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This paper shows how the patterns of variation created in the teaching were critical in helping a class of Primary 3 students in Hong Kong to learn about the colour of light, so that the students attained conceptual rather than procedural knowledge. A 'Learning Study' approach was adopted, which is a Lesson Study grounded in a particular learning theory to improve teaching and learning. This study, based on the learning theory of Variation advanced by Marton and Booth, was premised on three types of variation: variation in students' ways of experiencing what is to be taught/learnt (V1), variation in teachers' ways of dealing with the 'object of learning' (V2), and the use of 'pattern of variation' as a guiding principle of pedagogical design to enhance students' learning (V3). In planning the lesson, a conscious effort was made to create relevant patterns of variation, i.e. varying certain critical aspect(s) while keeping other aspects of the object of learning invariant in order to help students to discern those aspects. Comparison between the results of the pre-and post-test shows that there was significant gain in the students' learning outcomes with respect to the intended object of learning. The findings contribute knowledge to how the Theory of Variation can be used in practice. It also illustrates how teachers can make use of this theoretical framework to analyze their own teaching and thereby, develop an analytical awareness of teaching and learning.

This paper investigates differences in approaches to learning and teaching English as a second language (ESL) as reported by 324 mixed-ability Grade 7 Hong Kong ESL students and 37 ESL secondary school teachers with different backgrounds. Information about participants' perceived approaches to learning/teaching English were collected through a student questionnaire and a teacher questionnaire. Analysis of the student data suggested significant differences among students of low, medium, and high academic abilities in their reported use of deep and achieving approaches to learning English. Analysis of the teacher data revealed that teachers with different qualifications and number of years of teaching experience performed significantly differently on the Information Transmission Approach and on collaborative approaches to teaching English. Implications for the learning and teaching of English in Hong Kong and limitations of the study are also discussed.Keywords: approaches to learning; approaches to teaching; learning and teaching English as a second language; Hong Kong secondary schools IntroductionResearch on the approaches to learning as perceived by students studying in both secondary and tertiary sectors arose as an alternative to the information processing (IP) approach to learning, prevalent since the 1970s with its emphasis on students' mental learning processes and strategies regardless of the content and context. Unlike the IP approach, research on student approaches to learning stems from an interest in how students perceive their own learning in the learning environment. Evidence from both interview studies in the early years and subsequent inventory studies has repeatedly shown that students' approaches to learning are identifiable in distinctive categories (cf. Marton and Booth 1997) and are closely related to their conception of and outcomes in learning (cf. Watkins and Biggs 1996). Parallel to the research on student approaches to learning in design, studies of teachers' perceptions of their approaches to teaching began to flourish in the late 1990s. The results of these studies have uncovered different approaches to teaching, each embracing unique qualities that can be associated with the teachers' conception of teaching (e.g. Trigwell 1995;Lam and Kember 2006) and corresponding student approaches to learning (e.g. Prosser and Trigwell 1999;Richards 2005).