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Suggestions to improve the Standard of English

To : NEWS EDITOR

RE : ARTICLE FOR "LETTER TO EDITORS" COLUMN

DATE : 18 MAY 1992

Suggestions to improve the standard of English

It is consensus that English should be kept as an important language in the curricula of primary, secondary and tertiary education in Hong Kong for her to maintain its vitality in International trade as well as tourism. However, the value of English should not be debased due to this kind of utilitarian consideration because one can acquire all kinds of important information via English and appreciate world cultures in literature written or translated in English. However, it does not mean that English should be kept as medium of instruction at all levels nor does it mean that other subjects should victimized due to the difficulties encountered in using English as medium of instruction. The basic pedagogical principle is to make use of students' mother tongue to instruct them so that they can grasp the subject matters the best.

Unlike the past decades where Hong Kong was not so prosperous and the west was nothing but the beat in all areas People would like to improve themselves spiritually or career wise by learning good English they liked to read English novels, go to English movies and sing English songs. Obviously the trends have changed a bit and the local culture has gained back certain of its lost glamour. The reasons behind this of course is more of an economical one than a cultural one. Prosperity in the economy brought back confidence in one's culture. Nowadays, English for most people has become just a language in work but not a language of culture. Sad but true, it is hard to deny.

The problem with the above-mentioned phenomenon is that we should promote English by injecting a different value in it. People in Hong Kong are too pragmatically-oriented. Actually they have all kinds of advantages in learning English as a second language. We have official documents, signs and emblems all over the places, television channels and radio stations, newspapers, books and magazines, movies from Hollywood in English and we encounter English teachers who are native speakers and even for some, English speaking neighbours from different places. If we choose to turn our back to the use or English, we can. On the contrary, if we decide to brush up our English, we can too and have all the facilities that may be envied by our Asian neighbours. The difficulty mainly lies in how to promote English as a language of widening one's horizon, as a language of fun an not just as compulsory language used in unintelligible lesson and routine office work but nowhere else.

Besides injecting new values in the instruction of English as a language backed up with cultural merits, the training of English teachers is another important issue. Teachers who teach English do not necessarily have a training in 'Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)', not to mention 'Linguistics' and 'Educationa1 Psychology'. Linguistics is a subject which should be provided as an elective in tertiary education since language is the tool in communication but not many people have a good understanding of its nature. What is language and how do we acquire it as our mother tongue, or as a second language? Educational psychology again is important because it reveals the psychological aspects in teaching and learning. The knowledge is a definite asset in a TESL program. However, it is surprising to find that though we pay so much attention to English in Hong Kong, we do not care what qualification or background knowledge our English teachers possess. The simple reasoning is that all who know English can teach it as an academic subject.

The program to bring in more expatriate teachers is too expensive. And it is doubtful that these teachers who do not know Chinese can be really good help. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that experienced teachers can overcome this barrier after some time. Our view is that we do have a lot of experienced expatriate teachers here, a lot of whom serve in the tertiary educational institutions teaching TESL. If we could fully utilize their expertise to retrain those of our English teachers who do not have the right background, that would be a much more fruitful attempt and the result is a win-win situation. The Education authorities save some money and everyone can get what he needs, either to put their theory to practice on the part of the expatriates or to grasp valuable knowledge for their career on the part of the English teachers.

There are already some TESL programs offered by tertiary institutions, some at bachelor of art level and some at master's level. However, this cannot provide enough opportunities for more teachers who are really in need. Who will be admitted into such programs? Those who are already quite good and who get high recommendation from their headmasters, right? So, is there another way out? We suggest we could make use of the relatively long holidays teachers generally enjoy and offer some sort of intensive English training camp, either here in Hong Kong, or in Guangdong, or better in an English speaking Asian country, say Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines.

Institutions who offer such training camps will get government subsidy and student tuition to cover the expenses. They can contract the tour to a travel agency but have to provide human resources for the seminars and discussions on the topics of teaching methodologies and other practical issues pertinent to the theme. They can even organize demonstrations for CALL packages (Computer-Assisted Language Learning).

The benefits are multifold. First, teachers can spend their holidays in a relaxing environment; second, they can meet their colleagues and exchange opinions; third, they can learn from the real experts. Big shots in the field of TESL could be special guest speakers; fourth, they are asked to fully immerse in a totally English speaking environment so that their exposure to English in daily life is increased. The point here in that even English teachers in Hong Kong are not fully proficient in colloquial English in daily life. Instead, they only learn classroom English themselves and could but pass on this restricted subset of English to their students.

In conclusion, I suggest we try every means to ensure the standard of English in Hong Kong. We should try to inject new values in the study of English, as language of culture, not just a language of career. We should improve teacher in-job training, by organizing intensive English training camps beside offering degree and sub-degree programs. We should cut down the non-English teaching workload for English teachers and split up classes for practicing English conversation. The last point needs no elaboration. I strongly believe, if the curriculum and methodology of teaching English are improved, we do not have to sacrifice the study of other subjects using English as medium of instruction. In fact, doing that is not only counter intuition and also against the trend in the modern world.

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