Dr. CHOI, Tat Heung



BEd (First Class Honours), University of London, UK; MA (Distinction), University of London, UK;
MPhil, University of Cambridge, UK; PhD, University of London, UK; Fellow of the Cambridge Overseas Society, UK?
Senior Lecturer, Department of Education Studies?
Academic & Professional Experience2016?–?Present Senior Lecturer, Hong Kong Baptist University
2011 –?2016 Assistant Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University
2009 – 2011 Assistant Professor & Associate Programme Director of BA (Hons) in English Language & Literature and BEd (Hons) in English Language Teaching, Hong Kong Baptist University
2008 – 2009 Assistant Professor & Programme Director of BA (Hons) in English Language & Literature and BEd (Hons) in English Language Teaching, Hong Kong Baptist University
2007 – 2008 Assistant Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University
2006 – 2007 Assistant Professor & Associate Programme Director of BA (Hons) in English Language & Literature and BEd (Hons) in English Language Teaching, Hong Kong Baptist University
Research InterestsSociology of education – autobiography and symbolic control; school choice and educational trajectories; English-medium education and social differentiation; equality of access to higher education
English language teaching – integrated language arts;?ELT resources
Teacher education – initial teacher preparation; teacher professional learning
?With my background in English language education and the sociology of education, my work sets out to argue that the investigation of crucial issues of English-language acquisition, mostly drawing on theories of language learning and teaching, can be usefully contextualised in the sociology of education for a more theoretical perspective.? I am particularly interested in issues around English and social differentiation – the unequal basis and consequences of differential access to English and the local struggles around English in its local contexts against the assumption of English as neutral, natural and beneficial (i.e. the discourse of English as an international language).? This captures the essence of my earlier doctoral work.? I am equally interested in how second-language learners communicate meanings in different modes of representation by locating them in a network of social relations in Hong Kong’s school system.? I am also concerned to promote the contribution of literature to education in Hong Kong, where, I feel, the overwhelmingly instrumental approach to the study of English is damaging.? This was, in part, fostered by my work for the MA degree which included modules concerned with literature in education, with special reference to cross-cultural perspectives and feminism.? My recent projects include autobiography and symbolic control, alumni mentorship in a community of practice, as well as service learning for initial teacher preparation.
Professional & Community ServicesProfessional serviceGuest Editor, TESOL Journal?(2022 Special Issue)
Regional Editor (Asia),?Power and Education?(2008 – Present)
Invited Reviewer,?London Review of?Education?(2015 – 2016)
Invited Reviewer,?Power and Education?(2013 – Present)
Invited Reviewer,?Professional Development in Education?(2013 – Present)
Invited Reviewer,?TESOL Journal?(2020 – Present)?
Invited Reviewer,?Cambridge Journal of Education?(2007 – 2008; 2011 – 2012)
Invited Reviewer,?Journal of the International Society for Teacher Education?(2009 – 2010)
Editor, pocket edition of?Connexion: Poetic ensemble?(Summer 2009)
Oral Assessor, Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers of English Language (LPATE), Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (2005 & 2008)
Community?serviceGuest Teacher,?English activation through?fun sports,?Osnovna ?ola ?irovnica, Slovenia (2019, January 3)
Guest Teacher,?Welcome Minions with fun food,?Pensmith STEM International School, Bangkok,?Thailand?(2018, April 4)
Guest Teacher,?Fun with English grammar,?Osnovna ?ola ?irovnica, Slovenia (2017, May 3)
Invited Speaker,?Texts unpacked: Getting a head start?on grammar for young learners of English, Launch Seminar,?Educational Publishing House Limited (2017, January 14)
Guest Teacher,?Rosie’s Walk,?Osnovna ?ola ?irovnica, Slovenia (2016, May 4)
Guest Teacher,?On cultural exchange: From ‘The best of Hong?Kong’ to ‘I feel Slovenia’,?Osnovna ?ola ?irovnica, Slovenia (2015, December 9)
Guest Teacher,?Hits and misses with Chinese words: A foreign-language learner’s perspective, Osnovna ?ola Antona Toma?a Linharta Radovljica, Slovenia (2014, December 9)
Guest Teacher,?Chinese words in the making: A foreign-language learner’s perspective, Osnovna ?ola Antona Toma?a Linharta Radovljica, Slovenia (2013, December 19)
Guest Teacher,?A taste for Chinese words: A foreign-language learner’s perspective, Osnovna ?ola Antona Toma?a Linharta Radovljica, Slovenia (2011, December 19)
Invited Speaker,?Reading and reaping: Ways into texts, Professional Development Workshop, Ho Ming Primary School (Sik Sik Yuen) (2011, March 25)
Invited Speaker,?English activation through art: A second-language learner’s perspective, Nara University of Education, Japan?(2010, December 7)
Demonstrator,?English activation through art: Klimt and Vienna, General Education Workshop, Hong Kong Baptist University (2009, April 21)
Invited Speaker,?Reading and reaping: Nurturing creativity through language arts, Professional Development Workshop, Centre for Child Development, Hong Kong Baptist University (2007, May 5)
Invited Speaker,?Reading and reaping: Laying a reading culture, Professional Development Workshop, YLPMS Alumni Association School (2006, November 17)
Invited Speaker,?Reading and reaping: Promoting extensive reading, Professional Development Seminar, SKH Li Fook Hing Secondary School (2006, March 16)
Invited Speaker,?The transition from secondary to higher education, Youth Forum (Quality Education Fund), Pui Ching Middle School (2004, October 18)
Invited Speaker,?Poetry experience, Poetry Writing Workshop, Association of Hong Kong Chinese Middle Schools (2004, April 24)
Demonstrator,?Imperfect gifts, English-language Writing Lessons, CCC Mong Man Wai College (2003, December 15) & Pui Ching Middle School (2004, December 14)
Academic Awards2012 – 2016 Summer Travelling Fellowship, University of Cambridge, UK
2010 – 2011 Summer Travelling Fellowship,?University of Cambridge, UK
2009 – 2010 Summer Visiting Fellowship,?University of Cambridge, UK
2000 – 2001 Cambridge Overseas Trust Award, UK
I was awarded a first-class Bachelor’s honours degree in education and an MA (with distinction) in English language education from the University of London. Then sweet chance led my steps to researching in the sociology of education with the late Emeritus Professor Basil Bernstein ? a scholar of enterprise, shrewd and swift ? who stayed me in inspired indulgence in 10 Woburn Square. A growing interest in sociology further led me to study for an MPhil degree at the University of Cambridge, where I had the great pleasure of researching with Professor Robert M Blackburn, Fellow of Clare College. My years abroad marked a period of warmth, seriousness and endurance in empirical field research, which is what I count as a gain from good old England.
‘And let me live those years again when I could still mature and grow, when songs gushed up as from a spring that ceaselessly renewed itself within, when all the world was veiled in mist and every bud concealed a miracle, when I gathered up a thousand flowers that richly decked the slopes and fields – then I had nothing, yet I had enough: …’ (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
‘Much is there waits you we have missed; Much lore we leave you worth the knowing, Much, much has lain outside our ken: Nay, rush not: time serves: we are going, …’ (Thomas Hardy)
‘Away she hurried, not beautiful, not supremely brilliant, but filled with something that took the place of both qualities – something best described as a profound vivacity, a continual and sincere response to all that she encountered in her path through life.’? (Edward Morgan Forster)
Selected PublicationsChoi, T. H., & Wong, W. C. C. (2018). ‘Platform nine & three-quarters’ and more: Scaffolding ESL writing through teacher modelling and creative imitation.?TESOL Journal,?9(4), 629-651. doi: 10.1002/tesj.423
Choi, T. H. (2017). English activation through art: Tensions and rewards.?TESOL Journal,?8(3), 518-539. doi: 10.1002/tesj.285
Choi, T. H. (2017). Narratives of educational transition and learner identity.?British Journal of Sociology of Education,?38(2), 164-183. doi: 10.1080/01425692.2015.1073101
Choi, T. H., & Ng, K. W.?(2015). Re-visioning English language arts practices and writing outcomes through the remaking of?Cinderella.?English Teaching: Practice and Critique,?14(3), 366-386. doi:10.1108/ETPC-04-2015-0027
Choi, T. H. (2015). Waiting in the wings: Power, narratives of transition, and self-reflexivity.?Power and Education,?7(3), 322-337. doi: 10.1177/1757743815600291
Choi, T. H. (2014). Replacing the misplaced: Power, autobiography and learner identity.?Power and Education,?6(1), 46-60. doi: 10.2304/power.2014.6.1.46
Li, S. C., & Choi, T. H. (2014). Does social capital matter? A quantitative approach to examining technology infusion in schools.?Journal of Computer Assisted Learning,?30, 1-16. doi: 10.1111/jcal.12010
Choi, T. H. (2013). Autobiographical reflections for teacher professional learning.?Professional Development in Education,?39(5), 822-840. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2012.737355
Choi, T. H. (2012).?Social justice in parental choice of secondary schools in Hong Kong: Insights for teacher education.?Journal of the International Society for Teacher Education,?16(2), 55-67.
Choi, T. H. (2012). Modes of representation as meanings for second-language learners in Hong Kong. In A. S. Yeung, E. L. Brown, & C.?Lee (Eds.),Communication and language: Surmounting barriers to cross-cultural understanding?(pp. 233-257). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Choi, T. H. (2009). Power and the subversion of stories.?Power and Education,?1(3), 282-294. doi:10.2304/power.2009/1.3.282
Choi, T. H. (2008). Secondary school principals’ expectations of beginning teachers in Hong Kong.?Journal of the International Society for Teacher Education,?12(1), 15-21.
Wong, E. M. L., Li, S. C., Choi, T. H., & Lee, T. N. (2008). Insights into innovative classroom practices with ICT: Identifying the impetus for change.Educational Technology and Society, 11(1), 248-265.
Choi, T. H. (2008). On struggles and resistance: English-medium education as intrinsically ‘good’??Educational Research Journal,?23(1), 45-70.
Conference PresentationsChoi, T. H., & Ng, Z. S. T. (2020, January).?To adopt or adapt: An ensemble of ELT pedagogies through professional socialisation. Workshop delivered at the 40th Thailand TESOL-PAC International Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
Chan, H., Li, C., & Choi, T. H. (2019, May).?Sowing in the field: Mentoring through teacher alumni in a community of practice for English language education. Paper presented at the 6th International Language in Focus Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Choi, T. H., &?Chan, H. (2018, July).?‘Now you’re talking’: Teacher preparation through alumni talks in a community of practice. Paper presented at the Oxford Education Research Symposium, UK.
Choi, T. H. (2018, June).?Problem-based writing instruction for EFL learners in Slovenia. Paper presented at the 16th Asia TEFL International Conference, Macau SAR, China.
Choi, T. H. (2017, June).?A head start on grammar for young learners of English. Teaching demonstration?at the Korean Association of Teachers of English (KATE) Conference, Seoul, South Korea.
Choi, T. H. (2015). Developing creative and meaning potential in EFL writing through problem-based instruction. In C. Pracana (Ed.),?Proceedings of International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends?(pp. 97-101). Lisbon, Portugal: World Institute for Advanced Research and Science.
Choi, T. H. (2015, May).?Developing creative and meaning potential in EFL writing through problem-based instruction. Paper presented at the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT), Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Choi, T. H. (2013, April).?Using autobiography as pedagogy to explore individual and institutional habitus. Paper presented at the 13th Discourse Power Resistance Conference, Greenwich, UK.
Choi, T. H. (2011, November).?Autobiography as pedagogy for personal and professional development in education. Paper presented at the International Professional Development Association Conference, Birmingham, UK.
Choi, T. H. (2010, December).?English activation through art: Insights from ‘The Kiss’.?Paper presented at the 2nd Asian Conference on Education, Osaka, Japan.
Choi, T. H., & Tang, K. C. (2009, April).?An exploration of parental choice of secondary schools in Hong Kong. Paper presented at the 8th Discourse Power Resistance Conference, Manchester, UK.
Recent ProjectsTeaching Development Grants?for?2019/20, Co-investigator,?A collaborative instructional approach to English across the curriculum?(led by Dr. Cissy Li)?(Amount: HK$248,665)
Communities of Practice (CoPs) Funds?for?2017/20, Principal Co-ordinator,?A head start on teacher professional learning through alumni mentorship?(Amount: HK$500,000)?https://copheadstart.wixsite.com/hkbu-educ-cop2
Hong Kong Baptist University Foundation?for?2017/19, Principal Co-ordinator,?Service learning for English language education?(Amount: HK$200,000; Donation by Ms. Chow, S. Y.)