Abstract

The issue of using the mother-tongue as the medium of instruction in secondary schools in Hong Kong is still an unsolved dilemma. The present study tried to investigate further into the problem. A survey on religious education was carried out on school administrators, teachers, and F.3 pupils. The sample chosen was intentionally biased toward the mother-tongue side. It was found that about half of the total surveyed lessons were conducted in Chinese. Principals and teachers were inclined to think that teaching through English was difficult, while pupils favored being taught through English. It was concluded that there would still be a long way to go for using the mother-tongue as the medium of instruction in secondary schools in Hong Kong.

Abstract

In this paper the development of computer assisted instruction (CAI) and communication technology was reviewed. In light of the possibility of applying new information sciences in education, teachers should now rethink their role in education, including seeking more effective ways to teach their students. Such would-be changes in classroom was depicted by Licklider, who imagined a scene of a classroom in the year of 1990, where students learn mainly by the use of electronic teaching machines with artificial intelligence. Hence they could replace human teachers. Although researches on the effects of using CAI are inconclusive, there are evidences to show that CAI can enormously enrich the learning environment hence brings benefits to the learners.

Abstract

This is a brief account of a long-term research project on Chinese personality being carried on by the author. The research started in 1977 and may be completed in 1995. It is hoped that the research report will be published as a book in both Chinese and English. The subjects of the study are more than 1,000 educated Chinese, mostly intellectuals, sampled from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States. Two major purposes of the study are: (1) to identify the personality characteristics of Chinese men and women with higher education or its equivalent, and (2) to determine the effects of family and school, especially of parents and teachers, on the personality development. Cultural and social factors affecting personality development will be explored. Four research strategies are used. They are participant observation, biographical interviewing, questionnaire survey and document search. More than 100 subjects are observed (some of them for a number of years) in various naturalistic situations and about 100 subjects intensively interviewed (some of them for several times). A questionnaire with 122 item personality inventory developed by the author is administered to over 1,000 subjects, of whom nearly 100 also receive naturalistic observation and in-depth interview. Published and unpublished documents on a few past and living personages and about their cultural and social environments are searched for additional data. The data obtained from questionnaire are mainly quantitative and those from other sources are qualitative. In analizing the data and interpreting the results, relevant theories and related research findings will be applied, tested, and/or critiqued. The implications of research results for rational development or modernization of China will be discussed and feasible programs for healthy personality development recommended. The book mimight be written in two parts - the first on various personality characteristics of the subjects and their implications for national development, and the second on family and school conditions for the subjects' personality formation and programs for healthy personality development, and the socond on family and school conditions for the subjects' personality formation and programs for healthy personality development in future generations. It is the author's dream to get the research completed as planned and the book published in China and abroad. Any comment and assistance will be appreciated.