This book provides a detailed account of the origin, development, administration, revision and subsequent research findings on the benchmarking initiative from 1996-2016. It presents an overall assessment of the initiative's impact on major stakeholders, predictions regarding the way forward, and implications for other countries, especially in South East Asia. In addition, the book discusses what the larger global community can learn from Hong Kong's two-decade experience of conceptualizing and implementing minimum standard language requirements for teachers.

This edited volume explores, investigates and analyses Free Learning - an innovative approach to student-directed learning which seeks to challenge educational norms from within. The volume is framed by a recognition of the urgent need for transformation of our educational systems. In traditional education, students work through a teacher-directed linear syllabus, at a pace dictated by the teacher, with summative assessment hurdles at too-frequent intervals. Progression and direction are determined solely by the teacher. In Free Learning, students determine their own learning pathway through a non-linear syllabus, which can be visualised as a mind map. Students may then complete as many units as they either have time for or are interested in, moving from one unit to another on the basis of having formatively satisfied the demands of each individual unit. This volume showcases the value and potential of Free Learning in contemporary practice and is intended to bridge theory and practice. The structure of the book reflects this complementary fit, with contributions from practitioners describing Free Learning as a learning and teaching tool in a range of educational settings, subjects and age-ranges. It also contains qualitative and quantitative analyses by researchers exploring the uptake of Free Learning and students' responses to the methodology. Researchers and educators who are interested in student-directed methodologies, especially in Asia, will find that the practical accounts and analyses of Free Learning contained within provide much food for thought with regard to redefining student learning.

This book discusses Hong Kong's use of onscreen marking (OSM) in public examinations. Given that Hong Kong leads the way in OSM innovation, this book has arisen from a recognised need to provide a comprehensive, coherent account of the findings of various separate but linked validation studies of onscreen public examinations in Hong Kong. The authors discuss their experience of the validation process, demonstrating how high-stakes innovation should be fully validated by a series of research studies in order to satisfy key stakeholders.

This book focuses on the topic of academic publishing. It discusses the mounting, serious problems that researchers, particularly new researchers, encounter when trying to publish their research. The book addresses the issues of publishing as well as the salient factors militating against academic publication and the mitigating factors encouraging academic publication. It provides potential solutions, suggestions, and strategies for overcoming some of these problems. Growing research output from Southeast Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and China reveals the struggles that many authors have to confront when attempting to publish their work in reputable journals. In both South Africa and other parts of Africa, academic researchers are beginning to show strong evidence of credible academic output. These researchers all need valid outlets for their work and the security that authentic peer review brings to the reviewing process. In the fields of education, social sciences, and professional practices, e.g., architecture and law, recent years have seen the emergence of new outlets for practitioners' research outputs in areas such as one's own practice, self-reflection, and narrative inquiry. These outlets are discussed in this book. The book also discusses the malign influence of predatory publications in detail. This book will be beneficial to university academics, postgraduate students, Ph.D. supervisors, and new researchers.

This book discusses Hong Kong's use of onscreen marking (OSM) in public examinations. Given that Hong Kong leads the way in OSM innovation, this book has arisen from a recognised need to provide a comprehensive, coherent account of the findings of various separate but linked validation studies of onscreen public examinations in Hong Kong. The authors discuss their experience of the validation process, demonstrating how high-stakes innovation should be fully validated by a series of research studies in order to satisfy key stakeholders.

This volume brings together a set of ten IELTS-related research studies - four on Speaking and six on Writing - conducted between 1995 and 2001. The ten studies were funded under the auspices of the British Council/IELTS Australia Joint-funded Research Program which promotes research activity among IELTS test stakeholders around the world. Findings from the studies provided valuable evidence on the validity, reliability, impact and practicality of the IELTS test; they were also instrumental in highlighting aspects needing attention, and so directly informed the revised design and implementation of the IELTS Speaking and Writing Modules introduced in 2001 and 2005. The volume reviews and comments on the specific contribution of each study to the ongoing process of IELTS speaking and writing test development; it also evaluates the range of research methodologies used in the projects and discusses their usefulness for researchers working in the broader field of performance assessment.