Document Type
Journal Article
Department/Unit
Department of Education Studies
Title
Will the new fine-tuning medium-of-instruction policy alleviate the threats of dominance of English-medium instruction in Hong Kong?
Language
English
Abstract
Medium of instruction (MOI) is a highly controversial and thorny educational issue in Hong Kong. Despite the Hong Kong government's strenuous efforts to promote Chinese-medium instruction since 1984, social and community pressure for English-medium instruction (EMI) has been immense and continues to increase. However, the dominance of English as MOI has raised various educational, linguistic, and socioeconomic issues such as rote learning, motivation, declining language standards, and restricted social mobility. Against this background, this article examines the potential of the recently introduced fine-tuning of MOI policy in addressing such concerns and ensuring the benefits of EMI. The article draws on language-planning theories and various concepts of bilingual education for framing the argument and relies on government statistics, empirical studies, and newspaper and magazine articles as sources of data. It is concluded that a policy approach is not sufficient to treat language problems, and that MOI should be planned holistically together with language teaching in the entire school curriculum. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
English dominance, English-medium instruction, Hong Kong, language planning, language policy, medium of instruction
Publication Date
2013
Source Publication Title
Current Issues in Language Planning
Volume
14
Issue
1
Start Page
34
End Page
51
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
DOI
10.1080/14664208.2013.791223
Link to Publisher's Edition
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2013.791223
ISSN (print)
14664208
ISSN (electronic)
17477506
APA Citation
Poon, A. (2013). Will the new fine-tuning medium-of-instruction policy alleviate the threats of dominance of English-medium instruction in Hong Kong?. Current Issues in Language Planning, 14 (1), 34-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2013.791223