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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mrs Fanny Law, at the opening ceremony of the International Language in Education Conference at Rayson Huang Theatre, University of Hong Kong today (December 14):
Innovation and Language Education
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Professor Davies, Dr Andrews, Dr Lai, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to speak at the opening of the first International Language in Education Conference (ILEC) of the new millennium. On behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, let me first extend a very warm welcome to all our visitors from overseas. The presence here today of so many old and new friends, both local and international, augurs well for this year's event in maintaining the high standards set over the years.
ILEC provides an excellent opportunity for educational experts from all over the world to share their field experience. The challenges that teachers and educators face in their attempts to bridge the gaps between educational theory and day-to-day classroom practice is universal, and there is much to be gained in an international forum such as this.
At the turn of the Century, there was a surge of optimism for a better world, associated with the rapid advances in technology. There are also lingering concerns about the impact of increasing globalisation and the onset of a knowledge economy. The consensus is that education is the key to success and will drive the next phase of human development. Education authorities all over the world have embarked on education reforms under various conceptual banners. But, if we look closely enough to unpack the initiatives, the common threads seem to be literacy, creativity and information technology.
The concept of literacy varies among cultures and nations. Basically, it refers to the acquisition of reading and writing skills, such as vocabulary, grammar, and phonics. With the whole language approach, the emphasis of literacy shifts from the focus on form to meaningful communication for a real purpose and for inherent pleasure. The advent of the knowledge society has brought yet a new dimension to literacy, which encompasses the ability to construct meaning from text within the social and cultural context. Today, literacy is perceived as a mode of thinking and the basis for life-long learning.
As Alvin Toffler put it so aptly in his book "The Third Wave", the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn. Every learner must have some degree of language proficiency in order to engage the knowledge source be it a teacher or the internet.
As knowledge becomes both more ephemeral and abundant in the Information Age, it becomes more important to learn the right things, as well as to learn in the right way. The former calls for innovation in the curriculum and the latter innovation in the pedagogy. The use of information technology in education is part of the innovative practices in classrooms, and has been used as a "Trojan horse" to engage students in inherently less attractive subject matters.
The above rendering brings me to the theme of this conference, that is, "Innovation and Language Education". Let me share with you some of the challenges that the HKSAR faces in implementing its language policy. Given the international character of this forum, I shall focus on English language education.
In Hong Kong, both Chinese and English are highly valued. As an international city, English is the business language and English proficiency is widely perceived as a measure of success. As a special administrative region of China, people of Hong Kong must learn Chinese and be able to speak the national language, which is Putonghua. Since the majority of people in Hong Kong originate from Guangdong Province in southern China, Cantonese is the language of everyday use. This accounts for our language policy, which is to make our young people "biliterate and trilingual", that is, they should be able to read and write in Chinese and English, and be able to speak Putonghua, Cantonese and English.
Achieving "biliteracy and trilingualism" is a major challenge for many of our children, as they lack a language rich environment. Although all school children start to learn English as a subject from primary one, only a few primary schools use English as the medium of instruction for other subjects.
Traditionally, English lessons focus on helping learners master the language forms, communicative functions and the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in an examination-oriented environment. Most of the language teachers in primary schools are not subject-trained. Coupled with the lack of an English rich environment in everyday life, students are not sufficiently motivated to learn English, in particular, when there are competing demands for learning time.
However, English is seen as offering the best prospect for the future, and many parents want their children to get into English-medium secondary schools, even though their children may have difficulty with learning in English. Various studies have shown that the success of late immersion depends on the proficiency in the first and second languages acquired before immersion begins. Making children who do not possess a good command of Chinese and the minimum thresholds of proficiency to learn in English severely hampers their cognitive development and academic performance.
In view of this, the HKSAR Government enforced the medium of instruction guidance in 1998. Today, only 112 secondary schools are allowed to use English as the medium of instruction with proof of student ability and teacher capability to use English in the classroom. Notwithstanding initial resentment from schools and parents, opinion polls have shown that people have become more receptive to mother-tongue teaching, two years after the implementation of the MOI policy. Students are found to have learned better in non-language subjects; there are more interactions in the classroom; and the standard of English has not dropped as a result of switching to the use of Chinese as the medium of instruction.
A package of support measures has been put in place to enhance the learning of English. For example, we introduced native English-speaking teachers in Chinese schools, and developed innovative curricular practices and pedagogy to provide learners with a pleasurable learning experience, and enhance the effectiveness of learning through greater use of language arts and information technology.
Concurrently, we are working on teachers, students, the school, and the system. At the teacher level, the reality is many of our English teachers are not subject-trained, and graduates with a good command of English tend not to be teachers. Recently, we introduced language benchmarks, which set the standards expected of English language teachers and required serving teachers to prove their English proficiency within five years. By 2003, we expect all new English teachers to meet the language proficiency requirement before they start to teach. We are working with teacher training institutions to increase the supply of subject-trained English teachers, including overseas immersion training programmes. Our longer-term goal is to have subject-trained English language teachers in all our schools.
At the student level, we are working with parents to promote the reading culture from early childhood, with a view to building a solid foundation for language development. For school children, we aim to create an English rich environment through extensive reading schemes, drama, debate, immersion camps, and joint student activities between local and international schools. We also introduced the use of information technology in English learning to arouse interest, and have equipped schools with multi-media learning centres.
At the school level, we have extended the native English-speaking teachers (NETs) scheme to primary schools this year. Through sponsorship of the Quality Education Fund and the Language Fund, many self-initiated language projects are bearing fruits. Teaching resources and best practices are being shared in many classrooms.
At the system level, we have abolished the 22-year old Academic Aptitude Test for primary school leavers which did not include English. This has often been cited as a reason for not teaching English well in primary schools. To re-orient teachers and students to focus on the core subjects of English, Chinese and Mathematics, we shall introduce Basic Competency System Assessments at key stages of education, namely P.3, P.6 and S.3.
We have set ourselves an ambitious agenda for improving the language proficiency of our students, and there are yet many unanswered questions. For example,
* Is there a better way of achieving our language aim of "biliteracy and trilingualism"?
* What are the implications of early immersion on the learning of the second language and non-language subjects?
* What are the necessary conditions for additive bilingualism to work in a late immersion situation?
* How can we make the most of IT to cater for diverse student needs and abilities in language education?
Clearly there are no easy answers. But asking the right questions is a good start to decision-making. What better platform could we have to examine these questions and issues than an International Conference like ILEC 2000 specifically dedicated to Innovations and Language Education, and as a special feature, to debating about the role of IT in language education?
For the next few days, the ILEC Organising Committee has arranged a very rich programme for professional exchanges. I am sure your discussions will bring inspirations and make an impact on the development of language education in Hong Kong. I am also convinced that our international delegates will return home enriched and reinvigorated by their experiences here. I wish you all an intellectually stimulating and exhilarating conference.
Thank you.
End/Thursday, December 14, 2000
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