Exploring inclusive pedagogical practices in Hong Kong primary EFL classrooms

ABSTRACT

Social diversity is now commonplace in many communities in today’s globalised world. This diversity can be seen in any classroom of learners, and international studies have shown the complex ways in which disabilities, race, ethnicity, gender and social class can determine a child’s opportunity to succeed or fail in the education system. In Hong Kong, like in many educational contexts around the world, teachers are grappling with increasing diversity amongst their students, including teaching students with special educational needs (SEN) and non-Chinese speaking students (NCS) living in Hong Kong. This paper examines how three primary TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers are constructing identities as inclusive practitioners as they grapple with enacting the inclusive education policy recently introduced into Hong Kong schools. The data are drawn from a small-scale collaborative reflective inquiry for teacher professional development. Drawing upon a sociocultural and critical framing of identity theory, we trace the three teachers’ identity construction as EFL teachers and inclusive education practitioners. We view the role of discourse, self-positioning and social context as key processes in teacher identity formation. Implications for furthering the development of inclusive education in EFL classrooms are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• teaching English as a foreign language
• teacher identities
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cheri Chan, is a teacher educator in the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. She teaches primary ELT pedagogy courses and engages in research examining professional development practices for English language teachers.

Margaret Lo, is a teacher educator in the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. She teaches primary ELT pedagogy courses and engages in critical social research of ELT classrooms.

Notes

1 In the Hong Kong context, English language teachers are referred to as ESL teachers because English is taught officially as a second language in the curriculum. However, the role of the ESL teacher is not the same as ESL teachers in the US, Canada, UK or Australian contexts. ESL teachers in Hong Kong are mainstream classroom teachers and their practice is more like teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) or TESOL contexts (Teaching English as a Foreign Language or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). The term EFL is used in this paper because it reflects the pedagogical practice in the HK context.

2 http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/special/support/wsa/index.html.

3 Local Hong Kong schools may become ‘designated’ if the majority of their student population consists of non-Chinese students (usually of South Asian heritage). Designated schools receive additional government funding.

4 The English language textbook market is dominated by two or three publications, used by the vast majority of local Hong Kong schools as the de facto English curriculum.