Brief of Language education in Hong Kong

This paper discusses the current language education and issues in Hong Kong,The language apply maintain successfully the international and local identity needs in Hong Kong,both English and Cantonese are mainly in the different areas,meeting the different needs of various aspects of the mainstream language.Hong Kong was a multi-lingual region.English was the official language in more than one hundred years before Return;English enjoyed a dominant position in Hong Kong,where expression under the influence of English,Chinese and English code-switching is also very common.The Return of Hong Kong has a considerable influence to language phenomenon;greatly strengthen the importance of Mandarin.In this paper,from the Angle of social linguistics,this paper discusses the English position before and after Hong Kong's return to China,discussing economic,business,education,and other areas of the social development and changes of English status,and analyzes the Hong Kong residents for English,Cantonese and Mandarin language attitude.     

港式中文及其特点

本文将香港社会流通的中文书面语归类为：标准中文、粤式中文、港式中文、中英混合文等四类,文中比较了上述各类书面语的不同,特别分析了在香港广泛流通的港式中文的特点,包括受粤语影响的港式中文,受英语影响的港式中文,受文言影响的港式中文以及多种形式混合的港式中文。笔者从社会语言学的角度阐述了港式中文产生的背景,并介绍了香港学界对港式中文的截然不同的评论。文章指出港式中文是香港中文书面语的一种客观存在,也反映出香港社区中语言文化多元化的现象,但仍希望改善港式中文,提高香港的中文水平。     

三语环境中的语言迁移——香港学童普通话、英语双宾句的二语习得研究

在第二语言习得过程中,习得的语言间会互相影响。母语如何影响二语？多种二语之间又是怎样的关系？这些都是人们至今仍争论不休,也仍在继续探索的问题。文章拟从香港学童习得普通话和英语的角度,讨论他们在习得这两种二语时,两种二语以及母语粤语三者之间是如何相互影响的。并从语言自然度、语言标记度、语言认知难度以及语言距离等4个方面对其作出解释。     

English in Hong Kong: a preliminary study of the ACERWord Knowledge Test – Form F and the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices as indicators of verbal reasoning ability and abstract reasoning ability among Hong Kong university students

The standard of English of Hong Kong students is a matter of considerable debate. Academics, business people and others bemoan the deterioration of English-speaking skills and the declining quality of students. Explanations for this situation include the introduction of mass education, the lack of trained English teachers and an exam-centred curriculum. Yet, little research has been undertaken concerning student intellectual ability and English skills. This short report examines the English skills of 146 undergraduates using the ACER Word Knowledge Test - Form F , and their abstract reasoning ability using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. The results show that Hong Kong students, while low in English skills are superior in intelligence. Although exploratory and subject to qualification, the research has implications for the teaching and continued use of English in Hong Kong schools and universities.     

普通高校开展双语教学的思考与对策

通过在香港中文大学等香港高校的参观学习,结合自身的教学经验,对于国内普通高校双语教学的开展情况阐述了作者的体会并提出了一定的改进对策。     

Being a ‘Purist’ in Hong Kong: To Use or Not to Use Mixed Code

This paper reports on my first‐hand experiences of being a ‘purist’ in Hong Kong, during which time I was not allowed to use mixed code, a common discursive practice among Hongkongers in Hong Kong. I shall discuss the difficulties in using ‘pure’ English and ‘pure’ Chinese in my daily life, as well as exploring the problems I encountered when I used ‘pure’ English in teaching English to a small group of ESL students at a primary school in Hong Kong. I argue that mixed code is very much characteristic of everyday language use by most Hongkongers and represents an important marker of their ethno‐linguistic identity. In relation to language teaching, I suggest that mixed code may be usefully adopted in teaching English in Hong Kong, rather than being shunned at all costs.     

香港英文科测评改革变迁及对内地的启示——基于多元系统理论的探讨

本研究采用多元系统理论对香港地区近三十年来英文科测评改革的变迁进行梳理,分析了香港促学评价改革在实施中经历的冲突与妥协,揭示香港地区英文科测评改革的复杂性。基于香港地区的经验教训,文章探讨了香港英文测评改革对于内地改革方向和改革举措的启示。     

Beyond Pedagogy: Language and identity in post-colonial Hong Kong

The society of Hong Kong objected strongly when the government instructed schools to change their medium of instruction from English to Chinese at the junior secondary level soon after Hong Kong was reunited with the People's Republic of China in 1997. This paper tries to make sense of the objection to this piece of politically correct and pedagogically sound policy. It analyses the situation from Bourdieu's ideas of habitus and various types of capitals. The paper argues that the government's effort to persuade Hong Kong society to accept mother-tongue education on pedagogical grounds alone was to no avail because the English language has not only become a habitus of society; it also serves to distinguish Hong Kong people from mainland Chinese. The failure of the government was partly due to its insensitivity to the nature and social functions of language.     

香港启导班的政策与实践

香港在小学推行启导班达十八年之久 ,旨在帮助在中文、英文、数学三个主要科目学习有困难的学生。对于启导班的实际价值 ,社会上有不同的争议 ,本文旨在阐释教育学院、学生和家长对启导班的观点 ,探讨其发展和面对的困难 ,从而作出建议     

加拿大浸入式双语教育和香港EMI双语教育的比较

加拿大和香港的双语教育都有着悠久的历史.加拿大法语浸入式双语教育和香港EMI双语教育表面上有很大的相似度,然而,从本质上来看,两地的语言环境、双语师资、双语教育的类型以及第一语言和第二语言的相似度之间都有很大的差异.这些差异导致了两地双语教育的效果也大相径庭.通过对两地双语教育的分析比较,对我国大陆开展的双语教学是有借鉴作用的.     

A Brief Analysis of Hong Kong Students in International School

In Hong Kong, English is widely used as an international language. More and more parents tend to choose international schools for their children. Why the number is going on so rapidly? This essay will explain this phenomenon in psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic aspects and to some extent, these theories can give implications to Hong Kong teachers.     

香港电视广告语言的修辞特色

修辞离不开我们的生活,现在香港语文科里的修辞教学只用课文和文学为例而忽略了日常习见的例子,这难免给人枯燥死板的感觉。文章拟就香港电视广告进行实例探讨,以现代修辞学理论内的＂积极修辞＂为出发点,阐述电视广告里较常使用的五种修辞手法,包括夸张、双关、比拟、反复、对偶,并指出由于地缘环境与时代背景的关系,香港电视广告呈现粤方言与英语大量使用的现象,而且没有减少的趋势。     

香港与内地高校英语专业硕士研究生课程设置比较研究

本文采用基于学校培养方案或课程计划的文献分析方法, 运用图表及数据的统计分析, 对香港与内地较具代表性的八所高校英语专业硕士研究生的课程设置进行课程性质与学习内容两个维度的对比,总结出两地高校在相关专业课程设置上的异同, 归纳香港英语专业研究生课程设置对国内相关专业课程设置的启示, 期望对英语专业研究生教育有一定的参考价值 。     

Popular Culture goes to school in Hong Kong: a Language Arts curriculum on revolutionary road?

English teaching and learning has taken an interesting shift in Hong Kong schools with the implementation of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum under the ‘334’ education reform. Situating the paper within the broader considerations of the intersection of Cultural Studies and English teaching, this paper examines the challenges and prospects of teaching the new Language Arts elective called Learning English through Popular Culture module. It is argued that while the module endeavours to connect and motivate Hong Kong students to learn English through popular culture materials, the official curriculum and schemes of work, however, narrowly articulate the teaching of popular culture texts conceived as ‘text-types’. Such a formulaic approach to using popular culture in the classroom is limiting and locks students into a procedural way of ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ popular cultural texts. The paper concludes by offering some ways forward that might deliver what is otherwise a revolutionary and innovative curriculum. Beyond the specific case of Hong Kong, the curriculum challenge discussed is instructive for other education systems and curriculum scholars looking to develop new pedagogies from the intersecting disciplines of Cultural Studies and English teaching.     

The Introduction of English‐language Education in Early Colonial Hong Kong

This article examines the attitudes of the colonial and metropolitan governments towards the promotion of English‐language education on Hong Kong Island between 1842 and 1860. The study, which draws on a range of unpublished primary sources, was conducted in response to Whitehead’s recent call for detailed case studies of colonial education policies. This article explores, within the context of Hong Kong, a centrally important aspect of education in the Empire, and one that has been the subject of surprisingly little archival research: British policies towards the teaching and learning of English as a second language. The article begins by analysing the political, economic and demographic forces that influenced the study and use of English in Hong Kong during the 1840s and 1850s, and then moves on to examine language policies and practices in the colony’s mission schools, with a particular focus on the Morrison Education Society School, the first Western school to be established on the Island after the British occupation. The final section analyses the introduction of English teaching in the government vernacular schools in the early 1850s.     

Comprehension of non-technical words in science: The case of students using a ‘foreign’ language as the medium of instruction

This paper reports on an investigation into Hong Kong students' comprehension of English non-technical words used in science. The investigation was conducted in a context in which English, a foreign language to students, is the medium of instruction, in that textbooks and examinations are all in English but the classroom language used is mainly Chinese, with frequent Chinese-English code-switching. A total of 4644 Secondary 4, 5 and 6 students participated in the study. Many students did not correctly comprehend a large proportion of the words, confused them with words that were graphologically or phonetically similar, and even took them for their antonyms. Such poor performance raises doubts as to whether the majority of Hong Kong students have attained a ‘threshold level’ of competence in English to benefit from learning science in English. Specializations: physics education, students' alternative conceptions in science, conceptual change, computer-assisted learning in physics.     

International education policy transfer – borrowing both ways: the Hong Kong and England experience

This paper analyses how the impact of international student achievement studies and the recent economic crisis in Europe are influencing the development of educational policy transfer and borrowing, from East to West. This is contrasted with education reform movements in East Asia, which have long legacies of borrowing from so-called ‘progressive’ discourses in the West. England and Hong Kong are used as case studies. Since 2010, England’s coalition government has prioritised its determination to look to jurisdictions like Hong Kong to inspire and justify reforms that emphasise traditional didactic approaches to teaching and learning. In contrast, Hong Kong’s reforms have sought to implement practices related to less pressured, more student-centred lifelong learning, without losing sight of strengths derived from its Confucian heritage culture. Conclusions highlight factors that underpin English interest in Hong Kong education policy, values and practice and point to the need for further attention to be given to these multidirectional and often contradictory processes by researchers concerned with the study of policy transfer.     

English expressive vocabulary growth and its unique role in predicting English word reading: A longitudinal study involving Hong Kong Chinese ESL children

This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectory of English expressive vocabulary and its relationship to English word reading in a sample of 141 Hong Kong children learning English as a second language (ESL). The children were observed six times at 3-month intervals over 15 months, from the spring of their second year of kindergarten (K2) to the end of their third year (K3). The development of English expressive vocabulary was nonlinear during the assessment period. With age, nonverbal IQ, English phonological awareness, letter knowledge and Chinese character reading controlled, the initial level of expressive vocabulary predicted English word reading 15 months later. More importantly, the expressive vocabulary growth rate during the 15 months also predicted English word reading. Our findings underscore the predictive power of the growth trajectory of expressive vocabulary in Hong Kong ESL children. Practical implications of the study are discussed.     

基于不同英语语言环境探索双语教学的几个问题

本文通过分析比较新西兰,中国香港,及中国内地高校的师资、学生和教材等问题,探讨中英文双语环境下,双语教学的可行性。基于河南科技大学复合材料概论课程双语教学的实践,对进一步提高我校复合材料概论课程双语教学水平提出了一些看法。     

Investigating the role of bilingual teaching assistants in Hong Kong: an exploratory study

Background:?Recent government initiatives in Hong Kong have focused on raising the participation of students from South Asian backgrounds in mainstream schools, to encourage their further integration into Hong Kong's educational system and society. These students' learning in mainstream schools takes place within the context of the central curriculum and, thus, students face the challenge of learning Chinese as an additional language. Mainstream schools sometimes provide additional support, including the provision of bilingual teaching assistants to address the specific needs of the students from South Asian backgrounds.

Purpose:?This exploratory study aims to investigate the roles of bilingual teaching assistants in Hong Kong.

Method:?Interviews were held with two bilingual teaching assistants from the South Asian community in Hong Kong who were working in a mainstream secondary school. Teachers from the school were also interviewed. Open-ended interview questions focused on perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of bilingual teaching assistants in Chinese-language-medium classes. The data were analysed to identify any emergent patterns and themes.

Findings:?The research findings indicate that the bilingual teaching assistants from the South Asian community not only took on the role of helping the learners from South Asian backgrounds in Chinese language acquisition, but also acted as cultural mediators between mainstream school culture and the culture of the South Asian community in Hong Kong.

Conclusions:?This small-scale exploratory research study suggests the importance of the role of bilingual teaching assistants in promoting equal access to quality education for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.