Strategic Use of Technology for Inclusive Education in Hong Kong: A Content-Level Perspective

Oct 15, 2026

The study addresses inclusive education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong by examining how technology use can enhance inclusivity in the context of quality education. It evaluates differentiated, content-specific versus content-neutral technology strategies that reflect disparities in students’ prior knowledge. An experimental design tests effects on Chinese language and mathematics classroom discussions with 121 secondary students assigned to randomized conditions. Results show group-specific preferences and improved performance depending on activity type.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose

Design/Approach/Methods

Findings

Originality/Value

Introduction

Inclusive education policy in Hong Kong

Needs and challenges for ethnic minority students

Role of educational technology

Adaptive learning environments

Strategic Use of Technology for Inclusive Education in Hong Kong: A Content-Level Perspective Thomas K. F. Chiu The Chinese University of Hong Kong Cher Ping Lim The Education University of Hong Kong ECNU Review of Education 2020, Vol. 3(4) 715–734 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/2096531120930861](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120930861)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120930861)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: A growing body of research has focused on the topic of inclusive education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. At the same time, few scholars have explored the role technology can play in enhancing inclusivity within the context of quality education. This study examines how the differentiated use of technology that takes into account disparities in prior knowledge can benefit students of different learning backgrounds. Design/Approach/Methods: This study adopted an experimental design to investigate how content-specific and content-neutral technologies can be strategically used to support the classroom discussions of Chinese and ethnic minority students’ learning Chinese language and mathematics. One hundred and twenty-one secondary school students participated in the study. Each student was randomly assigned to a condition, in a 2 (ethnicity: Chinese vs. ethnic minority) 􀀂 2 (content: content-specific first vs. content-neutral first) design. Findings: The study found that (a) for Chinese language lessons, ethnic minority students preferred to learn with content-neutral and content-specific technologies in prediscussion and Corresponding author: Thomas K. F. Chiu, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China. Email: [thomas.kf.chiu@gmail.com](thomas.kf.chiu@gmail.com) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). postdiscussion activities, respectively; whereas the Chinese students’ preferences were the opposite and (b) for mathematics lessons, both groups of students performed better when content-specific and content-neutral technologies were used in prediscussion and postdiscussion activities, respectively. Originality/Value: The study presents five practical suggestions for the strategic use of technology in inclusive classrooms in Hong Kong. Keywords Equity, ethnic minority, inclusive education, learner expertise, technology Date received: 11 January 2020; accepted: 8 May 2020 Inclusion is an essential component of equity in education. Demand for inclusive education drives major education reforms throughout the world. Hong Kong is no exception. The Hong Kong Education Bureau has adopted an inclusive education policy designed to ensure equal access to quality education for all students in the public school sector (Education Commission of Hong Kong SAR, 2017, 2018; Fang, 2011) . One of the aims of this inclusive education policy is to integrate ethnic minority students into mainstream schools (schools with a Chinese majority). In Hong Kong, nonnative-Chinese speakers, including Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Thais, and Indonesians, are considered ethnic minorities in schools. The proportion of ethnic minority students enrolled in public secondary schools (government or government-aided) is around 1 .5%(Hue & Kennedy, 2013, 2014) . A

FAQs

What is the purpose of this study on technology and inclusive education?

To examine how differentiated technology use, considering students’ prior knowledge disparities, can support inclusivity and benefit students from different learning backgrounds in Hong Kong.

How was the study designed and what participants were involved?

An experimental design tested content-specific and content-neutral technologies in classroom discussions. One hundred and twenty-one secondary school students participated and were randomly assigned to conditions based on ethnicity and content type order.

What key findings were reported for Chinese language and mathematics lessons?

For Chinese language, ethnic minority students preferred content-neutral and content-specific technologies in prediscussion and postdiscussion respectively, while Chinese students showed the opposite preference. For mathematics, both groups performed better when content-specific and content-neutral technologies were used in prediscussion and postdiscussion respectively.

Oct 15, 2026

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