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This paper explored task difficulty from the perspective of the learner. It investigated the relationship between student perception of task difficulty and actual difficulty as measured by successful completion of a task. The study also collected information on those factors identified by students themselves as implicated in task difficulty. Subjects were 35, first-year, undergraduate, Cantonese-speaking students undertaking a Higher Diploma in Banking and Finance at City University of Hong Kong who estimated the difficulty of a series of tasks, completed the tasks in two classroom sessions, and then provided their views on the reasons for the difficulty of the tasks. Results indicate that student perceptions of task difficulty and actual difficulty as measured by successful performance on the task is low. Student difficulty was expressed by lack of familiarity with task types, confusion over task purpose, and impact and extent of cultural knowledge upon task completion. Findings provide support for those who call for the incorporation of learner strategy training in language pedagogy, especially in courses that attempt to introduce students to new ways of going about the learning process. Appendixes present tasks and student responses to tasks. (Contains nine references.) (Author/NAV)

Reports on a ethnographic study that investigated how immigrant high school students used Cantonese and English to achieve academic and social success in a Canadian high school where English was the language of instruction. Argues that immigrant students found meaningful ways to acquire the cultural capital of the dominant society. (CAJ)

Compared lexical and visual--orthographic processing in the spelling performance of 30 cantonese Chinese children who are English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners to that of 33 English as a first language (L1) children. Findings are discussed in terms of in terms of early transfer of L1 literacy skills to second language literacy acquisition and support for a multiroute reading model. (Author/VWL)

Compares the spelling development of two novel English phonemes among 35 Cantonese-speaking primary level children learning English as a second language (ESL) and 37 English-speaking (L1) children. Notes that performance of ESL children was very close to that of L1 children by end of grade 2. Suggests an interactive relationship between a general development of phonological and orthographic knowledge and an L1 transfer effect in second language spelling acquisition. (SG)

This case study examines the reading disruptions in a bilingual/biscriptal (Cantonese/English) older adult reader following traumatic brain injury. Certain characteristics of the subject's reading problems were evident in both writing systems (e.g., sensitivity to word frequency and lack of sensitivity to visual complexity) suggesting principles operating across languages, whereas other reading errors reflected the nature of the script involved. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

This study examined the interaction of ambient frequency and feature complexity in the diphthong errors produced by 13 Cantonese-speaking children with phonological disorders. Perceptual analysis of 611 diphthongs identified those most frequently and least frequently in error. Suggested treatment guidelines include consideration of three factors: ambient frequency, feature complexity, and error patterns. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

Twelve university students were asked not to speak English for one day; record examples of English words they wanted to use, write a reflective diary; and discuss their experiences in a group interview. Data include diary entries in English and a transcription of the interview conducted in Cantonese-English mixed code. All students experienced communication problems and felt inconvenienced by not being able to express their ideas using English. (Author/VWL)

Investigated a new research design for the collection of reliable tone perception data from found children, compared lexical and nonlexical items for testing tone perception ability, and identified the relative ease of perceiving the three basic tone contrasts in Cantonese--high level/high rising, high level/low falling, and high rising/low falling. (Author/VWL)

Shows that two key principles of communication (the Shared Knowledge Principle and the Economy Principle), which monitor the framing of all well-formed referring expressions, are manifest in a specialized mode in the framing of focal specific indefinite referring expressions. Suggests that the special features associated with this type of reference pose a challenge for a group of advanced learners of English whose native language is Cantonese. (Author/VWL)

Describes Cantonese-speaking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates writing on a Local Area Network (LAN) and in traditional writing classes at a Hong Kong university. Determines which context--LANs or traditional writing classes--produced better writing and more improvement in writing. Suggests that LAN classes are no more advantageous than traditional classes for EFL writers. (SG)

Explores the close link between perception and production of sounds and suggests that teachers need to ensure that their students can distinguish between individual sounds of a language, particularly those that do not exist in their native language. Describes a study in which two groups of Chinese learners of English were compared in their ability to produce five word-initial consonants. (Author/VWL)

Data from 34 British-born Chinese-English bilinguals are examined to elucidate patterns of first language (L1) development in a second language environment. Based on tape-recorded conversations and narrative data, analysis focuses on use of two Cantonese morphosyntactic features, classifiers, and quantifiers. Findings suggest despite a slight positive correlation between age and Cantonese ability, there is evidence of delayed and stagnated (L1) development. (Author/VWL)

Investigated the development of syntactic awareness in Cantonese-speaking children. Fifty-six subjects from four age groups were asked to judge the grammaticality of 40 sentences and to correct the grammatically-deviant sentences. There was a significant age effect on subject's performance in both judgment and revision tasks. (Author/VWL)

Parallel measures of phonological, syntactic, and orthographic processing skill and reading were administered in English and Chinese to 65 children whose first language (L1) was Cantonese and whose 2nd language (L2) was English. This research adds to the evidence for cross-language transfer of phonological processing in L2 learning of English-as-a-Second-Language students. (Author)

Reports on a study involving a group of 10 U.S-raised adults who have managed to attain relatively high levels of heritage language (HL) literacy (in Spanish, Cantonese, and Japanese), defying the typical patterns of intergenerational language shift. In-depth retrospective interviews were used to explore the types of access to HL print and the HL literacy experiences of this diverse group. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the use of "ever" in affirmative responses to Yes/No type questions as well as in declarative sentences in discourse in colloquial Singaporean English. Examines parallels in Singaporean English use of "ever" with its equivalents in the local languages. While parallels can be seen in Mandarin Hokkein, Cantonese, and Malay, Hokkein and Malay have stronger entrenching influences. (Author/VWL)

Examined the attitudes of Hong Kong secondary school students toward English, Cantonese, and Putonghua. Compared the language attitudes of two main groups of Hong Kong students, middle class elite and working class low achievers. Findings showed that the former group was more inclined to use English while the latter group was more inclined to use the vernacular Cantonese. (Author/VWL)

Provides a preliminary description of phonological tier development in Cantonese-speaking children. Data were analyzed for word, syllable, onset-rime, skeletal, and segmental tiers. Results suggest a developmental order in acquisition of hierarchical features. (Author/VWL)

Mental state language was examined in Mandarin- speaking and Cantonese-speaking toddlers. Results suggested that theory-of-mind development was similar to that in English, with early use of desire terms followed by other mental state references. Much earlier emergence of desire terms and infrequent use of thinking terms suggests cultural variations in timing of beginning and end points in children's theory-of-mind development. (Author/KB)

Presents evidence of language transfer from Cantonese to English in three areas where the two languages contrast typologically: wh-in-situ interrogatives, null objects, and prenominal relatives are observed at a period when Cantonese is dominant as measured by MLUw. Comparisons with monolingual development show both qualitative and quantitative differences attributable to transfer. (Author/VWL)

Discusses relative clauses in Hong Kong English and considers questions about its morphosyntactic feature system, comparing relevant attestations from local data to those found in other varieties of English. Examines ways relative constructions in Cantonese may affect how relative clauses in Hong Kong English are formed and how the relative clause system in Hong Kong English is independent of the systems of Cantonese and standard native-speaker varieties of English. (Author/VWL)

Examines the view that the items writers use to modify their claims in academic texts, commonly referred to as hedges and boosters, may actually be unnoticed by second language readers, a phenomenon known as the lexical invisibility hypothesis. Data is presented from a small retrospective think-aloud study that explores how 14 Cantonese first language undergraduates respond to hedges and boosters in an academic text. (Author/VWL)

Argues that most pronunciation problems encountered by Cantonese learners of English may be adequately accounted for by contrastive differences. The phonological differences between the two languages are examined, ranging from their phoneme inventories, the characteristics of the phonemes, the distributions of the phoneme syllable structure, to the function of tones and their respective rhythmic patterns. (Author/VWL)

Cantonese tertiary-level students taking a general education course taught in English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were asked to rate their own English language skills development in relation to six specific areas. They were asked to identify what they had learned in relation to other aspects of the course. Responses indicated that students felt their English skills had increased in all areas, particularly in speaking and listening. (Author/VWL)

Reviews the nature and functions of prosody, and contrasts English and Cantonese for this feature of language as background for two experimental studies. Thirty Cantonese advanced speakers of English were tested for their recognition memory of English sentences in which prosody-cued meaning contrasts in otherwise identical sentence pairs. Results are discussed. (Author/VWL)

Explores different ways of transcribing a fragment of classroom discourse, showing how these ways determine the resulting analysis and what emerges from it. Identifies three distinct "frames" of classroom interaction, which are referred to as lesson, lesson-support, and commentary. (Author/VWL)

Examined effects of ethnolinguistic differences on social proximity between Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking Chinese children in a day care center. Found that each group of children was more likely to be in closer proximity to children speaking their own language than to children speaking the other language during free choice floor- and group-time activity. (Author/KB)

Examines how the evolution of Cantonese dialect is continually influenced by contact with English and Putonghua, as well as by the internal dynamic of language change. Concludes that the wish to preserve a Hong Kong cultural identity distinct from that of mainland China, may be a factor in also retaining a unique linguistic identity. (Author/VWL)

Analyzes pupil-teacher dialogue in a mixture of English and Cantonese from a segment of a Form 2 (Grade 8, 13-14 years) English reading lesson. Analysis shows how these Cantonese children, with limited English, succeeded in subverting the reading lesson, which was based entirely on information extraction tasks. (Author/VWL)

Studied learning motivation of English by Cantonese-speaking students in Hong Kong. Students answered a questionnaire and were assigned on the basis of their responses to four categories of motivational regulation proposed in Deci and Ryan (1985): External, Identified, and Integrated. Suggests that the transition from Identified to Integrated Regulation is the principal challenge facing teachers and students. (Author/VWL)

Introduces this volume of the journal, which focuses on language in education in post-colonial Hong Kong. Before Hong Kong was returned to China, Cantonese and English were the predominate languages; since the change of sovereignty, the status of Mandarin has increased tremendously. (Author/VWL)

Investigates the role of the three major languages in Hong Kong by looking in depth at one secondary school where Putonghua has official status rather than English or Cantonese. Motivation for code choice is investigated through interviews and questionnaires. While Putongua has a special role in the school, the use of Cantonese was found to pervade most areas. (Author/VWL)

Examines language in the workplace, specifically the construction industry in Hong Kong. Provides detailed information on language use in a professional context at the time of Hong Kong's return to China and shows that written communication is mainly in English, while spoken language is predominately Cantonese. (Author/VWL)