Author, Subjects, Keywords

Cited Author

 

 
   » By Author or Editor
 » Browse Author by Alphabet
 » By Journal
 » By Subjects
 » By Affiliations
 » By Type
 » By Year
 » By Latest Additions
 
 
   » By Author
 » Top 20 Authors
 » Top 20 Article
 » Top 20 Journal Cited
 » Top 20 Cited
 » Top 20 Author Cited
 » Usage Since Sept 2007


 
 
 

Login | Create Account

English Medium Teaching at Crisis: Towards Bilingual Education in Hong Kong

Lu, Dan, (2002) English Medium Teaching at Crisis: Towards Bilingual Education in Hong Kong. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 2 (2). 16 p.. ISSN 1675-8021

Full text not available from this repository.

Official URL: http://www.fpbahasa.ukm.my/linguistics/Gema/GemaVol2.1.2002No5.pdf

Affiliations

Hong Kong Baptist University. Language Centre

Abstract

A language originally brought in by the British colonial rule in 1841, English used to be the major medium of instruction in Hong Kong educational system. An important debate in today’s Hong Kong's education is on the issue of the continuity of English-medium education. A significant change since 1998 is that the local vernacular Cantonese has replaced English as the medium of instruction in most secondary schools. Integrating theoretical framework into the case of Hong Kong, this paper examines the wisdom and the long-term effects of this policy change. Acknowledging that mother tongue education may facilitate acquisition of knowledge, it appears that the Hong Kong Government’s selection was not well planned and has eroded the principle of bilingual education, which runs counter to its proposed objective of “two written codes and three spoken codes”. The paper points out that mixed code is unavoidable and universal in any bilingual society and therefore, it is irrational to regard it as the culprit of the decline of students’ language competence. In face of the growing role of English in the world, the restricted use of English in education may cause an undesirable impact. The issue of language in education cannot be separated from the objective of language education. In short, the Hong Kong Government’s well-intentioned goal of effective language education for the challenges of the new millennium might, ironically, be a case of linguistic myopia.

Item Type:Journal
Keywords:English language Study and teaching, English as the second language
Subjects:P Language and Literature
L Education
ID Code:1929

Bacon-Shone, J., & Bolton, K. (1998). Charting multilingualism. In M. C. Pennington(Ed.), Language in Hong Kong at Century’s End (pp. 43-90). Hong Kong: the University of Hong Kong Press.

Bain, B, & Yu, A. (1978). Cognitive consequences of raising children bilingually: One parent, one language. Canadian Journal of Psychology , 34, 304-313.

Baker, C. (1996). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (2nd edition). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Baetens-Beardsmore, H. (1993). On European models of bilingual education. Language, Culture and Curriculum , 6((3) 197-208.

Bolton, K., & Luke, K-K. (1999). The social survey of languages in the 1980’s. Hong Kong: Social Sciences Research Centre, the University of Hong Kong.

Bond, M. H., & Lai, T-M. (1986). Embarrassment and code-switching into a second language. The Journal of Social

Psychology , 126 (2), 179-186.

Chan, J. (1986). The place of the mother tongue in a bilingual society. New Horizons , 27, 7-12.

Chan, J. (1991). Choice of medium of instruction: A challenge for the school in the 90’s. New Horizons , 32: 11-

17.

Cheng, N. L., Shek, K. C., Tse, K. K., & Wong, S. L. (1973). At what cost? — Instruction through the English medium in Hong Kong schools. Hong Kong: Shum Shing Printing Company.

Cummins, J. (1997). Introduction. In J. Cummins and D. Corson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education Volume 5 (pp. xi-xiv). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publisher.

Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In the State of California Department of Bilingual Education (Ed.), Schooling and Language Minority Students . Los Angeles: California State University.

Genesee, F. (1989). Early bilingual development: one language or two? Journal of Child Language, 16, 161-179.

Greene, J. (1998). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of bilingual education . Claremont, CA: Tomas Rivera Policy

Institute.Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism . New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1999). Language across the curriculum: With special reference to Chinese-medium secondary education. Open lecture at the University of Hong Kong, February 27, 1999.

Hong Kong Education Commission. (1984). Education commission report No. 1 . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer.

Hong Kong Education Commission. (1986). Education commission report No. 2 . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer.

Hong Kong Education Commission. (1990). Education commission report No. 4 . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer.

Hong Kong Education Commission. (1995). Education commission report No. 6, Part 2 (Annexes). Hong Kong:Hong Kong Government Printer.

Hong Kong Education Department. (1989). Report of the working group set up to review language improvement measures. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer.

Hong Kong Education Department. (1997). Medium of instruction guidance for secondary schools . [On-line]. Available http://ed.gov.hk .

Hong Kong Government. (1991). Hong Kong 1991 population census: Summary results. Hong Kong: Census and Statistics Department.

Hong Kong Government. (1982). A perspective on education in Hong Kong: Report by a visiting panel. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer.

Johnson, R. K. (1997). The Hong Kong education system: Late immersion under stress. In R. K. Johnson and M. Swain (Eds.), Immersion Education: International Perspectives, (pp. 171-189). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, R. K. (1994). Critical review of literature on language in education in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong Education Commission: Education Commission Report No. 6 Part 2 (Annexes) . Hong Kong: Hong Kong Government Printer.

Johnson, R. K., & Lee, P. L. M. (1987). Modes of instruction: Teaching strategies and student responses. In R. Lord and H. N. L. Cheng (Eds.), Language Education in Hong Kong (pp. 99-122). Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.

Johnson, R. K., & Swain, M. (1997). Immersion education: International perspectives.

Krashen, S. (1994). The input hypothesis and its rivals. In N. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 45-77). London: Academic Press.

Krashen, S. (1999). Condemned without a trial: Bogus arguments against bilingual education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Krashen, S., & Biber, D. (1988). On course: Bilingual education’s success in California . Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education.

Krashen, S., Long, M., & Scarcella, A. (1979). Age, rate and eventual attainment in second language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 13, 573-582.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (2 nd Edition) . New York: Oxford University Press.

Lee, K-S. (1998). The medium of instruction policy in Hong Kong and strategy for implementation. In Barry Asker (Ed.), Building Hong Kong on Education (pp. 111-117). Hong Kong: Longman.

Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Lewis, E. G. (1976). Bilingualism and bilingual education: The ancient world to the Renaissance. In J. Fishman (Ed.) Bilingual education: An international sociological perspective , (pp. 150-200). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Li, D. C. S. (1999). The functions and status of English in Hong Kong: A post-1997 update. English World-Wide , 20

(1), 67-110.

Lin, A. M. Y. (1997). Bilingual education in Hong Kong. In J. Cummins and D. Corson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of

language and Education Volume 5 (pp. 281-289). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publisher.

Lin, A. M. Y. (1996). Bilingualism or linguistic segregation? Symbolic domination, resistance and code switching in Hong Kong. Linguistics and Education , 8, 49-84.

Lo, L. F. (1991). The medium of instruction issue revisited. Educational Research Journal , 6, 63-68.

Lo, M. F., Chan, G. H. F., & Ip, B. T. C. H. (1985). A comparison of academic performance of junior secondarystudents in Anglo-Chinese and Chinese middle schools. Hong Kong: Educational Research Establishment, Education Department.

Llewellyn, Sir John et al. (1982). A perspective on education in Hong Kong: Report by a visiting panel. Hong Kong: Government Printer.

Luke, K. K., & Richards, J. C. (1982). English in Hong Kong: functions and status. English World-Wide , 3, 47-64.

Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Peal, E., & Lambert, W. E. (1962). The relationship of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological Monographs, 76, 27,1-23.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching, Cambridge University Press.

Siguán, M., & Mackey, W. F. (1987). Education and bilingualism . Paris: Kogan Page, in association with UNESCO.

Siu, P. K, & Mak, S. Y. (1989). The effects of change in the medium of instruction from English to Chinese on the academic achievement of students. Educational Research Journal , 4, 21-27. (In Chinese).

Smith, F. (1994). Understanding reading (5 th edition). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

So, D. W. C. (1992). Language-based bifureation of secondary schools in Hong Kong: Past, present and future. In K. K. Luke (Ed.), Into the twenty first century: Issues of language in education in Hong Kong (pp. 69-95). Hong Kong: Linguistic Society of Hong Kong.

Swain, M. (1999). Integrating language and content teaching through collaborative tasks. In C. Ward and W. Renandya (Eds.) Language teaching: New insights for the language teacher , (pp. 125-147). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional

Language Center.

Swain, M. (1986). Two ingredients to the successful use of a second language as a medium of instruction in Hong Kong. Educational Research Journal , 1, 1-6.

So, D. W. C. (1989). Implementing mother-tongue education amidst societal transition from diglossia to triglossia in Hong Kong. Language and Education , 3, 29-44.

Toribio, A. J. (2001). Accessing bilingual code-switching competence. The International Journal of Bilingualism , 5(4), 403-436.

UNESCO. 1953. The use of vernacular languages in education . Paris: Monographs on fundamental education 8.Yau, M. S. 1997. Code switching and language choice in the Hong Kong legislative council. Journal of Multilingual

and Multicultural Development , 18 (1), 40-53.

Wong-Fillmore, L. (1991). When learning a second language means losing the first. Early Childhood ResearchQuarterly , 6, 323-346.

Walters, S., & Bella, J. (1998). Medium of instruction: policy and reality at one Hong Kong tertiary institution In M. C. Pennington (Ed.), Language in Hong Kong at Century’s End (pp. 365-389). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Wiberg, E. (1996). Reference to past events in bilingual Italian-Swedish children of school age. Linguistics, 34, 1087-1114.

Repository Staff Only: item control page