[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-594497-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-594497-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","applying-the-theory-of-variation-in-teaching-reading-article-1","Applying the Theory of Variation in Teaching Reading - Article 1","","This paper presents a collaborative, reflective professional development model for teachers aimed at improving student learning in reading. The cyclical lessons were implemented in Hong Kong with 94 Secondary Four (Grade 10) students to develop the ability to infer characters’ traits from story events. Learning activities were grounded in the Theory of Variation (Marton & Booth, 1997), helping students identify critical features through comparison. Results indicate improved reading skill and benefits from teacher collaboration.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/applying-the-theory-of-variation-in-teaching-reading-article-1/594497/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/applying-the-theory-of-variation-in-teaching-reading-article-1/594497.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Aldword","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What reading skill does the project target?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The lessons focus on helping students infer characters’ traits from the events in a story.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How does the Theory of Variation support the lesson design?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"It guides learners to discern the critical features of the target skill through comparison with existing frameworks of knowledge and understanding.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What learning context and participants were involved?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The study ran in Hong Kong with 94 Secondary Four (Grade 10) students, addressing difficulties faced by many English as a second language students.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},594497,1792192826,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":117,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":103},2336478940917,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Australian Journal of Teacher Education  \n\n| Volume 37 | Issue 10 | Article 1 |\n| --- | --- |\n| 2012\u003Cbr>Applying the Theory of Variation in Teaching Reading\u003Cbr>Siu Yin Annie Tong\u003Cbr>The HongKong Institute of Education, HongKong, atong@ied.edu.hk |  |\n\nRecommended Citation  \nTong, Siu Yin Annie (2012) \"Applying the Theory of Variation in Teaching Reading,\"Australian Journal of Teacher Education: Vol. 37: Iss. 10, Article 1.  \nAvailable at: [http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol37/iss10/1](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol37/iss10/1)  \nThis Journal Article is posted at Research Online.  \n[http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol37/iss10/1](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol37/iss10/1)  \nAustralian Journal of Teacher Education  \nApplying the Theory of Variation in Teaching Reading  \nSiu Yin Annie Tong  \nThe Hong Kong Institute of Education  \nHong Kong  \nAbstract: This paper presents a model of collaborative and reflective  \nprofessional development for teachers that focuses on student learning.  \nThe model comprises a cyclical series of lessons that were carried out  \nin Hong Kong with 94 Secondary Four (Grade 10) students. The  \nlessons were designed to develop the reading skill of inferring  \ncharacters’ traits from the events of a story—a skill that presents  \ndifficulties for many secondary school students of English as a second  \nlanguage. The learning activities in the research lessons were  \nunderpinned by the Theory of Variation proposed by Marton and  \nBooth (1997), which allows students to discern the critical features of  \nthe particular skill to be learnt. Findings indicate that the lessons  \nwere successful in helping the students develop the skill. Teachers also  \nbenefitted from the collaborative reflections and investigations. The  \npaper suggests that this model may enhance both student learning and  \nteacher professional development.  \nIntroduction  \nThis paper reports on a project that implemented a collaborative and reflective model of teacher professional development that concentrated on enhancing student learning. In the project, the author—a lecturer in an institute specializing in teacher education—worked with a team of English teachers in a secondary school in Hong Kong in designing, delivering and reflecting upon a series of lessons that focused on a specific reading skill that had been identified as problematic for students—in this case, the inferring of characters’ traits from the events of a story. The learning activities that were incorporated in the lessons were informed by the Theory of Variation (Marton & Booth, 1997), which encourages teachers and students to identify the critical features of a new object of learning through comparison with existing frameworks of knowledge and understanding. The study sought to explore new ways of teaching and learning a troublesome aspect of reading English short stories.  \nVol 37, 10, October 2012 1  \nAustralian Journal of Teacher Education  \nThe focus chosen by the teachers for the project was helping students to read short stories, as Learning English through Short Stories is one of the English electives offered by the school in line with the New Senior English Curriculum that was initiated in Hong Kong in 2009. The teachers in the school reported that although short stories had been used since junior secondary levels (Grade 7-9), students did not seem to be motivated to engage in reading. They described their approach was to ask the students to read some pages at home and then to hold a quick discussion of a set of comprehension questions in class. No particular skills or strategies were explicitly highlighted in the lessons. The teachers found that the students could not recall much of the events in the texts. To most of the students, reading was equivalent to checking the meanings of words from the dictionary. As a result, when it came to some more complex relationships and concepts in the story, they found it difficult to comprehend because they did not approach reading strategicall","cbCaigS6V6mmn1qO","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigS6V6mmn1qO","pdf",185058,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Problem identification and teaching focus\n# Applying the Theory of Variation","[{\"question\":\"What reading skill does the project target?\",\"answer\":\"The lessons focus on helping students infer characters’ traits from the events in a story.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the Theory of Variation support the lesson design?\",\"answer\":\"It guides learners to discern the critical features of the target skill through comparison with existing frameworks of knowledge and understanding.\"},{\"question\":\"What learning context and participants were involved?\",\"answer\":\"The study ran in Hong Kong with 94 Secondary Four (Grade 10) students, addressing difficulties faced by many English as a second language students.\"}]","Applying the Theory of Variation in Teaching Reading - Article 1 | PDF",1792079268]