EAP 2 _______________Final IMRD Exam// Practice Paper – student samples

Introduction :

To help with increasing students ability to think about various controversial situations and interact in the
world, Hong Kong schools teach Liberal Studies. This course aims to develop students' critical thinking
skills, looking at international issues and training students to be active citizens in society. To foster
critical, reflective, and independent thinking skills, liberal studies is included in the curriculum to provide
students with knowledge of different issues and related skills on applying them (Cheung 2004). According
to Smith and Williams (2015), the subject helps develop a broad knowledge base of wider world issues,
and enhance the ability to deal with complex societal changes. Jameson (2015) claims that liberal studies
provide a more all-around and in-depth understanding of controversial political issues, and hence
encourage political participation. On the other hand, Ip (2015) disagrees that the subject has positive
influence on students, she insists that it will only foster prejudiced thinking based on a shallow knowledge
base. In order to determine the value of liberal studies, data and opinions in this study will be collected
from different parties for research purpose, as well as generate findings regarding the topic. Studies so far
have not researched Hong Kong perceptions. This study seeks to do this.

Results :

The data is collected by the method of conducting online surveys as well as semi-structured face-to-face
interview. The online survey is conducted with 30 students and 30 teachers, while the interview are
carried out only with 2 to 3 selected respondents.

According to the results of the online questionnaire on the liberal studies courses, student respondents
are required to express their opinion of how the topics facilitate their understanding of the issues related
to the Umbrella Movement (Table 3). First of all, most of the respondents agree that the topics of
interpersonal relationship, rule of law and socio-political participation fosters their understanding in this
political movement. However, it is generally disagreed that topics that tend to be more abstract, general
and are larger in scale, for example public health, Chinese culture and modern life as well as energy
technology does not help much. It is also doubted that group learning in IES facilitates the understanding
in the issue. However, the respondents generally agree that the subject curriculum plays an important role
in the participation of the movement, and strengthen the sense of being a Hong-Konger.

Our online questionnaire is conducted also to collect opinions of teachers towards liberal studies (Table
1). According to the survey results, the teachers generally agree that the subject helps develop
independent thinking, put emphasis on the learning process, direct students to use critical thinking and
look at issues using multiple perspectives, promote lifelong learning as well as giving students a broader
basic knowledge base.

In order to comprehend the research findings, similar data is also collected from the students (Table 2).
They generally have the same opinion except they seem to think that liberal studies cannot direct
students to use critical thinking. It is also doubted that liberal studies should be a part of all levels of
education.

To discover more about the distinct opinions between the two parties, a follow-up interview was carried
out to reveal the justifications in behind. According to the teachers, liberal studies give students chances
to learn about the world and the issues around it, and even make teachers more aware of the issues

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EAP 2 _______________Final IMRD Exam// Practice Paper – student samples

young people are interested in. However, it is doubted that this can be achieved when students are
required to think and complete exam papers. For example T1 said: “Students have to think and write
unbelievably fast to complete the paper, as there are so many questions. How can students master the
skills needed to answer Liberal Studies questions?” It is also questioned that whether there is the need to
examine students on their knowledge. It is also worried that bring political issues in for discussion will be
allowed during class, and doubted that whether the teachers are capable of teaching issues they are not
familiar with.

On the other hand, the students generally have negative opinions towards the curriculum. Even though
one of respondent considers the subject as encouraged of debating issues, most of respondents claimed
that students are required to give model answers when writing papers, and it is confusing for them
whether they should give their opinions or just facts. It is also doubted that whether learning about the
world could be achieved by copying news and knowledge in to their minds for taking exams. The students
do not agree that the current system helps them improve their critical thinking.

Discussion :

This purpose of this research was to investigate perceptions of Hong Kong people about Liberal Studies.
The result shows that most people agree with the concept and purpose of Liberal Studies but not agree
with how it is work in Hong Kong education. Teachers tend to be more positive than students, but most
people think examination of Liberal Studies cannot encourage critical thinking. Teachers and students
agree about the curriculum is not helping them with thinking critically.

Liberal studies aims to improve students' critical thinking skills and provide a broader knowledge base
regarding different issues all around the world. Most participants agree that developing an open mind is
beneficial to prospering our society, but it is doubted that whether the current education system could
really achieve the aim of helping students develop a more all-around knowledge base. Instead of the
learning experience, we found students might likely be more focused on the tests and exams, which
mainly discourage them from giving opinions and reflecting on certain issues. In order to promote
independent thinking in a more successful and encouraging manner, the government must review the
current curriculum, and to change the method of learning liberal studies, rather than examining students'
knowledge of issues. It is also important for the government to consult professionals to examine the
learning proficiency and the efficiency of enhancing the skills. If the government is willing to make
changes with the current system, it is believed that students could be more encouraged in giving their
opinions and enjoy learning about different issues all around the world.

The research on the topic mainly focus on the positive influence of liberal studies and whether these
influences could be achieved by the current learning system. Data is collected generally from two parties,
teachers and students. The topic is rather too specific and hence does not allow the research to generate
any surprising findings from the results of data collection.

Further research could be conducted on how to enhance learning experience and discussing whether
students should be examine on their knowledge is also recommended. Apart from the
teachers and students, professionals like government officials or textbooks producers could be
interviewed to investigate the efficiency of current way of learning.

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EAP 2 _______________Final IMRD Exam// Practice Paper – student samples

Introduction :

Starting from few years before, students in Hong Kong are required to study Literal Studies as one of the
compulsory courses. The aims of this subject are to develop students' different skills such as critical
independent thinking skills, to look at global issues comprehensively and to practise to be a responsible
citizen by covering 3 areas and 6 modules in the course. The 3 major areas are ''self and personal
development'', ''society and culture'' and ''science, technology and environment''.

A coin has two sides. There will be someone opposed to liberal studies while someone support it a lot.
According to Smith and Williams (2015), after studying liberal studies, students can better shape the
future of the city and handle the immediate and complex societal changes. It can therefore help them to
be well prepared for the work force due to the broad knowledge of world issues they learned from this
subject.

However, some wonder the effectiveness of liberal studies, so more research can be done to investigate
this. The content of the textbooks and reference books might be misleading sometimes. Meanwhile, there
are difficulties to be totally unbiased since political issues are always involved.
In the following part, some statistics will be analysed and interpreted so as to better evaluate the value of
Liberal Studies.

Results :

According to the findings from table 3, the issues that students understand most is the topic about socio-
political participation followed by identity and self-directed learning experience. It implies that Liberal
studies has some effects on student motivation to take part in political action.

On the other hand, students are not familiar with the public health and energy technology. Meanwhile,
more than 60% of respondents think that they do not understand themselves well under the personal
development and interpersonal relationships topic. It shows that they do not really understand issues like
energy technology which does not have tight connections with their daily life.

At the same time, students are disagree with the effectiveness of training their critical thinking skills since
there seems to be a model answer during the final examination. Students also think that the skills that
they learnt in this subject is not applicable due to the limited time in the examination.

More than 90% of the teacher agree that Liberal Studies help student to develop independent thinking,
critical thinking and look at the world from different perspectives. While more than 80% of them believe LS
can promote lifelong learning. It indicates that teachers in general agree LS has much value for students.

For the students in Table 2, more than 40% of them disagree LS can direct student to use critical thinking
and be a compulsory subject for all-aged education. Meanwhile, more than 90% of the students agree LS
can help them develop independent thinking. It is as similar as the findings in teachers. More than 60% of
them believe LS can have better knowledge base and promote lifelong learning.

Discussion :

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EAP 2 _______________Final IMRD Exam// Practice Paper – student samples

Teachers in general agree that LS is effective in many aspects. However, some teachers may not be
familiar with some chapters in the syllabus like modern Chinese politics and society. While discussing
politics issue, some of them may even worried about the action of the students since it may get the
teachers into a trouble if the students join some protests. It happens because the markers and the
teachers might not really know about what exactly they want from students.

The majority of students agree LS can motivate them to take part in political actions such as Umbrella
Movement. It indicates political issues that teachers discuss in class can let them participate more and
hope to take more steps to change the current situation.

However, students (Table 2) also do not believe LS can train critical thinking, it might because Hong Kong
Examination and Assessment Authority(HKEAA) seems to want facts rather than opinions when students
answering their question. Almost a half of them disagree that LS should be a compulsory course, it means
there is another half agree with it. It shows that the effectiveness of this subject is not really persuasive
enough. We suggest the HKEAA to adjust its focusses in the future.

Regarding the limitations of the research, the sample size is too small. Only total a 40 people are involved
to represent to whole Hong Kong students and teachers might not be enough. Meanwhile, teachers'
opinion might not be neutral enough and have some biases as LS teachers may be dismissed if this
subject is not compulsory.

In future research we should find more respondents from different schools, like traditional schools and
Chinese secondary schools. Also, we can provide more types of questions like yes/no questions, short
essays so as to increase the meaningfulness of doing research.

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EAP 2 _______________Final IMRD Exam// Practice Paper – student samples

Introduction :

Liberal Studies have raised a huge impact for our society, and the aims of Liberal Studies are always the
topic discussed by public. According to Cheung (2014), Liberal Studies is designed to train students’
critical, reflective and independent thinking skills, also strengthen the responsible citizenship and sense of
global and national identity, and the contents of Liberal Studies courses are about 3 areas of study, 6
modules and 1 independent enquiry study. The original purpose has positive impact to students, but now
Liberal Studies have involve some political issues with bias, which would affect the prejudiced thinking of
students, as Ip (2015) claims that some textbooks are lack of clear guidelines that may misleading
students to think in a wrong way.

In the other hand, main respondents thought that the Liberal Studies courses would not bring benefit for
them, as students studied science earn 30% higher than students studied Liberal Studies course (Smith &
Williams, 2015). Although Liberal Studies may affect students’ personality and knowledge, students think
it is not beneficial in anyway.

In order to find out the value of Liberal Studies, some researches were conducted, to obtain the aspect of
general public, teachers and students.

Results :

Comparing student and teacher agreement with statements about Liberal Studies (see Table 1 and Table
2) shows that more than 50% of teachers and almost 50% students are agree that Liberal Studies can
help students develop independent thinking, but almost 30% of teachers and students are disagree that
Liberal Studies can give students a broader basic knowledge. Form those data we found that Liberal
Studies can help the independent thinking but slightly help them on a broader basic knowledge.

Table 3 shows students understanding of Liberal Studies issues, and shows that most of students chose
disagree or strong disagree Liberal Studies can facilitate their understanding in “Globalization”, “Public
Health” and “Energy Technology and the Environment “, and most of students are facilitating in “Hong
Kong Today”, from this survey we found that the efficiency of Liberal Studies course is not high.

And from the semi-structured face-to-face interviews, the responses are tending to negative on the value
of Liberal Studies. Some students mentioned that the exam of Liberal Studies course is not implemented
to train students’ critical thinking, as they should answer the question follow the marking scheme, and
some students only cram news and knowledge in order to obtain a better HKDSE grade. And some
teachers said students should complete the paperwork quickly, as there are many questions and students
should not be examined their understanding of social issue. Moreover, some teachers found difficulty
when teaching Liberal Studies course, because some teachers lack knowledge of Chinese politics and
society, also it cannot be avoided bringing politics into the class, so that some personal opinions would be
brought into students.

From the surveys, the attitude of teachers to Liberal Studies is much more positive than students.

Discussion :

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EAP 2 _______________Final IMRD Exam// Practice Paper – student samples

After this research, we found that the value of Liberal Studies involves several areas, the personality,
knowledge of society and the sense of identity. The purpose of Liberal Studies is good for students but
the study system may change the purpose, they study in order to obtain a well grade not in order to know
more about themselves, the country or the world.

The methodologies we used are quantitative data and qualitative data, about some data from surveys and
some the semi-structured face-to-face interviews. But the methods we used are not limited. Because the
sample size is not sufficient, 30 Hong Kong students and 30 Hong Kong teachers are not enough to
obtain precise results, so that the sample size should be bigger. Moreover, all respondents are from Hong
Kong, but Liberal Studies is a global issue, so that respondents should be included students from other
countries and region. A future reserch could do this again with these changes.

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