Abstract:The present study used word segmentation task to investigate the processing of Chinese adhesive constructions in sentence reading among Chinese natives and nonnatives. The results showed that, (1) in general, the participants tended to divide the adhesive constructions into two units; (2) compared with the constructions of low semantic integration, those of high semantic integration were more likely to be separated as a unit; (3) Chinese natives tended to segment the adhesive constructions as a unit, while both users of non-spaced writing systems and users of spaced writing systems tended to segment them as two nouns. These results indicate that, (1) the adhesive constructions of different levels of semantic integration are represented in different ways; (2) the information unit of natives is larger than that of nonnatives, while the word awareness of natives is less clear than that of nonnatives; (3) The presence or absence of spaces in the first language writing systems has little impact on the size of information unit in Chinese reading. The implications for the word segmentation mechanism in Chinese reading are discussed accordingly.

Keywords: information unit in reading, word awareness, word segmentation, semantic integration, second language learners of Chinese

Abstract:This study analyzed the textual structure of 30 thesis abstracts in Applied Linguistics by combining the corpus-based and genre-based approaches. It was found that the most typical schema comprises five moves: "Introduction-Purpose-Methodology-Product-Conclusion". It has also been found that there exist some problems in the structure and contents of students' works, including the lack of important move, imbalanced move distribution, overuse of sub-moves and the lack of conciseness. On the basis of these findings, some suggestions for abstract writing instruction are proposed.

Keywords: applied linguistics, thesis abstract, genre analysis, move structure, writing problems

Abstract: Taking into account the theories of second language learning and findings about the word recognition process of non-Chinese speaking (NCS) children, this research attempts to establish the cognitive patterns of Chinese characters of NCS children in upper kindergartens in Hong Kong and come up with a curriculum framework of using Chinese picture books for children of diverse reading abilities. The aim of the study is to help NCS children effectively expand their Chinese mental lexicons and lay a solid foundation for their Chinese reading and writing training at the primary school level. It attempts to develop learning materials which supplement the existing kindergarten curriculums to cater for diverse learning abilities, and determine the best Chinese character learning strategies by NCS children of upper kindergarten classes, thus filling the gaps left by Hong Kong's Education Bureau in the areas of teaching Chinese as a second language for young children. The findings will help minimize the difficulties for NCS children in their transition to primary schools and facilitate their integration into the Chinese classes in mainstream schools. In the long term, the findings will lead to a more focused use of government resources in the development of high-quality teaching materials.

Keywords: Hong Kong, non-Chinese speaking children (NCS), picture books, mental lexicons, literacy strategies

Abstract: With the wave of competency-oriented curriculum changes around the world in recent years, the creation of authentic and meaningful item context in tests deserves particular attention. This study aims to explore two questions: (1) What is the meaning of "item context" in educational assessment? What dimensions should be included? (2) What are the basic characteristics of item context in educational assessment programmes? This study combines the methods of document analysis, interviews and surveys for the construction and revision of an analysis framework of item contexts. The framework is subsequently used to analyze and compare the item contexts of 294 items in international programmes for language learning assessment. It is found that item contexts carry diverse connotations, and their settings will vary with the test-setters' understanding of contexts. The characteristics of item contexts are also obviously affected by the natures of test items and objectives of the tests. Item contexts are inseparable from item questions and may even have an impact on the characteristics of item questions. The findings of this study provide a reference for assessors to understand the relationship between item context and relevant factors such as questions and subject content, as well as the "meta-evaluation" of assessment instruments.

Keywords: educational assessment, Chinese curriculum, large-scale assessment in education, item context