A case study of implementation of international mindedness in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in Hong Kong second language Chinese classroom

Abstract

This study aims at examining the concept of ‘international mindedness’ as it is evidenced in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) in a Chinese as a second language classroom in an international school. The research methodology includes in‐depth semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, classroom discourse analysis (Christie, 2008), and text analysis of students’ work by using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) (Halliday, 1994), Appraisal Theory (Martin and White 2005) and Bernstein’s topology of pedagogies of instruction. The findings show how the teacher in this study could be said to have demonstrated ‘international mindedness’ in her teaching, and how students expressed ‘international mindedness’ and how students expressed ‘international mindedness’ in their representations of values and knowledge. The study concludes that IB curriculum officers and educators should consider how to effectively promote international mindedness in IB curriculum and assessment development.