Native English Teachers in Hong Kong: Building Communities of Practice?

Abstract

A review of the formulation of the Native English Teaching Scheme in Hong Kong is offered establishing its unique characteristics which confound Native English teachers and local schools attaining successful integration. Reporting a three-step exploratory methodology, key elements are identified and operationalised which appear to support successful integration. Discussing these findings in terms of the literature on Induction and Communities of Practice, a case is made that the reported research methodology may be applicable across other integration contexts - where individuals, rather than remaining disengaged ‘accidental tourists’, seek to become engaged ‘agents of change’

Strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs: Perceptions of NNESTs in Hong Kong

“…Since Tang's (1997) study, there has been limited research on the self-perceptions of NNESTs in Hong Kong. Conducted in the same context but at a different time period, the present study provides a more recent account as the number of NESTs has been increased drastically, from 87 before 1997 to about 700 in 1997 and 900 in 2008 (Forrester & Lok, 2008;Tham, 2008). The current study is also different from Tang (1997) in that it collected data from both questionnaires and interviews for data triangulation, as opposed to only using a questionnaire as in Tang (1997).…”

Cultivating a teacher community of practice for sustainable professional development: beyond planned efforts

“…Among them were seven males with two being native-speakers of English and eleven females with one native-speaker of English but of Chinese origin. The three nativespeakers of English were NETs (native English teachers) under the Native English Teaching Scheme and their work experience tended to be different from that of the local teachers' of English (Forrester & Lok, 2008). Two of the 18 teachers taught in primary schools (up to grade 6) while the others were teaching in secondary schools at various levels (grade 7 to grade 12).…”

The Making of an International Educator: Transnationalism and Nonnativeness in English Teaching and Learning

“…The first group of studies, the one looking at NESTs outside of English-dominant countries, has been conducted mostly in Asia, where the recruitment of native speakers of English has been extensively documented. These studies have examined the trend of international recruitment of NESTs in East Asia (Jeon & Lee, 2006;Nunan, 2003), particularly in Hong Kong (Boyle, 1997;Forrester & Lok, 2008), Japan (Lai, 1999), Korea (Houghton & Rivers, 2013;Jeon, 2009;Jo, 2008), and China (Bolton & Tong, 2002). In spite of the wealth of literature on the international recruitment of NESTs in the East Asian context, with few exceptions (see Hayes's 2005 study in Sri Lanka), there is little research on international recruitment trends from and to other areas of the world.…”