Carrie Lau

Attention all students: could you explain your thesis in three minutes? PhD candidate Carrie Lau can. She’s the winner of HKU’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which challenges students to do just that. She tells Donna Cheng why she’ll never get bored of telling people about it.

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Published: 4:00pm, 20 Mar 2014Updated: 4:05pm, 19 Oct 2016

HK Magazine: So then: what’s your thesis about?

Carrie Lau: My thesis is about the English vocabulary development of preschoolers in Hong Kong. Specifically, I look at the home and school contexts for the teaching and learning of English vocabulary. My research is to bring awareness as to why it’s important to read regularly to your children; why it’s important to spend time talking to them about letters and words.

HK: How did you approach slimming a whole PhD into three minutes?

CL: I approached the topic by sitting down and asking myself why I did this program for four years. It really stemmed from my experience as a kindergarten teacher, which made me see a lot of differences in children’s language ability; and the fact that vocabulary is a pretty important component of language skills. This was the story that I wanted to share with others: to create awareness in parents of the importance of parenting, and the importance of developing vocabulary skills in young children.

HK: Do you wish your actual thesis could be three minutes long?

CL: [Bursts out laughing] It would be a great thing! My advisor would be like, “Oooh, your actual thesis is three minutes long: perfect!” But for the PhD process, the more you read, the more you research, the more questions you have. That’s the beauty of a PhD; it makes you keep on wanting to find the truth.