Preparing Hong Kong pre-service teachers to notice and respond to diversity: A mixed-methods, experimental study
Project Title(Chinese) :
培養香港職前教師對多樣性的覺察與回應能力：一項混合方法之實驗研究
Principal Investigator(English) :
Dr Li, Zhen Jennie
Principal Investigator(Chinese) :
Department :
Department of Chinese Language Studies
Institution :
The Education University of Hong Kong
Co - Investigator(s) :
Dr Bhatt, Ibrar
Prof Chiu, Ming Ming
Dr Chow, Wing-Yin Bonnie
Dr Lam, Sin Manw Sophia
Prof Liu, Yongcan
Dr Louie, Nicole
Panel :
Humanities, Social Sciences
Subject Area :
Education
Exercise Year :
2025 / 26
Fund Approved :
750,480
Project Status :
On-going
Completion Date :
30-11-2027
Abstract as per original application (English/Chinese):
Teachers in Hong Kong mainstream schools often view students as a homogeneous group, overlooking ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. This unawareness leaves many teachers in Hong Kong and elsewhere unprepared for the growing diversity in classrooms. To address this gap, teacher educators must equip pre-service teachers (PSTs) with essential intercultural skills to enhance intercultural awareness, foster open-mindedness and compassion, and adapt to diverse student needs. This project focuses on teacher noticing, an essential socio-cognitive skill that enables PSTs to consciously notice cultural nuances and effectively respond to diversity.
This study adopts a mixed-methods experimental study involving an identity-based intercultural noticing intervention with 92 Hong Kong PSTs in Chinese language education. The noticing training framework used in this study, FAIR (Framing, Attending, Interpreting, Responding), helps PSTs focus on identity, both self and others, in intercultural contexts. It equips them to handle the nuances of teaching students from diverse backgrounds effectively. The project consists of two stages. Stage 1 is an experimental intervention study, where 92 PSTs are randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. The experimental group (N = 46) receives FAIR-based training via an integrated training programme that involves multicultural lesson study, intercultural video discussion, and field story evaluation. The control group (N = 46) attends a traditional multicultural course without FAIR. Stage 2 is a follow-up skill enactment study. 12 PSTs from the experimental group are tracked during their first year of in-service practice across various schools. Qualitative data, including multimodal longitudinal journaling, narrative-reflective interviews, and field notes, are collected to examine how their noticing capacity is enacted in real teaching practices. To assess the intervention's longitudinal impact, all participants complete pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests with validated surveys and noticing tasks. Quantitative data are analysed via difference-in-differences structural equation modelling with residual centring, and qualitative data with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
This project will contribute to the existing literature by offering a refined training framework that integrates conscious, socio-cognitive noticing training into PSTs' intercultural teaching skills. The outcomes include 1) the development of a practical teacher training toolkit to build a professional identity embracing diversity, 2) the provision of valuable theoretical and pedagogical insights to help PSTs, teacher educators, and stakeholders improve intercultural teaching, and 3) a shift from conventional models to a more empowering approach for teaching change.
