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The paper traces the evolution of the Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research (CLEAR) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from early 2002 to the end of 2021. The University needed a centre to support both institutional and local (department and faculty) needs and aspirations for enhancing teaching and learning. Five key strategies adopted by CLEAR are: embedding the practice of existing teachers into policy development, localizing quality-assurance processes, relating professional-development activities to career development, involving students, and producing research evidence from within the Hong Kong context. The evidence base that supports these strategies, and the cultural and community factors involved, will be woven into an evidence-based narrative that spans 20 years.

This study sets out to investigate how pre-service ESL teachers shape their beliefs in the process of experimenting with new teaching methods introduced in the teacher education programme. A 4-year longitudinal study was conducted with four randomly selected ESL pre-service teachers. Their theoretical orientations of ESL instruction were tracked at intervals through a protocol which consisted of i) descriptive accounts, ii) surveys, iii) lesson plan analysis, iv) lesson recording and v) interviews. Despite the fact that these 4 student teachers had shown different theoretical orientations in the protocols, they shared similar patterns of instructional practices in the Teaching Practicum. It was also found that the new teaching method practiced in the teacher education programme was re-conceptualised by these student teachers in the actual teaching context because of the strong influence of their personal agency beliefs. (Contains 6 tables and 2 figures.)

This study assesses the effects of the use of learning strategies on student literacy performance based on the 2002 Hong Kong Program for International Student Assessment. The descriptive statistics show that students use the memorization strategy almost as frequently as the elaboration strategy. Independent sample t-tests reveal that female students prefer to use more memorization strategies and less elaboration strategies than male students. The regression analysis demonstrates a positive relationship between learning strategy use and student reading performance. Results show that the memorization strategy has more strength in predicting students' reading performance than the elaboration strategy, and that girls are doing better in reading than boys. Based on the findings, a direct instruction approach is recommended in strategy training. (Contains 5 tables.)

This article presents the reading performance of Hong Kong's 15-year-old students taking part in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2002. The objectives, design, and assessment instruments of PISA are first delineated and the assessment results will then be presented. Contrary to the general impression that the language ability of Hong Kong students in general is declining, it was found that the reading performance of Hong Kong students in PISA was far better than those of other participating countries. Further details on students' literacy performance will also be reported when referring to the specific aspects of reading literacy like text types and reading tasks. Initial interpretations on the results will be provided with specific relevance to the existing language curriculum, so as to suggest how the curriculum could be improved in the future.