Teaching Chinese Report Writing: Melbourne and Hong Kong

Abstract

Globalisation has resulted in curriculum reform, particularly at matriculation level, in many educational jurisdictions. When Victoria (Australia) and Hong Kong reformed their curricula, both claimed that their reforms were intended to develop students’ critical, independent and high-order thinking skills, and to foster their ability to learn independently. The question of whether the almost identical reform rhetoric has been translated into identical classroom practice was investigated in a comparative case study of the implementation of the reforms of Chinese writing curricula, specifically relating to report writing, in one classroom in Melbourne (Victoria) and one in Hong Kong. The study considered the following aspects: teaching cycles; classroom interaction patterns; teachers’ views, goals and strategies; students’ expectations and, through an analysis of students’ writing, the relationship between teaching and learning. It is shown that despite similar educational objectives and rhetoric, major differences arose when it came to implementation in classrooms with diverse cultural, social and linguistic contexts. In conclusion, factors are presented, which curriculum designers must take into consideration if the goal of global curriculum sharing is to be achieved.