Tat Heung Choi

Does social capital matter? A quantitative approach to examining technology infusion in schools

Changing teachers’ perceptions about the value of technology and equipping them with appropriate knowledge and skills in pedagogical use of technology is often regarded as a key determinant of success in technology infusion in schools. However, recent studies have indicated that changing teachers’ epistemological beliefs about the use of technology in teaching and learning may not necessarily bring about change in their practice, and that technology implementation in schools can be affected by other instrumental forces, such as collegial trust, support for risk taking and access to expertise within an organization. In this article, we delineate collegial trust, access to expertise, willingness to take risks, etc. as manifestations of social capital in an organization. We argue that social capital plays a pivotal role in leveraging pedagogical change in schools. To gauge teachers’ self-perceived change in their pedagogical use of technology, we take a constructivist perspective to explore how technology serves as a tool for facilitating students to articulate their thoughts, to explore and construct knowledge, and to become more autonomous in learning. The results of our questionnaire survey indicate that (1) the social capital of a school had a strong direct effect on teachers’ self-perceived changes in their pedagogical use of technology, and that the effect of social capital on pedagogical change outweighed that of teachers’ perceived effectiveness of professional development; (2) teachers’ receptivity towards technology use had a direct effect on their perceived effectiveness of professional development but a very weak effect on fostering changes in their pedagogical use of technology; and (3) the social capital of a school had a direct influence on teachers’ receptivity towards technology use and their perceived effectiveness of professional development. To further unfold the complexity of technology implementation, more in-depth qualitative studies on how social forces shape the change process are deemed necessary.

Autobiographical reflections for teacher professional learning

This article is based on the principle that teacher development is a life-long process when seeking to develop professional competencies. With the changing views of teacher education as background, the benefits to teachers associated with practice-oriented knowledge are predicated on a measure of empowerment through narration, self-expression and reflection. A life-story may represent the outward articulation of a teacher’s inner scrutiny, and demonstrate the ‘we-experience’ of a professional learning community arising out of its social structures and processes. Using autobiography as pedagogy, the article focuses on what a particular teacher’s narrative is expressing, how it is demonstrating that belief or life value, and why this process is worthwhile for professional learning. Such an autobiographical approach to ‘learning to teach’ is itself one response challenging the traditional theories of teacher knowledge within the theory–practice dichotomy.

Replacing the Misplaced: Power, Autobiography and Learner Identity

This article is concerned with examining how social class as a key aspect of learner identity is modified, reinforced or transformed through educational progressions, whereupon relationships change, power is redistributed and different forms of capital are prized. The dynamics between structural and cultural influences on working-class relationships to education are explored by way of autobiographical writing, and analysed through the lens of habitus and field. In operationalising habitus, the indeterminacy of the concept rejects a close, unproblematic connection between class and education, questions the assumed homogeneity of class dispositions, and renders a more fluid and dynamic working of class and learner identity. Arguing against the synchronic view of language characterised by regularity and internal consistency, this methodological orientation of habitus chimes with a textual approach that values inferential enrichment and indeterminacy. Using critical discourse in genre analysis offers space for potentially subversive interpretations, or for playing with evaluative meanings, of an autobiographical account rooted in the local and particular, but also sets great store in understanding constraining and transformative courses of action. This modest inquiry illuminates the relevance of autobiographical reflection to the development of agency and educational capital, with an emphasis on temporality, continuity and change.

Narratives of educational transition and learner identity

This article examines how educational transitions in Hong Kong are concurrently classed processes and practices, and how learner identity is developed and negotiated in an education system that prizes English as capital. Through the lens of habitus, the connected but distinct autobiographical accounts suggest that the stronger the insulation between the home and the school, the keener an individual’s sensitivity may be towards class distinction in adapting to a new field. Learner identity associated with academic success is potentially negotiable and self-sustained through determination, self-regulation, and reflexive strategies, rendering the availability of resource support less important for working-class students’ identity development.

Re-visioning English language arts practices and writing outcomes through the remaking of Cinderella

Purpose – This paper, which originates in an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom activity in Hong Kong, aims to explore English learners’ expressive and creative potential in writing by studying their work in the literary narrative genre. Design/methodology/approach – A group of upper secondary students (15-16 years of age) with limited English resources and competence was enlisted to remake a folktale with visual and written prompts. Findings – The writing samples demonstrate that these low-level EFL writers are able to refashion the narrative elements, and to communicate meanings for their own purposes. They exhibit logicality and problem-solving skills in their attempts to challenge and transform idea and to include themes of interest to them. There is also evidence of creative play with language in their use of dialogues and figures of speech. Research limitations/implications – These writing outcomes suggest the need to re-vision English language arts practices in increasingly diverse educa...

Waiting in the wings: Power, narratives of transition, and self-reflexivity

With the aim of bridging the gap between the understanding of individual agency and that of structural constraint, this article deals with the ways in which autobiographical research can provide insight into how individuals negotiate the social contexts in which they are located. Despite the strong utilitarian discourse about the centrality of English for social and economic advancement in Hong Kong, there has been insufficient attention paid to the affective and social aspects of different study and work experiences in which differing linguistic and cultural capitals are valued. With this neglect in mind, this reported study explores how two individuals engage in self-identification and self-scrutiny in the education, legal and media fields. This is a matter of interest with regard to the power of narration in organising and representing social reality, and the relevance of self-reflexivity to the development of agency and educational capital as recorded in narratives of transition. Writing autobiographical reflections on their experiences in institutions and social relationships gave the individuals a therapeutic opportunity to formulate clearer versions of their personal history and identity in their transition to work.