems the teachers encountered as well as students' opinions on fairy tales lessons. Results showed that reading aloud and participating in writing activities could stimulate students' imagination, while questioning processes and activities such as small group discussions and role-playing could develop thinking and apperception abilities. While we received positive feedbacks from the students, teachers expressed that they had difficulties finding appropriate fairy tales. Inadequate teaching time was another major concern. Teachers were also aware that the group discussions might sometimes be overly-structured and there was a lack of formative assessment.

Keywords: the teaching of fairy tales, questioning, imagination, role play