The Review 2008

The Review 2008 Professor Ngaiming Mok The State Natural Science Award was conferred to Professor Ngaiming Mok, Chair of Mathematics, for his outstanding research in Complex Geometry. Professor Mok, who has contributed to mathematical research in China over the past 30 years, is recognised worldwide for his mathematical achievements and has pub- lished widely. “I am glad to see that China is attaching great importance to the Basic Sciences, and I am honoured to be able to contribute at a moment when China is making great efforts to develop the Sciences through innovation. Mathematics is of fundamental importance to the development of the Natural Sciences.” Culture and Tradition in Early Learning The first empirical study to look at how Chinese literacy is taught in pre-schools across different Chinese societies has found a unique literacy pedagogy different from those in Europe andAmerica, implying that education reform in Chinese societies does not necessarily have to transplant the curriculum and approaches developed in other social contexts. The study, led by Dr Li Hui of the Facul ty of Education, looked at teaching in monolingual Shenzhen (Putonghua), bilingual Hong Kong (Cantonese and English) and multilingual Singapore. These societies have made moves to adopt more child-centred curricula based on Western models. The current study aimed to quantify what is happening in the Chinese classroom. Six classes were selected in each location and videotaped over one week.The teachers were asked to fill out questionnaires about their beliefs and practices, and were interviewed after the videotaping was completed. At least half the teachers believed in a balanced approach of direct instruction and child-initiated whole language learning (66.7 per cent in Hong Kong and 50 per cent each in Singapore and Shenzhen), while the others preferred a child-initiated approach. However, in practice the results were rather different. The researchers founddirect instructiondominating across all three Chinese societies, through such practices as whole class teaching mode, lecturing with questioning and no play, and a high preference for tests and exams to assess young learners’ literacy outcomes.They also found few discipline problems in classrooms and use of neutral and positive feedback with pupils. The authors said the results reflected cultural traditions, such as Confucian practices, as well as the different writing systems for Chinese and English. Rote learning and copying are considered necessary to learn to read in Chinese.Teachers also faced large classes, limited training, limited resources, high parental expectations and exam-oriented systems. “We character ise Chinese l iteracy classrooms as being ‘traditional Chinese with progressive and constructivist character istics’ . Perhaps a hybr id of Confucian andWestern cultures is more likely to provide cultural cohesion to contemporary Chinese societies,” said Dr Li. He suggested that reform leaders and policy makers should take into account cultural traditions when considering new measures. The Review 2008 • Research 30 Dr Li Hui helps a student get to grips with early learning 31