The medium of instruction (MOI) in secondary schools has been one of the main concerns of different parties in Hong Kong, including Education Bureau (EDB), the business sector, parents, school principals and teachers. It is because a high level of language proficiency not only helps students to achieve a good academic result, but also assist them to have a better career. As a result, the EDB constantly makes changes to the policy of MOI in order to satisfy the demands of different parties. The fine-tuning policy of MOI is the response of EDB to the controversial mother tongue teaching. In the following essay, four educational aims will be discussed first; then will talk about how the mother tongue teaching fails to achieve these aims and analyze how the fine-tuning policy is trying to eliminate the shortcomings of mother tongue teaching by meeting the educational aims put forward.
To begin with, there are four aims that education needs to achieve. First is personal development (Yang, 2009, p. 8), which means students have to acquire the basic knowledge of different subjects, possess high order thinking and have good interpersonal communication skills. This can be treated as a aim that is student centered (Yang, 2009, p. 8); second is society centered (Yang, 2009, p. 8) that hopes to achieve social and economic efficiency by employing workers with high educational level who have good language proficiency and possess adequate knowledge of their specialized discipline; third is subject centered (Yang, 2009, p. 8) which favors the academic research and development of different subjects; finally is future centered (Yang, 2009, p. 8) that hopes to build a desire society. In the case of Hong Kong, people long for sustaining the positio...
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English as a communication tool holds prominent position in Chinese curriculum (Liu, 2012). Learning English as a Second Language (ESL) has seen its boost in China (Qiang & Wolff, 2007). Mastering English is an asset for students in job hunting and further education. As academic achievement is highly valued in Chinese culture, students are expected to achieve high marks in English tests (Liu, 2012). University students need to pass National English proficiency examinations, which are the part of the evaluation for obtaining degrees (Wolff, 2010). Students attend after-school English courses for enhancing their English because of the pressure (Liu, 2012). The majority of ELL students aim at improving the international English proficiency tests results, such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). ELL students are more motivated in the after-school English courses because of the high-target learning environment. However, the teacher-centred learning procedure neglects the long-term enhancement of students’ English level. The ignorance of the long-term development is due to less student involvement during the teaching procedure (Mo, 2012). Some Chinese ELL students choose to attend ESL courses abroad. The reasons are that they can have a better language environment (Wolff, 2010) and can engage more in the learning procedure (Smith & Hu, 2013). The aim of the study is to compare the teacher-centred teaching in China and student-centred teaching in Canada and to examine efficient teaching methods for Chinese speaking ELL
British Historian Edward Gibbon once said,"Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important from himself." Nowadays, our society is developing rapidly, more and more parents want their children to be educated. Every parents notice that how education important is. There are different kinds of education, not only going to school everyday, but also learning knowledge or skills by yourself. More and more international schools are founded in China nowadays, they absolutely show that how Chinese education system and Canada education system are different. In this paper, it will illustrate that Chinese education is different from Canadian education because it's
Education remains a cornerstone for society as it has for decades. Technology advances, the economy fluctuates, and politics change, but education remains, not only important but imperative for personal and social growth. Yet, as important as it is touted to be, the quality and purpose of learning is often lost in the assembly-line, manufactured process of education that exists today.
If someone asked me what is essential in our life, I will tell him is to education. Education is a kind of heritage for morality science technology knowledge. Nowadays, the education is become more and more important in our life. Everyone wants to learn a lot of knowledge. China is the most populous country in the world. It is also the world’s most students of the country and my hometown. However, the university resources in China is limited. So the government used the system of college entrance examination. In order to improve the grades, Chinese teacher make their students in an especially education system and I think that it is banking concept of education system. In Chinese education system,
Sweeting, Anthony. "Chapter Two and Three." Education in Hong Kong, Pre-1841 to 1941 : Fact and Opinion: Materials for a History of Education in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong UP, 1990. 87-194. Print.
Singapore’s education journey can be divided into three broad phases namely the Survival-Driven Education (1959 – 1978), Efficiency-Driven Education (1979 -1996) and the Ability-Based, Aspiration-Driven Education which Singapore has adopted since late 1990s. The education policies have evolved to address the context of the country’s stage of development and the challenges it faces at each point. More recently, we are transiting into a knowledge-based economy to face external challenges such as market volatility, increasing globalisation and rapid technological advancement. As Singapore does not have its own natural resources, it is a necessity to develop the people to their fullest to survive. And as the future becomes more volatile with rapid
The idea to include L1 as part of the language teaching system has been debated upon in recent years. The strong anti-L1 suggest on a complete prohibition of L1 in classrooms, while many others see L1 as a tool to better students’ learning of the TL. This section will highlight the pros and cons arguments for using the L1 in classrooms, along with further evidence supporting the advantages mother tongue bring to the language learning, and teaching process.
The very first important development for a successful country is to have a respectable education system for those who need it from the first day they are born into the world. We have to instill what we want in our people to reflect how we want our development to appear. In China, their school system has more of a strict structure, for example, at Harbin Number One High School. Students begin school at 7:00 a.m., and remain until 8:20 p.m. The seniors, preparing for their final examinations, stay later, even until 10:00 at night.
Teaching students a language that is foreign can really be challenging for students as well as for the teachers. The dynamic rule for implementing instructing in a diverse class to English-learners is to use resourceful life skills such as diligence, hard work and patience. There are also methods that are involved in teaching English as a second language that can be creative for the teacher, yet beneficial to the student. First building a strong foundation that is essential to English learners will promote the language acquisition process. To do this teacher’s should always start with preparation. Advance preparation is essential in order to provide necessary adaptations in content area instruction and to make content information accessible for second language lear...
Receiving education is the process to always call back to one’s heart and reflect one’s own desires on the society. If people regard exams and education as ways to gain something other than knowledge, this kind of exam and education system might develop in a twisted way, and this is actually what happens in China. Formed in several centuries ago, examination system in China, which focuses much more on standard tests and scores, has maintained almost the same traditions until now. Considering the more competitive society, only if there are innovative improvements to such the education system, especially the examination system, which now overmuch focuses on memorizing, Chinese students may enjoy the education that is truly beneficial and could build themselves more
Education is a vital part of society. It serves the beneficial purpose of educating our children and getting them ready to be productive adults in today's society. But, the social institution of education is not without its problems. Continual efforts to modify and improve the system need to be made, if we are to reap the highest benefits that education has to offer to our children and our society as a whole.
The scope of this exercise is limited to teaching English as a second language (TESOL) i.e. teaching programs in English-speaking countries (specifically UK) for students whose first language is other than English. The first thing I noticed, when reading about it, was the paucity of specialised material on the subject. Tricia Hedge refers briefly to “multicultural” classrooms and one reference to “multi-lingual” classrooms and then only to talk about a possible diagnostic method to highlight learner problems (Hedge, 2000 p270). I have therefore tried to glean from various sources, insights and advice where possible. The scarcity of material has another consequence; multi lingual classrooms are often only mentioned as part of a wider discussion of “problems” encountered by teachers and learners. Many of the sources rely on research into monolingual groups (Hedge, Skehan, Lightbown et al.).
Parents, family members and early adolescent are the most improvement and support of the first language. In the process of teaching a foreign language, the teacher’s use of mother tongue can impact the learner’s acquisition of the target language. Throughout the history of English language teaching and second language acquisition, the role of mother tongue has been an important issue. The deferent perspectives are reflections on the strategy changes in English language teaching, which have in such way brought alternate point of view on the role of mother tongue.
In most institutions of learning today, the classes are made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. These have different traditions and also speak different languages. In a typical classroom, the majority of the students will speak the same language. The teacher must then employ strategies which will accommodate all the students in the class. This will ensure that every learner gets the best quality of education. This will enable them to be better prepared for career and expressing themselves. In this paper, strategies to assist learners of the English language in their literal development for third grade learners. In the paper, three strategies that can be used by the teacher will be discussed. New strategies and research that will help the English language learners to gain in depth mastery of the language will also be discussed. Due to the widespread learning of the English language in most schools, addressing issues of the language learners is of vital importance. Teachers should have the understanding that cultures are what give someone identity and therefore no student should leave their culture for another. Instead, there should be the blending of different cultures so that students can appreciate and learn from each other.
In Sri Lanka English is learned as a second language .This study investigates the impacts of English Language learning on the values of the Tamil prospective teachers. The study explores whether the learning of English language has an impact on the values of the Sri Lankan Tamil prospective teachers. Qualitative and quantitative methodology was utilized for the study. A questionnaire and interviews with the participants were utilized for the study. The findings show that the English language learning has positive effects on the values of the Tamil prospective teachers