From outside in: from inside out: student's expectations and perceptions of culturally different teaching styles

Abstract

Significant curriculum reform has been undertaken in Hong Kong for over a decade. There has been substantial education initiatives designed to enhance Hong Kong students’ English proficiency. The most prominent initiative has been the introduction of the Native English Teacher (NET) Scheme. However the effectiveness of the collaboration between local English teachers (LET) and NETs has not been critically investigated with respect to student expectations and perceptions of their teacher’s culturally developed teaching styles and how these perceptions impact on classroom learning expectations and behaviour. This paper seeks to engage in a critical analysis of the pedagogy used by LETs and NETs in a local Hong Kong primary school setting. In this paper, it is intended that light will be shed on the implications of the pedagogy and cultural factors relating to primary school students’ perceptions of those factors that support effective English learning in |Hong Kong ESL classrooms.